Payment Gateways for UK Travel Agencies: Stripe, PayPal, Worldpay
By Travel White Label · Published 30 October 2026 · Updated 30 October 2026
A payment gateway for a travel agency in the UK is the service that takes your customer's card payment on your website, sends it for authorisation and passes it to an acquirer, which settles the money into your bank account. For most UK agencies the choice is between an aggregator such as Stripe or PayPal, which you can open online on published rates, and a merchant account from an acquirer such as Worldpay, priced on a quote. Because customers pay now for trips that happen months later, providers look at travel more carefully than most sectors, and your choice also affects PCI DSS, ATOL receipting and chargebacks.
Below: provider fees from their own UK pages, a worked example, and how to choose and onboard a gateway. Still deciding how your platform should charge you? Read our comparison of SaaS vs commission travel platforms first.
In this guide
What a payment gateway does, and who is who
Stripe, PayPal and Worldpay UK fees (checked October 2026)
Worked example: fees on a £1,200 booking
Why providers treat travel as higher risk
The trade-offs: aggregator or merchant account, hosted or embedded, merchant of record
Step by step, with a checklist
Chargebacks, key takeaways and FAQs
What a payment gateway does, and who is who
"Payment gateway" is often used for the whole set-up, but four roles are involved:
Payment gateway. The technology that captures card details on a payment page and sends the transaction for authorisation. Worldpay's quote tool calls it "a service for capturing and transferring payment data".
Acquirer. The firm that processes card payments for you and settles the funds. It can be left exposed if you cannot refund customers, which is why it vets you.
Merchant account. Your own facility with an acquirer, in your business's name, usually on a quoted price and a written agreement.
Aggregator. A provider such as Stripe or PayPal that combines gateway and acquiring in one account with standard rates. You still go through checks, and the provider can review your account as volumes grow.
Stripe, PayPal and Worldpay UK fees (checked October 2026)
These rates are quoted as shown on each provider's UK page when we checked in October 2026. They are not our fees, they change, and your business may be offered different terms, so confirm current rates before you sign.
Stripe
Stripe's UK pricing page shows pay-as-you-go pricing with no setup or monthly fees:
Standard UK cards: 1.5% + 20p. Premium UK cards: 2.8% + 20p.
EEA cards: 2.5% + 20p. International cards: 3.15% + 20p. Plus 2% if currency conversion is required.
Disputes: a £20.00 dispute received fee, and a £20.00 dispute countered fee for each dispute you respond to manually, returned if you win.
3D Secure: included on standard pricing.
Refunds: no fee for card refunds, but the original processing fees are not returned.
PayPal
PayPal's UK merchant fees page (marked "Last Updated: 1, October 2026") covers several products, so check which one your platform uses:
Standard domestic commercial transactions: 2.9% + fixed fee; the fixed fee for sterling is 0.30 GBP.
Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments (blended pricing): 1.2% + fixed fee for Visa, Mastercard and some other cards, 3.5% for American Express. Subject to eligibility, application and approval.
International: an extra 1.29% where the sender is in the EEA, 1.99% for other markets.
Chargebacks and disputes: a 14.00 GBP chargeback fee on card payments not made through a PayPal account or guest checkout; a 12.00 GBP standard dispute fee on payments through a PayPal account or checkout.
Refunds: no fee to refund, but the fees you paid to receive the payment are not returned.
Worldpay
Worldpay prices on a quote. Its online pricing tool asks for annual card turnover and average transaction value, then produces a card payments summary that Worldpay says the Payment Systems Regulator requires it to provide. The summary lists a percentage for each card type, plus items such as an authorisation fee, chargeback fee, PCI DSS service fee, minimum monthly service charge and settlement time. Get your own summary and compare it line by line.
Worked example: fees on a £1,200 booking
For a blended rate, fee = (payment amount × percentage) + fixed fee, charged on every separate payment. For a £1,200 city break paid online, using only the rates above:
Stripe, standard UK card: £18.00 + 20p = £18.20.
Stripe, premium UK card: £33.60 + 20p = £33.80.
Stripe, international card with conversion: £37.80 + 20p + £24.00 conversion = £62.00.
PayPal standard rate: £34.80 + £0.30 = £35.10.
PayPal Advanced Credit and Debit Card Payments, if approved: £14.40 + £0.30 = £14.70.
If your markup and booking fee on this package total £96, a £18.20 fee takes about 19% of that margin and a £35.10 fee about 37%. Card mix matters as much as the headline rate.
