The Mobile Money Journey: Integrating Payments Across Every Travel Touchpoint
Mobile payments are no longer just a convenience; they’re fast becoming the connective tissue of the modern travel experience. Today’s travelers expect the same smooth, secure, and speedy payments they get from shopping or food delivery apps.
For travel brands, operators, and digital platforms, this shift represents both a challenge and a competitive advantage. How can businesses seamlessly integrate mobile payments not just at the point of sale, but throughout the customer journey — from the moment someone starts planning a trip to when they’re back home claiming rewards or writing reviews?
Let’s walk through the traveler’s journey and explore how — and where — mobile payments are transforming travel.
1. Pre-Trip Planning: Turning Inspiration into Instant Booking
The modern travel experience begins not at the airport, but often on a smartphone screen. From social media inspiration to price comparison sites and booking engines, travelers are increasingly discovering, planning, and purchasing their trips on mobile.
According to Statista, mobile devices drove 70.5% of online traffic for travel and hospitality sites in 2024, and over 60% of travelers use their phones to book at least one part of their trip. Meanwhile, digital wallets accounted for 53% of all global e-commerce spend, based on the Worldpay Global Payments Report — and that number is still rising.
Yet, many booking platforms haven’t caught up. Unoptimised for mobile payments, these platforms often have clunky or inconsistent checkout workflows, especially across borders. Here are some common issues that lead to large drop-off rates:
- Lack of local payment options: Travelers want to pay using what they know, like GCash in the Philippines, PayNow in Singapore, or WeChat Pay in China. Without these, many drop off at checkout.
- Slow load speeds on mobile: A Google study found that 53% of mobile site visits get abandoned if pages take 3 seconds or more to load.
- High cart abandonment due to unoptimised UX: Baymard Institute revealed that with an average cart abandonment rate of around 70%, poor mobile user experience is a key culprit.
What this means for travel brands and platforms: A mobile-first mindset isn’t optional anymore — it’s business-critical. By integrating localised payment systems and digital wallets like Apple Pay, GrabPay, and Alipay+, brands can build trust, reduce friction, and win more bookings from the get-go.
2. At the Airport: Smart Airports Need Smarter Payments
From automated check-ins to biometric security, airports are becoming increasingly high-tech — but the payment experience often lags behind.
Whether it’s paying for excess baggage, lounge access, or a kiosk upgrade, mobile payments can streamline the process and cut down on queues. Yet too often, travelers encounter friction at airports due to outdated systems, fragmented vendor setups, and limited integration with mobile wallets or loyalty apps.
Here are common issues one might face when making payments at airports:
- Inconsistent acceptance of mobile payments across merchants and kiosks
- Manual or multi-step processes at check-in counters or self-service kiosks
- Poor integration with loyalty or airline apps, limiting instant redemptions or upgrades.
Take Singapore’s Changi airport, widely regarded as one of the best in the world. Despite its innovations, there’s still room to better capitalise on last-minute upsells, like baggage add-ons or seat upgrades. Many of these transactions still require travelers to move between counters or complete extra steps. In fact, a report cited in the Singapore Business Review found that one in four Singaporeans sees airports as the worst place to face payment issues.
As Lance Batty, Head of Asia Pacific Commercial at Outpayce from Amadeus, puts it:
“A classic scenario might be at an automated bag drop, where a customer has a chance to buy an excess bag or an exit row seat at a kiosk. And because of the current limitations, they’re being asked to perhaps walk to another part of the airport to complete that purchase, then come back and complete the check-in a second time.”
The good news? Solutions are within reach.
Airports can make payments easier for travelers by standardising payment systems across retail, F&B, and service counters — ensuring universal support for mobile payments like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and contactless cards.
For instance, Changi has implemented a unified POS system across its terminals and Jewel Changi Airport. This setup enables merchants to accept popular QR-based e-wallets such as Alipay, GrabPay, PayNow, and WeChat Pay. Additionally, Changi Pay, a digital wallet developed with Liquid Group, has been progressively rolled out across airport outlets.
Still, consistency remains key. For a seamless airport experience, mobile payments must be supported at every touchpoint. A unified system can turn fragmented journeys into high-conversion moments, especially for time-sensitive purchases like seat upgrades, lounge access, or last-minute shopping.
Another opportunity lies in real-time integration with loyalty ecosystems. Travelers increasingly expect their mobile wallets/apps to reflect up-to-date points, rewards, and eligibility for perks.
Yet, many systems operate in silos, making redemptions and upgrades clunky or impossible. According to a 2022 Amadeus report, 47% of travelers planned to use loyalty points to fund future trips — signaling a real need to integrate seamless redemptions into the airport experience.
By enabling loyalty-linked payments at shops, lounges, and kiosks — whether through QR codes, app-based prompts, or embedded wallets — airports and airlines can drive more engagement and incremental revenue.
For travel service providers and airports:
Prioritise unified, mobile-first payment infrastructure — and pair it with real-time loyalty integration. Such forward-thinking improvements can drive faster transactions, increase upsell conversions, and deliver a smoother experience that travelers already expect in every other part of their digital lives.
3. Accommodation: Elevating the Guest Experience
Accommodation providers, from hotels to vacation rentals, are stepping up their tech game to meet evolving guest expectations.
With mobile check-in and digital room keys, today’s travelers can bypass the front desk entirely. And it doesn’t stop there — services like room upgrades and spa bookings can be seamlessly upsold mid-stay and charged via mobile. QR-based POS systems even let guests pay from their phones while lounging by the pool.
