✈️ Travel and Hospitality

This industry covers airline merchants, travel agencies, hotels, and other merchants who provide hospitality. Merchants who organize tours also fall under this industry.

These merchants provide time-sensitive, high-value services that are often vulnerable to last-minute cancellations or changes. Merchants in this industry tend to receive a lot of international payments and need to pay close attention to disputes because of this.

Customers typically book and pay in advance for these services that are scheduled for a future date. Disputes may arise when expectations are not met or travel plans change unexpectedly.

• The customer did not receive the service. Examples of this are:

  • They didn’t receive the flight ticket

  • They were not able to get on the plane / missed the flight

  • The flight was canceled by the airline

  • The tour was canceled by the organizer

  • The hotel room that was booked was not available

  • The hotel accommodation that was booked was not as described

• Service not as described: A customer may have booked a hotel room or a tour, and it differed significantly from what was advertised to them on the business’s website.

• Cancelled subscription: A customer may have cancelled a booking and requested a refund, but did not receive it.

• Duplicate payments: A customer may raise a dispute if they get charged more than once for the same booking.

• Failed transaction: On occasion, customers are debited during a failed transaction. E.g., the customer does not get a prompt that their payment was successful, and in seeking a refund, they raise a dispute with their bank.

• Unrecognized transactions: Some customers may not recognize charges due to unclear merchant descriptors. Others may see a debit appear days after completing a transaction, which adds to the confusion and results in a dispute.

• Unauthorized transactions: Bookings are sometimes made with stolen cards or compromised card details. This can lead to the cardholder raising a dispute.

• Flight ticket with a comprehensive breakdown showing the ticket cost, the customer’s name, flight date(s), etc.

• Proof that the hotel or flight booking confirmation was sent to the customers’ emails and via SMS.

• Payment invoices for the hotel or tour booking with customer details (name, email address, phone number).

• Proof of service usage (check-in logs, scanned IDs, signed guest cards).

If a customer files a pre-arbitration chargeback on a payment made to your travel or hospitality business, it means they’re dissatisfied with the outcome of the first chargeback and are requesting a further review by their bank.

As the merchant, you should:

• Investigate closely to confirm that the customer indeed received value for the transaction. If they did not, then you should accept the pre-arbitration.

• If a partial amount is being refunded to the customer, you should provide proof that the customer agreed to the partial refund policy before they booked the flight, tour, or hotel accommodation.

• If the customer did receive value, you need to provide additional evidence to support this:

  • As an airline merchant, you should provide, in addition to the flight ticket, proof that the customer boarded the flight. This can be the flight manifest.

  • As a hotel merchant or a merchant providing tour services, you should revalidate all booking logs and guest records to confirm that the customer checked into the accommodation and stayed for the duration of their booking, or that they were available for the duration of the tour.

  • If the customer did not cancel a payment when they were supposed to, you should provide proof that the customer agreed to the terms and conditions of your cancellation/refund policies. The policies should be visible on your website.

  • Screenshots of your email conversations showing that you attempted to resolve the chargeback with the customer: It is important to reach out to your customer to confirm if and why they’re still disputing the transaction and find out how you can resolve the chargeback.

• Communicate your policies: Policies regarding cancellation, refunds, no-show fees, and other policies need to be clear on websites and also included in confirmation emails to the customer.

• Send reminders and confirmations for all bookings made by customers.

• Offer self-service channels for cancellations and refund requests.

• Have recognizable payment descriptions. It’s important to have clear payment descriptions stating your business name, so customers recognize payments on their bank statements as coming from your business.

• Strong documentation: It is important to keep detailed records of every transaction and communication with the customer. It is also encouraged to communicate with customers via email, as this will be easier to put together and use when responding to chargebacks.