For a small travel agency, the payment gateway decides how easily customers can pay, how quickly money reaches your account and how smoothly refunds go out. Gateways that look similar on their websites can behave very differently for travel businesses, which have high ticket sizes, frequent refunds and higher dispute risk than many other sectors. This guide gives small agencies in India a practical way to compare gateways.
1. Onboarding for travel businesses
Travel is sometimes treated as a higher-risk category, so some gateways ask for extra documents, set lower limits or hold a reserve. Ask early:
- Do you onboard travel agencies, and what documents do you need?
- Are there transaction or monthly limits for new travel merchants?
- Will any part of settlements be held as a reserve?
2. Pricing
- Transaction fees by method: UPI, debit cards, credit cards, international cards, net banking and EMI.
- Setup fees, annual fees or minimum monthly charges.
- Fees for refunds and chargebacks.
- Currency conversion costs for international payments.
Estimate your monthly mix of methods and booking values, and compare total cost, not just the headline rate.
3. Payment methods
Make sure the gateway supports the methods your customers use: UPI, major cards, net banking with the banks your customers use, wallets and EMI. If you sell to foreign travellers, international card support is essential.
4. Settlement
- How many days after payment does money reach your bank account?
- Is faster settlement available, and at what cost?
- Are settlement reports detailed enough to match bookings?
Cash flow matters for small agencies, especially when you pay suppliers before travel.
5. Refunds
Refunds are frequent in travel. Check whether you can issue full and partial refunds from the dashboard and through the API, how long refunds take to reach customers, and whether refund status is visible so your team can answer customer questions.
6. Success rates and reliability
A gateway with low success rates on certain banks or UPI apps loses bookings. Ask for success rate data, check whether the gateway routes payments intelligently, and look at its uptime history and status page.
7. Support
- Is there a dedicated contact for your account?
- How quickly are payment and settlement issues resolved?
- Is support available outside office hours, when many travel bookings happen?
8. Integration with your booking system
Check that the gateway has a well-documented API, webhooks for payment confirmation and refunds, and plugins or ready integration with your travel portal. A clean integration prevents tickets being issued without payment, or payments without tickets.
9. Dashboard and reports
Your team will use the gateway dashboard daily. Check that it lets you search payments by booking reference, customer phone or email, export settlement reports, see refund status and manage users with different permissions. A clear dashboard saves hours each week when customers call about payments.
10. Disputes and chargebacks
Ask how the gateway notifies you of chargebacks, how long you have to respond, and whether you can upload evidence online. Gateways that support you well during disputes protect revenue that would otherwise be lost.
A simple comparison method
- Shortlist two or three gateways that onboard travel merchants.
- Estimate monthly cost with your real payment mix.
- Compare settlement times, refund features and support.
- Test the checkout flow on mobile with UPI and cards.
- Start with one, and consider adding a second as backup once volumes grow.
In practice: an agency's first gateway
A three-person agency in Pune selling domestic holidays chose the gateway with the lowest headline fee, then discovered slow settlements and limited refund tools. It switched to a gateway with slightly higher fees but next-day settlement, partial refunds in the dashboard and a responsive account manager. The extra cost was smaller than the time and cash-flow strain the first gateway had caused.
Frequently asked questions
Is the cheapest gateway the best choice?
Not always. Settlement speed, success rates, refund tools and support often matter more than small differences in fees.
Can I switch gateways later?
Yes, if your booking system's payment integration is modular. Ask your developer to keep gateway logic separate from booking logic.
Key takeaways
- Confirm the gateway onboards travel agencies and check any limits or reserves.
- Compare total cost, settlement speed, refunds and support, not just fees.
- Make sure integration with your booking system is clean and reliable.
We integrate major Indian and international gateways into travel portals. See our payment gateway providers page.
