All Articles Tagged With "Digital payments"

Breaking the Payment Barriers for Travel Intermediaries

Edgar, Dunn & Company, a strategy consultancy specialised in payments with extensive expertise in travel, conducted qualitative interviews with a wide range of travel intermediaries across Europe with global operations, including OTAs, TMCs, bedbanks, NDC aggregators, and tour operators. Our discussions highlighted a consistent theme: as distribution models evolve, payment complexity is becoming not only an operational issue, but also a structural constraint on growth. In this article, we examine the key payment hurdles faced by these players and the trends reshaping B2B travel payments.

Payments as a driver for customer experience in airline travel

The customer experience is pivotal in the airline travel industry, and payment is the first touchpoint that triggers it. However, 17% of travellers experience card declines when booking travel online, and 59% of those are likely to abandon their purchase if their preferred payment method is unavailable. In this article, Louis Wapler (Manager, Paris) explores how airlines can treat payment acceptance as a strategic customer experience lever rather than merely a technical checklist

How AI Agents will make ticket buying smarter and faster

The global event ticketing market size for 2025 is estimated to be approximately USD 50 billion to USD 85 billion depending on whether offline and online ticket sales are included. This segment of the hospitality industry is set to grow, driven by digitalization, mobile ticketing, and new live event formats. Additionally, AI agents are set to automate queueing for ticket release, price comparison and purchasing which will fundamentally reshape both the user experience and how the ticket distribution models operate. Mark Beresford (Director, London) has examined the implications of agentic commerce in the event ticketing sector. How far away are consumers asking their personal AI agents “Buy me two tickets for the Coldplay concert, next July in Barcelona, prefer standing floor near the front of the stage"?

by Mark Beresford | Jan 05, 2026

16 mins read

Conversation with Rowland Camrass, Head of Commercial – Issuing at Checkout.com

Beatrice Sava (Senior Consultant, London) recently interviewed Rowland Camrass, Head of Commercial – Issuing at Checkout.com. During their conversation, Rowland discussed Checkout.com’s strategic move into the card issuing space, the key challenges and emerging trends shaping the sector, and the company’s ambitions and future roadmap.

Convenience Meets Flexibility: Why The Future of Retail and Hospitality Is Mobile

Mark Beresford (Director, London) and Sam Crawford (Business Analyst, London) have taken a closer look at mobile commerce and how it is rapidly changing retail and hospitality, making seamless in-app shopping and digital payments essential for customer engagement. The article shows how personalisation, convenience, and agentic commerce are creating competitive advantage. Optimisation of mobile channels to meet evolving customer expectations may be the key to avoiding falling behind in this fast-moving digital retailing market.

Advanced Payments and Fintech Report 2026

Each year, our Advanced Payments and Fintech Report provides a comprehensive view of the latest trends defining the payments landscape. Now in its 18th edition, the report examines 14 themes across four domains, highlighting how innovation, evolving business models, and shifting consumer expectations are driving rapid industry change. In 2025, AI, digital identity, embedded finance, and emerging infrastructure are shaping how money moves, how businesses operate, and how consumers interact with financial services.

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