Hotel payment methods that make bookings effortless
Hotel payment methods that remove friction from booking to checkout
The best stays feel effortless. A guest finds a room, books it in seconds, checks in without friction, and leaves without ever thinking about the hotel payment methods behind their transaction. That sense of ease is exactly what today’s travellers expect, and it runs through the entire journey from the first click to the guest checkout.
Underneath that ease sits a question every hotelier now has to answer:
Which hotel payment methods do guests prefer, and is your property offering them?
The Adyen Hospitality and Travel Index 2025, drawn from 8,100 businesses and 40,000 consumers across 27 countries, gives a clear answer. Guests want speed, choice, and autonomy. They want to pay the way they already pay everywhere else in their lives. And the properties that meet those expectations are quietly winning more bookings, more direct relationships, and more repeat stays than those that do not.
Guests want to book and pay quickly and easily
35% of guests say they want to complete their booking and pay quickly and easily (Travel Index 2025). A slow or clumsy checkout at the point of booking is one of the most common reasons a guest abandons a direct reservation and drifts back to an online travel agency instead.
An effortless checkout starts with a hotel payment solution that removes steps. A guest should be able to confirm a room and pay in a few taps, without re-entering card details, or being redirected to a page that looks nothing like the hotel they just chose. Every extra moment of friction is an invitation to abandon the booking.
This is exactly what Prommt is built for. A guest receives a branded payment request, opens it on their own device, and pays in a few steps with card, Pay by Bank or a digital wallet on a payment page embedded within the hotel’s website. There is no account to create and no unfamiliar checkout page, just a fast, secure payment that feels like a natural part of booking with your property.
What hotel payment methods do guests prefer most?
According to Travel Index, 42% of guests say they want to pay with their preferred payment method. Payment methods that are fast, familiar, and digital. In practice that means offering Pay by Bank, digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and the ability to pay in their own currency, all available across booking, in-stay, and checkout. The common thread is autonomy.
Benefits of modern hotel payment methods and what they mean for your property
Meeting that expectation means thinking beyond cards. The hotel payment methods guests now reach for include:
🔹 Pay by Link, branded payment links that they can receive by SMS, Email or Whatsapp and redirect to their preferred payment method
🔹 Pay by Bank, which lets guests pay directly from their bank account using open banking, with no card details and no card network in the middle
🔹 Digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, which guests already use daily and trust for speed and security
🔹 Cards, still essential, but no longer the only option a modern property should offer
A flexible payments orchestration solution for hotels gives every guest a method they already know and trust, which builds confidence from the very first transaction.
A modern remote payment solution becomes genuinely transformative when it connects directly to your hotel’s PMS, such as Oracle OPERA. By streamlining how payments are requested, collected, and reconciled, hotels get paid faster, reduce operational costs, and free staff from time‑consuming manual follow‑ups.
Prommt integrates seamlessly with Oracle OPERA v5 and Cloud, eliminating one of hospitality’s biggest pain points: manual payment posting and reconciliation. Payments become automated, secure, and instantly reflected in the PMS.
- Automatically or manually send payment requests direct from OPERA
- Automated posting back to OPERA with updated balance of Guest Total, eliminating manual entry
- Updated comments & traces providing a full audit trail
- Trigger automated payment requests based on specific rate codes
- Manage payments for deposits, upsells, and group bookings seamlessly within the PMS
- Provide staff with instant visibility on payment status, improving efficiency and guest service
What This Means for Your Hotel Property
Guests have been clear about what they expect: Speed. Autonomy. Transparency. A modern, flexible set of hotel payment methods closes that gap. It turns payments from a point of friction into a reason guests return.
Prommt’s Pay by Link and Pay by Bank are built for how hospitality actually operates. They integrate into Oracle OPERA, carry your brand, and feel natural whether a guest is booking online, paying a deposit, or settling their bill. Guests get the speed and control they expect; your team gets a cleaner, faster way to get paid.
Pay by Bank: Built for High‑Value Hospitality Payments
Prommt uses Open Banking Payments to enable seamless account‑to‑account payments across the EU. It’s fast, simple, and, unlike cards, free from scheme fees, and reduces significantly chargeback risk. For high‑value transactions such as weddings and events, Pay by Bank is an ideal fit.
- Lower payment costs by reducing card fees
- Improve cash flow with instant settlement
- Reduce fraud risks and chargebacks with secure, bank-level authentication
- Replace manual bank transfers with a seamless, instant payment journey. Payments are completed via the guests’ mobile banking app.
Prommt also offers:
Payment Orchestration: Maximise Payment Success
Prommt also offers a payment orchestration engine that ensures every payment request has the highest chance of success. When sending a payment link, hotels can offer both bank and card payment options, giving guests the freedom to choose the method that suits them best.
Automated rules and thresholds allow the system to intelligently decide which payment methods to present based on the value, location, or risk profile of the transaction.
Autocharge: Secure, Convenient Stored‑Card Payments
Prommt’s Autocharge feature provides a secure and convenient way to collect outstanding balances using stored card details. It gives hotels greater certainty around payment collection while reducing manual intervention for staff.
👉 Automatically charge stored cards for outstanding balances
👉 Improve collection certainty for no‑shows, incidentals, and post‑stay charges
👉 Reduce manual workload by eliminating follow‑up calls and emails
👉 Maintain PCI‑compliant security for all stored card data
Frequently Asked Questions
What payment methods do hotel guests prefer?
Hotel guests increasingly gravitate toward fast, digital, and familiar payment options. Pay by Bank is an emerging alternative to card payments. Digital Wallets such as Apply Pay and Google Pay are also important to offer. Guests also appreciate the ability to pay in their own currency.
More importantly, guests prefer a simple link‑based payment experience. When they receive a secure payment link on their own device, they can choose their preferred payment method in seconds. This gives them the speed and autonomy they expect.
Should hotels offer Pay by Bank at checkout?
Yes. Offering Pay by Bank at checkout is becoming a more mainstream alternative to card and is particularly relevant for high value transactions such as wedding and event payments. It gives guests a fast, secure way to pay directly from their bank account, removes the friction of entering card details, and lowers costs for the hotel because payments move outside the card networks. Pairing Pay by Bank with digital wallets covers the methods most guests now prefer.
What is a remote payment solution for hotels?
A remote payment solution for hotels allows a property request and accepts payment without the guest being physically present. The guest receives a secure payment request and completes it from their own device, which is ideal for deposits, pre-authorisations, and settling balances before arrival or after departure. It gives guests autonomy and removes manual work from hotel teams.
How can hotels make bookings faster for guests?
Hotels can make bookings faster by reducing the number of steps a guest has to take. A modern hotel payment integrated to their system, such as Oracle OPERA, lets guests pay in a few steps without creating an account or re-entering card details, offers their preferred payment method, and works across every touchpoint. Pay by Bank and digital wallets are the quickest options for most guests today.