Travel is a booming industry in the United States, employing almost 8 million people and generating over $1.5 trillion per year. In fact, travel is the second-fastest growing business sector in the world.
Yet, as a travel-related business, you may have already discovered that financial institutions consider your business to be high risk. Many don’t offer merchant services to travel companies, making it difficult for you to accept many common forms of payment, including credit cards, debit cards, eChecks, digital wallets, etc.
At Merchant Cared Advisors, we specialize in providing payment processing solutions to companies normally considered high risk, such as these travel-related businesses:
- Online Travel Arrangement Services (reservation agencies, cruise lines)
- Tour Operators (bus tours, sightseeing)
- Lodging (hotels, motels)
- Timeshares (membership-based lodging, campgrounds, trailer parks)
- Travel Insurance Services
We can help you secure the best merchant services available for your travel and tourism business.
High-Risk Travel Merchant Accounts
Many financial institutions consider travel merchants to be high risk. As a result, many providers simply decline requests for merchant services. Other providers may suddenly terminate merchant accounts for the travel businesses that have them.
Why does the financial industry consider travel merchants to be such a high risk, considering the revenue that the industry generates?
The financial sector considers several factors when assigning businesses to this category. They are concerned with losing money in a transaction, especially high-ticket transactions.
Travel merchants tend to deal in major transactions — plane tickets, hotel stays, weekend excursions. So if anything goes wrong with a transaction, payment service providers consider themselves at risk of losing a lot of money.
Another concern is the occurrence of fraudulent charges and stolen cards used in making travel purchases. Finally, because travel arrangements are commonly booked well in advance, purchasers have a lot of time to change their minds.
In addition to high ticket prices and frequent chargebacks, travel purchases frequently involve multiple transactions. Often, purchases are made by one party but paid for by another. All these send up red flags for credit card processing companies, and that means that you may have trouble finding and keeping a travel merchant payment processing account.
A Complete Package of Travel Merchant Solutions
Finding the best credit card processing services for your small business or online business isn’t always easy, and many top merchant processors will turn down your business if they determine it’s in a high-risk category.
This is where Merchant Card Advisors comes in. We analyze your business and help you find a complete package of payment processing solutions. By understanding your business and providing the services suited to you, we can help you avoid the unmanageable rates you might find with other merchant service providers.
Contact us today for assistance with securing the best travel merchant services and payment processing solutions available today.
