Payment Gateways for Travel Agencies: A 2026 Guide

Short answer: a travel agency needs a payment gateway that settles in its own currency, runs 3D Secure on every card, pays into the agency's own merchant account and can refund when a supplier cancels. In 2026 that usually means Stripe for the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, Safepay for Pakistan, and MyFatoorah for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Keep a bank transfer option for customers who will never pay by card online.

Payments are where a booking site either earns trust or loses the sale. A customer who has spent twenty minutes choosing a hotel will still walk away if the checkout looks strange, asks for the wrong currency or sends them to a page they do not recognise. This guide covers what to look for and how the main gateways compare for travel.

Why travel payments are different

A shop sells something it already has. A travel agency sells something it still has to buy. Between the customer's payment and the supplier's confirmation there is a gap of a few seconds, and sometimes the supplier says no: the room went, the fare changed, the flight was cancelled weeks later. Your payment setup has to handle that gap. It must be able to take the money, confirm with the supplier and give the money back cleanly when the booking does not go through.

Travel is also a favourite target for card fraud. Bookings are high value, delivered digitally and often for someone other than the cardholder. That is why strong customer authentication matters more for you than for most online businesses.

What to check in any payment gateway

• Your own merchant account. The money should land in your account, not in your software provider's. If you ever change software, your payment history and payouts stay with you.
• 3D Secure. The bank's own check (a code or an app approval) shifts liability for fraud away from you on most card disputes.
• Local currency and local cards. A Saudi customer expects mada, a Pakistani customer expects to pay in rupees. Forcing a foreign currency adds conversion fees and doubt at the worst moment.
• Refunds from your dashboard. When a supplier cancels, you want one button, not a login to a separate portal.
• Fees you can live with. Compare the gateway's percentage, any fixed fee per payment and the currency conversion margin.

Stripe: the default outside South Asia and the Gulf

Stripe is the easiest gateway to start with in the UK, Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Singapore. Cards work out of the box, 3D Secure runs automatically when the customer's bank asks for it, and payouts arrive in your bank account on a fixed schedule. You sign up directly with Stripe, so the account and the relationship are yours.

On a Travora Hub site you paste your own Stripe keys into the dashboard and add one webhook so paid bookings are marked automatically. You can test the whole checkout with Stripe's test cards before you switch to live keys. Travora Hub does not take a cut of your payments: there is no commission on top of Stripe's own fee.

Safepay: for agencies selling in Pakistan

Pakistani customers pay in rupees, and many cards issued in Pakistan struggle with foreign gateways. Safepay is a Pakistani gateway that settles in PKR and uses its own hosted checkout page, which local banks and customers recognise. For an Umrah or holiday agency in Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad, it is usually a better first choice than Stripe. More on selling there in our guide to travel agency software in Pakistan. You open the merchant account with Safepay and connect it to your site the same way.

MyFatoorah: for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

In Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan and Egypt, MyFatoorah is the gateway customers already know. It accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express and mada with 3D Secure, and, if your MyFatoorah account has them switched on, Apple Pay, Google Pay and STC Pay. If a booking is priced in a currency your account does not settle in, it is converted to your settlement currency at checkout. Apple Pay also needs Apple's domain verification file on your site before it appears at checkout.

Keep an offline option

Some customers will never pay a large amount by card online. Families booking Umrah often prefer a bank transfer or paying at your office, and that is fine. A good booking system lets them reserve online and pay offline, then lets you mark the booking as paid when the money arrives. On Travora Hub, deals and Hajj and Umrah packages can offer Pay Offline (bank transfer, cash or cheque), packages can be set to inquiry only, and you can record an agreed final price when you negotiate with a group.

Refunds when a supplier cancels

This is where many agencies lose hours. A supplier cancels a hotel, you see it days later, and then you have to work out what was paid and refund it by hand. On Travora Hub, if a Duffel, RateHawk or WebBeds booking paid through Stripe is cancelled by the supplier, the refund is issued automatically for the amount the supplier refunds, and it can never be refunded twice. For other cases, the Payments page has a refund button for Stripe and MyFatoorah payments. Safepay and offline payments are refunded outside the dashboard.

Which plan includes what

Online card payments with Stripe and Safepay are part of the Professional plan. MyFatoorah is set up on the On Demand plan, usually for agencies in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. You can compare the plans on our pricing page, and see how payments fit into the rest of the platform on the features page.

Frequently asked questions

Can a travel agency use Stripe?

Yes. Stripe supports travel agencies in most countries where it operates. Expect to explain your business model during sign-up, and keep clear booking terms and a refund policy on your website, because Stripe reviews higher-risk categories such as travel more closely.

Which payment gateway is best for an Umrah agency?

It depends on where your customers pay from. Safepay suits agencies selling to customers in Pakistan, MyFatoorah suits Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, and Stripe suits the UK, Europe and North America. Most Umrah agencies also keep bank transfer for families who prefer it.

Does the software provider ever hold my customers' money?

It should not. On Travora Hub every gateway runs on your own merchant account, so payments go straight to you.

Can I use more than one gateway on the same site?

Each Travora Hub site runs one online gateway at a time, plus offline payment. Agencies selling in two very different markets usually run a separate site for each.