Deposits add fixed fees. A £200 deposit and £1,000 balance on a standard UK card through Stripe cost £3.20 + £15.20 = £18.40, one extra 20p.
Refunds keep the fee. Refund a cancelled £1,200 booking in full and the original fee is still gone.
A lost chargeback costs more than the booking. On Stripe, challenging and losing a £1,200 dispute costs the £1,200 plus £40.00 in dispute fees.
Build these costs into your pricing. Our travel booking engine features checklist covers markups, fees and total-price display.
Why providers treat travel as higher risk
A summer holiday sold in January is delivered months later. If the seller or a supplier fails first, customers turn to their card issuer and the acquirer may fund the refunds. Providers say so openly:
Restricted category. Stripe's prohibited and restricted businesses list includes "Travel reservation services and clubs" under "Businesses that might pose elevated financial risk". Restricted businesses "require additional due diligence", and Stripe may ask for proof of relevant licences or more details about your business model.
Reserves. Stripe's guide to balances and settlement time says it "might create a reserve balance" to cover expected refunds or disputes, which you cannot pay out until the hold period ends.
Risk pricing. PayPal's fees page says that if an account receives, or is likely to receive, disproportionately many complaints, reversals or chargebacks, it may raise the percentage part of its card fees by up to 5% per transaction after 30 days' notice.
Long dispute windows. The Financial Ombudsman Service explains that customers usually have around 120 days to raise a chargeback, which might run from the date they expected the service. For travel, that can be long after booking.
So explain your booking window, cancellation terms and suppliers when you apply, and plan cash flow on the basis that some funds could be held.
The trade-offs: aggregator or merchant account, hosted or embedded, merchant of record
Aggregator or merchant account
Speed. Aggregator: online sign-up, published rates. Merchant account: application, underwriting and a written agreement.
Price. Aggregator: standard rates, with custom pricing for large volumes. Merchant account: quoted on your turnover, often with extra line items such as a monthly minimum.
Stability. Aggregator: easy to open, but reviews, reserves or changed terms can follow as your profile changes. Merchant account: more paperwork up front, terms fixed in your agreement.
Hosted payment page or embedded form
How card details are collected decides your PCI DSS workload. The PCI Security Standards Council's FAQ on SAQ A and SAQ A-EP says that for SAQ A "all elements of the payment pages must only originate from PCI DSS compliant service provider(s)"; if elements come from your own website, SAQ A-EP, a longer questionnaire, may apply instead.
Hosted page, redirect or provider iframe. Worldpay's Hosted Payment Pages documentation says they take payments "at the lowest PCI compliance level (SAQ A)", via full page redirect, iframe or lightbox.
Your own card form. More control, more controls. Stripe's integration security guide warns that handling card data directly may mean meeting "more than 300 security controls in PCI DSS".
Outsourcing does not remove your duty. The PCI SSC FAQ on outsourced processing says merchants must use a compliant provider, keep written agreements (Requirement 12.8.2), monitor the provider's compliance at least annually (12.8.4) and validate their own compliance, typically with a Self-Assessment Questionnaire.
You also need Strong Customer Authentication. The FCA explains that SCA has applied since 14 September 2019 under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 when a payer initiates an electronic payment, unless an exemption applies. Online, that usually means 3D Secure, so test it on mobile.
Merchant of record and where the money goes
The merchant of record is the business on the customer's card statement: it receives the funds and faces any chargeback.
Selling as an agent for an ATOL holder. The CAA's guidance on travel trade selling through agents says an ATOL Certificate must be issued "immediately any payment is taken", and receipts must show which money is protected and which is not, with booking fees identified separately. Your payment and booking emails need to do this. See also the CAA's ATOL Certificates guidance.
Organising non-flight packages. The government's package travel guidance for businesses, updated on 28 October 2026 for the 2026 amendments, lists bonding, insurance and a trust account as insolvency protection options. With a trust account, "all money paid by the traveller" is held by an independent trustee until the contract is performed, so your gateway must settle into that account.
On TravelWhiteLabel, our B2C travel platform includes a payment module with card payments, deposits and instalment options, and our site lists Stripe, PayPal and Worldpay among the gateways you can connect as your own. Charges from your own payment gateway are not included in our fees. You can also use our suppliers at no extra cost, and those suppliers are ATOL and ABTA protected; TravelWhiteLabel does not hold an ATOL itself. Ask us how payments flow for the products you plan to sell.
Step by step: choosing and onboarding a payment gateway
Map your money flows. What you sell, whose ATOL or insolvency protection covers it, who is merchant of record, and whether money goes to a trust account.
