A travel merchant account gives you the ability to accept credit payments from your customers. There are many types of businesses in the travel industry that benefit from a custom merchant account. This is because the travel industry has two major factors that banks consider high risk in regards to payment processing – chargebacks and high ticket sales.

Chargebacks In Travel

If you own a travel company you already know the difficulties of high chargeback rates . Customers may have a family emergency, get sick, or weather or world events can change a family’s vacation plans instantly. Due to the cost, many people want to reschedule or get their money back for trips they never went on, that’s where refunds, insurance policies, and chargebacks come in.

All of these factors increase the likelihood of chargebacks and due to this you’ll want to seek out a payment processor that has a higher threshold. Most banks want less than 0.5% chargebacks, while high risk processors increase this threshold to 1.5% and even up to 2.0% if you’re a trusted business that’s been operating at a high volume for many years.

High Ticket Sales In Travel Transactions

High ticket sales are purchases above $500. If you sell goods like entire vacation packages, hotel stays, or cruises, then these high dollar transactions are considered high ticket items. The risk associated with these is that fraud and refunds can damage your bank account standing.

High risk merchant accounts are custom-designed to handle the sale of expensive goods and services. On the other hand standard merchant account providers will look at your sales history and review your accounts more regularly if they notice large dollar items coming in. Too many flagged reviews and they can drop your account leaving you with no processing at the time.

Types Of Travel Merchant Accounts

Airlines Merchant Account – Provides airline companies with payment processing resources in order to accept credit cards from customers. This can include private jet rentals, paying for pilots, or monthly shared ownership of group jet purchases.

Charter Merchant Account – Charter rentals are any type of temporary purchases for a group with an intended goal. This can be a bus or fishing outing, both would qualify for high risk accounts.

Cruise Line Merchant Account – Cruise lines have hundreds of passengers who plan their trips well in advance. As such, they require extra protection on their banking channel as well as a payment gateway that is user-friendly.

Hospitality Merchant Account – Hotels, AirBnbs, and companies that are trying to start the next shared booking experience should look into high risk accounts. In some payment models you may want to pay landlords directly from the platform which is an added feature standard payment channels don’t provide.

List of Travel Merchant Account Types

Below are some additional types of travel companies that require custom high risk merchant account solutions. If you’re operating a business in any of the below business-types, then reach out to Zen Payments to learn how you can get custom payment processing