Travel agency merchant accounts UK
Travel agencies hold customer money for delivery in the future. Card schemes treat the long delivery gap as elevated chargeback risk; collapses (Thomas Cook, Monarch) sharpened the rules.
Legal status (UK)
Legal with ATOL / ABTA membership where applicable. Strong consumer-protection regulation.
Best way to take Travel agency payments (UK)
Our pick
MerchantHQ, specialist Travel agency broker and account team
Mainstream UK acquirers (SumUp, Square, Zettle, Dojo, Worldpay, Barclaycard) decline Travel agency at onboarding or terminate after launch. We hold a specialist panel of UK high-risk acquirers that underwrite it. As a broker we match you to the right one for your licence, volume and processing history, then stay on as your named UK account team for the life of the agreement.
The acquirer pays our commission on signup, so it costs you nothing on top, and we never sell your details on. We disclose the risk classification upfront so the right underwriter is approached from the start.
Get matched to a Travel agency acquirerHigh-risk merchants are the most exposed to chargebacks, frozen funds and MATCH/TMF listings, and that is exactly what your MerchantHQ account team handles, for the life of the agreement.
UK acquirers that work with Travel agency businesses
These UK acquirers work with Travel agency businesses. Each underwrites case-by-case on your licence, volume and processing history, and any of them can still decline or load a heavy reserve, so acceptance is never guaranteed. As your broker we approach the one most likely to take your specific profile, rather than you applying cold and risking a decline on your record.
- Trust Payments UK acquirer
UK FCA Authorised Payment Institution and Visa/Mastercard Principal Member with multi-acquirer reach across regulated verticals.
- PXP Financial UK acquirer
FCA-regulated acquirer with strong gambling/betting and travel/cruise heritage (ex-Kalixa).
- Worldpay UK acquirer
Largest European acquirer; negotiates direct terms for established higher-risk merchants and considers MATCH-listed cases individually.
- Elavon UK acquirer
Tier-one acquirer (US Bancorp) with a very strong travel and airline payments franchise in the UK.
- Cardstream Payment gateway
Independent UK white-label gateway connecting merchants to acquirers; the rails, not the underwriter, so it pairs with an acquirer.
Typical pricing
- Rate
- 2.0% to 3.5%
- Settlement reserve
- Variable; can be substantial; sometimes settled into a trust account rather than direct
Watch outs
- ATOL / ABTA membership documentation required.
- Trust-account arrangements for advance payments.
- Section 75 protection where credit cards are used adds chargeback exposure.
Director, MerchantHQ
Oliver leads MerchantHQ's terminal testing and acquirer comparison. With a background in UK commercial finance and merchant payments, he oversees terminal reviews, switching guidance and high-risk vertical mapping.
Last reviewed: 26 April 2026