Estimate your numbers. Annual card turnover, average booking value, deposit share, booking window and likely card mix.
Compare costs. Run the worked example above on your own average booking with Stripe and PayPal rates and a Worldpay quote.
Check platform fit. Confirm your booking platform supports the gateway, deposits, balances and refunds. On ours, ask us which gateways are supported for your set-up.
Apply accurately. Describe the business as travel, explain your booking window and cancellation terms, and have company documents and any ATOL agency agreements ready.
Agree terms in writing. Reserves, settlement timing, payout account, monthly minimums and how risk reviews work.
Choose the integration. Prefer a hosted or provider-served card form, and confirm your SAQ type with the provider or acquirer.
Test end to end. Approval, decline, 3D Secure challenge, abandoned payment, deposit then balance, refunds, and a booking that fails after payment.
Go live and reconcile. Match the first payouts to bookings and fees before scaling marketing.
Payment gateway checklist
Merchant of record, protection and payout account (trading or trust) decided.
Fees compared on your own average booking and card mix.
Reserves and settlement timing confirmed in writing.
Hosted or provider-served card form; SAQ type confirmed.
3D Secure tested on mobile and desktop.
Receipts separate protected money, non-protected money and booking fees.
ATOL Certificates issued as soon as payment is taken, where applicable.
Dispute owner and evidence pack agreed.
Chargebacks: prevent, respond, learn
Stripe's disputes overview explains that when a cardholder disputes a payment, the issuer creates a formal dispute on the card network, which "immediately reverses the payment", and your balance is debited for the amount and dispute fee. The FCA's guidance on cancellations and refunds notes that chargeback "is not a statutory right", while section 75 may cover credit card purchases between £100 and £30,000. Visa's UK chargeback guide tells cardholders to ask the seller for a refund first, so a quick, clear refund process prevents many disputes.
Prevent
Show cancellation and refund terms before payment and in the confirmation.
Send confirmations, ATOL Certificates and travel documents promptly, and keep proof.
Answer refund requests fast, especially when a supplier cancels.
Respond
Act fast. Stripe's guide to responding to disputes says you usually have "7 to 21 days, depending on the card network"; miss it and you lose automatically.
Read the reason. Fraud, "not received" and "cancelled" disputes need different evidence.
Submit one complete pack. Booking record, accepted terms, confirmation and ATOL Certificate, supplier confirmation, 3D Secure result and customer messages. Stripe allows only one submission.
Accept when the customer is right. A refund can cost less than a lost challenge.
Then learn: track disputes monthly by reason, product and supplier, because a cluster usually points to a fixable process problem.
This is general guidance, not legal or financial advice.
Key takeaways
A payment gateway for a travel agency in the UK usually means an aggregator (Stripe, PayPal) or a merchant account from an acquirer (Worldpay).
Fees are a percentage plus a fixed fee per payment; on a £1,200 booking the cited rates range from £14.70 to £62.00.
Refunds keep the processing fee, and lost chargebacks cost the booking plus dispute fees.
Stripe lists travel reservation services as a restricted business; expect questions and possible reserves.
Hosted payment pages can keep you to SAQ A, but PCI DSS, SCA, ATOL receipting and trust rules still apply to you.
FAQs
Which payment gateway is best for a UK travel agency?
No single one. Stripe and PayPal are quick to open on published rates; Worldpay offers quoted merchant accounts. Compare them on your average booking, card mix, reserve terms and platform fit.
Do I need a merchant account to take card payments?
No. An aggregator gives you gateway and acquiring in one account. Many agencies add a merchant account later, once volumes earn a better quote.
Are payment gateway fees included in TravelWhiteLabel pricing?
No. Charges from your own payment gateway are not included in our fees. There is no setup fee; plans are Growth £179, Scale £599 and Elite £999 per month, and API access is £999 per month. See plans and pricing.
Can customers pay a deposit and the balance later?
Our B2C platform's payment module supports deposits and instalment options. Each payment carries its own fixed fee, so allow for that in your pricing.
Launch your travel website with the payment gateway you choose
Connect your own payment gateway and sell flights, hotels and packages from our suppliers at no extra cost; those suppliers are ATOL and ABTA protected. There is no setup fee, you start on a free beta site, billing only starts at go-live, and paying 12 months upfront gets you 2 months free. Explore the B2C travel platform, compare plans and pricing, start on a free beta site, or call our East Ham, London team on 020 3432 6375 (Mon-Fri 9:00-18:00) or email [email protected].