A transaction fee is a per-transaction charge applied by the gateway, processor or acquirer, usually in addition to percentage-based interchange and scheme fees. Some providers bundle their margin into the percentage rate; others split it out as a flat per-transaction amount. On low-value, high-frequency travel payments the per-transaction component can be a meaningful share of total cost.
Travel payments glossary
Transaction fee
A fee charged per transaction by the gateway, processor or acquirer.
Why it matters in travel
Travel businesses with high volumes of low-value bookings — ancillaries, day tours, small balances — are particularly sensitive to per-transaction fees. The effective rate on a £50 ancillary looks very different to the effective rate on a £5,000 booking.
For a tour operator selling £40 day-trip ancillaries alongside £4,000 itineraries, the per-transaction fee can flip the economics on the small end while being invisible on the large end. Across an ancillary catalogue with millions of transactions a year, a per-transaction fee a few pence wrong is real money — and most travel businesses never break it out by product.
The travel businesses that watch transaction fees at product level price ancillaries deliberately, choose acquirers that suit the small-ticket mix, and negotiate per-transaction components separately from percentage rate. The businesses that treat fees as a single line item subsidise their small-ticket products with margin from their large-ticket ones.
How felloh helps
felloh surfaces transaction fees at the booking level so travel teams can see how the per-transaction component shapes effective cost by product, brand and channel.
Where this shows up in finance operations.
Transaction fee touches more than one workflow at felloh. Start with the pages most travel teams reach for next.
- Financial Operations
Reconciliation, settlement, refunds and protected-funds workflows on one booking-aware ledger.
Explore - Automate Reconciliation
Bulk settlements unpacked to fees, refunds and chargebacks; bank transfers matched without references to chase.
Explore - Know Your Cash Position
See received, protected, committed and available cash by booking — without rebuilding the picture from exports.
Explore
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Connect the dots.
See how payments, settlement, refunds and reporting evidence connect around every booking.