For the 2026 holiday season, the "customer experience" starts long before the guest arrives at the terminal or the lobby. It starts at the checkout.

As travel becomes more globalized, the traditional banking "moats" are evaporating. Travelers from emerging markets are traveling further than ever, and they are bringing their local payment habits with them. If your hotel or transport service still relies on legacy "3-5 business day" settlement windows, you aren't just losing time—you're losing customers.

The era of "Invisible" foreign exchange

In 2026, the savvy traveler refuses to pay "convenience fees" for spending their own money abroad. Top-tier travel brands are now integrating Embedded Finance. By partnering with cross-border payment rails, airlines and tour operators can offer mid-market exchange rates directly in-app, turning a traditional pain point into a loyalty-driving feature.

Biometrics and the ultimate wallet

The "one-ID" movement has moved into the retail space. We are seeing a surge in "smile-to-pay" systems at airport lounges and hotel kiosks. By linking a guest's biometric profile to their preferred cross-border digital wallet, brands are eliminating the friction of physical cards and currency exchange entirely.

2026 isn't just about technical upgrades; it’s about financial sovereignty. For hospitality and transport providers, payments have evolved from a back-office utility into a front-line guest experience and a powerful lever for treasury optimization.

Here are four pillars travel and tourism payments are defined upon:

1. Multi-rail payment infrastructure

In 2026, the "battle of the rails" has ended in a truce. No single payment method won; instead, they all coexist. A multi-rail infrastructure allows your business to route transactions through the most efficient path based on cost, speed, and risk.

RTP (Real-Time Payments) are essential for account-to-account (A2A) transfers. In 2026, systems like FedNow (US), SEPA Instant (EU), and UPI (India) are interconnected. This allows a guest to pay for a luxury tour directly from their bank account with instant verification, bypassing traditional card interchange fees.

CBDCs and stablecoins are no longer "fringe" assets. Regulated digital currencies are now mainstream infrastructure for cross-border settlements. They offer "programmable money"—for example, a hotel deposit that is automatically released to the housekeeping staff’s digital wallet the second the guest checks out.

Traditional cards are still the bedrock for consumer protections and insurance. Your system must intelligently "orchestrate" these, using network tokens to ensure higher authorization rates and lower fraud during the holiday surge.

2. The "zero-latency" cash flow

In the high-volume travel sector, the time between a "booking" and "settlement" is a risk window. Instant settlement closes that window, ensuring that a "confirmed" seat or room is truly paid for before the guest arrives.

Modern instant rails also carry ISO 20022 structured data. This means your finance team isn't manually matching bank statements to bookings; the payment and the booking data arrive as a single, self-reconciling package.

3. The "global-local” traveller

Travellers expect to travel to the other side of the world but pay using the app they use for their morning coffee at home.

Leaders are moving away from "dynamic currency conversion" (which often feels like a hidden fee to guests) and toward embedded FX. By showing the price in the guest’s native currency at a competitive, real-time rate, you build trust and reduce cart abandonment.

Verto’s embedded finance solution is used by travel platforms like Triply to guarantee their customers the ideal customer experience. 

Discover how Triply uses Verto Atlas

The ultimate local experience is, essentially, no "tool" at all. Linking a guest’s local payment method to their biometric profile (face or palm) allows for a friction-free experience at hotel kiosks or airport lounges, where the "payment" happens invisibly during the check-in process.

4. Payment orchestration layers

In 2026, the most successful travel brands use Payment orchestration layers that allow them to "plug and play" new local methods or rails as they gain popularity, ensuring they are always where their customers’ money is.

In conclusion

The 2026 holiday season belongs to the borderless brand. The tech is ready, and the travelers are waiting. Update you payment system today.