But despite vast industry improvements, many properties still use outdated systems that silo payments. In simple terms, a guest might check in on an app, but then be told to pay for room service in cash or swipe a card at the spa. This disconnect kills convenience and opportunity.
Here are some payment issues guests face at accommodations:
- Fragmented payment options: Guests can’t use wallets like Apple Pay, GrabPay, or Alipay+ on-site
- Inconsistent mobile experiences for in-stay purchases like ordering food or booking spa
- Manual or paper-based check-in processes that slow down arrival
According to Oracle Hospitality, 73% of hotel guests want to use their smartphones to manage their stay — from check-in and room automation to ordering food, paying for services, making requests, and more. Yet as of 2022, only 38.3% of hotels offered self-service check-in options like contactless kiosks or mobile apps. This leaves a huge gap for accommodation providers to fill.
Here’s an example of real-world innovation. In Thailand, many hotels struggled with outdated payment systems that could not support the digital wallets guests preferred.
To fix this, Cloudbeds, a hospitality management software, partnered with Latin American payments platform dLocal to integrate local wallets like PromptPay and international options like Apple Pay into hotel management software. Such integration streamlines payments and eliminates friction across the guest journey.
Key insight for accommodation providers: Your hotel app shouldn’t just be a room key. It should be a wallet, concierge, and upsell engine.
By investing in connected payment infrastructure and smart partnerships, hotels can turn every interaction — from check-in to poolside ordering — into a frictionless and revenue-generating moment.
4. In-Destination: Activities and Local Spend
Once travelers arrive, spending begins. Be it buying transit cards, meals, or a museum pass, mobile payments should be a trusted travel companion at every touchpoint.
The shift is underway: many small businesses are already adapting. Based on a Visa study, 82% of small business owners are moving toward digital payments in response to changing traveler expectations. And with 59% of global consumers saying they’re less likely to return to a business that doesn’t accept their preferred payment method, mobile-first payments aren’t just convenience tools but a retention strategy.
Still, gaps remain. Here are common on-the-ground challenges:
- Limited mobile payment acceptance: A 2019 Nielsen report found that only 58% of merchants in popular tourist areas across Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand accepted mobile payments — and of those, only 70% supported Chinese platforms like Alipay.
- Perceived risks and fees: According to a Visa report, 26% of Asia-Pacific Small and Medium-sized Businesses avoid card payments due to high fees, while 33% cite fraud prevention as a key challenge slowing mobile payment adoption.
- Connectivity issues and infrastructure gaps: Especially in rural or remote destinations, seamless transactions can be difficult.
In response to these gaps, leading fintech platforms are moving fast with innovative solutions and partnerships. Take Alipay+ as an example. In Thailand, they’ve partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to launch Alipay+ D-hub, an in-app mini program that promotes lesser-known destinations to Chinese travelers.
Going beyond payments, D-hub has moved into destination marketing via A+Rewards and digital lifestyle services. It offers access to cultural insights, curated merchant rewards, in-app tax refunds, and even transportation tools — all in one place.
As Douglas Feagin, President of Alipay+ mentioned:
“Chinese travelers want local discovery and seamless spend all in one place. That’s where the ecosystem is heading—toward immersive, integrated travel platforms.”
This initiative helped boost tourism to under-visited spots like Rayong, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, and Hai Yat — a win for both travelers and local economies.
For fintech platforms, tourism boards, and travel brands:
By embedding mobile payments into broader discovery tools — paired with loyalty integration/rewards and smart partnerships with local governments — brands can:
The future of travel isn’t just about how travelers pay; it’s how they discover, engage, and return.
5. Post-Trip Payments: The Journey Doesn’t End at Checkout
The travel experience doesn’t stop when the trip ends, and neither does the payment journey. Refunds, receipts, loyalty redemptions, and follow-up offers often come after a guest has left.
But this post-trip window is often full of friction. Common pain points include:
- Slow Refunds: Security deposits and booking refunds often take too long, especially for international or third-party bookings, causing stress and bad reviews.
- Surprise Charges: Unexpected fees like minibar items, tolls, or damage claims often create trust issues and disputes.
- Missing Receipts: Business travelers need receipts for expense claims, but many never receive them or struggle to find them.
- Loyalty Frustrations: Points or miles may take weeks to show up, or entirely fail to register if the booking wasn’t made through the right channel.
- Missed Follow-ups: Brands often miss the opportunity to re-engage travelers when the trip is still fresh.
But these are solvable. Travel brands and fintech platforms already have the tools to close the gap.
To ease guest anxiety, ensure automated instant refunds via modern payment systems, like digital wallets or cards. Even better, prevent issues before they start with real-time itemised billing and in-app alerts, helping guests avoid surprise charges and potential disputes. For seamless claims, send digital receipts automatically or make them downloadable from an app or dashboard.
And to reward travelers promptly, implement loyalty systems that sync directly with payment data. Re-engage travelers by triggering personalised rebooking nudges based on prior spend data.
For travel brands and fintechs: Embed value in the post-trip window. Ensure your payment ecosystem can resolve issues fast, while capitalising on a prime moment to build loyalty and encourage repeat travel.
Final Thoughts: The Road Ahead for Travel Payments
As the travel experience becomes more digital, mobile payments are evolving from convenience to core infrastructure. It’s no longer just about swiping at checkout; it’s about integrating discovery, loyalty, financial services, and local engagement in one seamless experience.
For travel businesses, this isn’t just a tech upgrade. It’s a revenue opportunity. From dynamic offers in-app to partnerships with payment players and tourism boards, those who invest early will be well-positioned to shape how the next generation of travelers spend, engage, and return.
