International travel is full of excitement for the customer, but behind the scenes, it’s often a tangled web of payment complications for airlines, agents, hotels, and others. Currency mismatches, failed transactions, and region-specific compliance hurdles can disrupt the traveler experience at every touchpoint.
One solution is a payment orchestration platform for travel: an invisible yet essential tool that ensures each transaction flows smoothly, regardless of region, currency, or provider. Let’s follow the fictional journey of Alex, a traveler from Germany, booking a vacation to Thailand, to see how payment orchestration can make the difference between a seamless journey, and a disrupted one.
Meet Alex: Booking a Dream Trip
Alex, a frequent business traveler from Berlin, finally decides to take a long-awaited vacation to Thailand. In one evening, Alex books multi-leg flights through an airline, a boutique hotel on a travel platform, and a jungle excursion via an overseas tourism broker.
On the surface, it's a streamlined experience. Behind the scenes, it could be a payment nightmare. With multiple currencies, multiple local payment methods, and time-sensitive flash offers, the risk of transaction failure is high.
With a travel payment orchestration platform in place:
Smart routing ensures each transaction is sent to the most cost-effective and reliable PSP (e.g., a local German acquirer for the flight purchase).
Local payment methods, such as Sofort, Giropay, and PayPal, are supported through the orchestration layer, eliminating the need for separate integrations.
Fraud checks are dynamically adjusted based on region and transaction behavior, reducing unnecessary declines and false positives.
Travel companies using orchestration platforms are able to intelligently match each transaction with the optimal provider, boosting acceptance rates and minimizing manual intervention.
Navigating Complexity Behind the Scenes with a Travel Payment Orchestration Platform
Alex's checkout may feel effortless, but the backend is handling multiple moving parts:
Currency Conversion
The orchestration platform converts Euro to Thai Baht using optimized FX strategies, ensuring favorable exchange rates and minimizing currency-related friction.
Regulatory Compliance
Transactions comply with PSD2 and 3DS requirements in Europe using dynamic logic, and seamlessly align with local standards in Southeast Asia.
Real-Time Fraud Scoring
Every transaction—airfare, hotel, tour— is scanned through adaptive fraud prevention tools that include device fingerprinting, historical behavior, and geo-specific risk thresholds.
Thanks to orchestration, Alex’s card is never declined due to region-specific mismatches. For him, the experience is simply click-and-pay. Cart abandonment is eliminated for the merchants, and authorization rates are optimized without sacrificing security.
On the Road: What Happens During the Trip
During the trip, Alex upgrades to a business class seat at the airport, books a last-minute spa treatment at the hotel, and is later charged for minibar items.
Each of these transactions passes through the orchestration platform:
The airline processes the seat upgrade using stored, tokenized card credentials that were captured securely during booking.
The hotel routes the spa charge through a PSP that supports dynamic 3D Secure, triggered because the transaction exceeded a preset value threshold.
The excursion operator in Thailand accepts QR-based payments routed via a local PSP integrated through the orchestration platform.
With orchestration, each payment is matched with the right processor and authentication method in real time. This prevents service disruption, enhances fraud controls, and ensures Alex never has to re-enter payment information, even when services are purchased across different providers and channels.
Post-Trip Operations: Refunds, Loyalty, and Insights
At the end of the trip. Alex cancels a delayed excursion that would happen after his return. A partial refund is issued promptly.
Behind the scenes, the payment orchestration platform coordinates:
Automated refunds routed back through the correct PSP and returned to the original payment method, ensuring compliance and efficiency.
Loyalty rewards are applied seamlessly using the Payment Account Reference (PAR) value, maintaining customer recognition across sales channels.
Unified transaction data that creates a holistic customer profile, enabling future personalization and engagement.
Posting transaction data to accounting and other relevant back-office applications.
For the travel provider:
Chargebacks are reduced due to transparent, auditable payment trail, 3D secure capability and accurate fraud scoring.
Analytics dashboards offer real-time insight into region-specific success rates, payment method preferences, and upsell performance.
Integrating payment orchestration not only improves refund processes and fraud prevention, but also supports better financial planning and forecasting, especially for global enterprises operating across multiple currencies and jurisdictions.
Key Takeaways for Payment Professionals
Using a payment orchestration platform for travel industry providers isn’t just an infrastructure layer—it’s a strategic enabler of seamless, profitable, and scalable travel experiences.
Strategic Benefits:
Maximize conversion rates: Smart routing with merchant control ensures transactions go to the best-performing PSP.
Support local payment methods: Add methods like BNPL, digital wallets, and QR codes without building custom integrations.
Streamline back-office operations: Reduce manual effort in settlement, reconciliation, and chargeback handling.
Business Outcomes:
Increased customer satisfaction: No failed payments or checkout friction.
Improved ROI: Fewer declines, fewer chargebacks, and better FX management.
Scalable global growth: Expand into new markets with pre-integrated providers and local compliance support.
Half of the top 20 airlines in the world are now turning to payment orchestration as part of their digital transformation initiatives, shifting payments from a cost center to a competitive advantage.
The New Standard for Travel Payments: Fast, Flexible, and Orchestrated
For Alex, a vacation free from payment issues isn’t actually a pleasant surprise—it’s expected. Today’s travelers demand fast, flexible, and secure payment experiences. Behind every click-to-pay and tap-to-check-in is a complex set of operations, smoothed and optimized by orchestration.
For airlines, hotels, travel platforms, and travel providers, that means it’s time to rethink payments not just as a back-office function, but as a growth enabler.
Curious how your airline, hotel chain, or travel platform can benefit? Talk to us about building an orchestrated payment journey tailored to your global customers.