Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Welcome to our Travel Trends Podcast, the #1 B2B global travel podcast for professionals shaping the future of travel.
Hosted by Dan Christian, this show features candid conversations with global travel leaders, startup founders, tourism boards, hospitality executives, and technology innovators. Together they explore the ideas, innovations, and strategies driving the next era of travel.
Whether you're building a travel startup, leading a destination, scaling a hospitality brand, or new to the industry, you’ll gain actionable insights and real-world perspectives from the leaders redefining the global travel economy.
Travel Trends with Dan Christian
The Hidden Problem Costing Travel Companies Millions with Repayd
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Payments are where travel brands quietly win or lose trust, often only becoming visible after something goes wrong: a declined card, a messy refund, a spike in chargebacks, or a drop in checkout conversion that’s hard to explain. In this episode, we dig into one of the most overlooked parts of the travel business, even though it directly impacts revenue, cash flow, and the ability to scale globally.
Dan sits down with Will Plummer, CEO of Repayd, to unpack why travel payments are uniquely complex. From high booking values and long lead times to cancellations, multiple suppliers, FX exposure, and unclear merchant of record structures, the challenges run deep. Will explains how merchant of record models work in practice, why localized acquiring can improve authorization rates, and how trust accounts and insurance-backed protection can help build confidence for travelers paying months in advance.
We also get tactical on what to fix first. We cover how to map your end-to-end payment flow, identify revenue leakage across cross-border fees and foreign exchange, and reduce friction without overloading checkout with unnecessary payment options. Will shares what’s changing quickly, from network tokens by Visa and Mastercard to stricter PCI expectations for phone payments, as well as how improved reporting and AI-driven analysis are turning payment data into smarter business decisions.
If you’re focused on checkout conversion, payment processing, chargebacks, FX strategy, or supplier payouts, this episode will give you a clearer framework for what modern payments should look like and where to start.
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Why Travel Payments Break
SPEAKER_00Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Trends. This is your host, Dan Christian, and today we have a special spotlight episode for you. And we're going to be speaking to my good friend Will Plummer over at Repaid. Now, just to give some context to today's conversation, most travel companies rely on payments, but it's a topic that rarely ever gets talked about. Well, at least until something breaks. A payment fails, a refund gets stuck, a conversion drop gets noticed by the team, or there's an issue with fraud. Suddenly everybody cares. But behind the scenes, payments are shaping the entire customer experience far more than most operators even realize. And that's because travel is uniquely complicated. You get future bookings, high transaction values, cancellations, cross-border payments, multiple suppliers you have to work with, FX, as well as chargebacks. And somehow we still expect the checkout experience to always be instant and seamless. So in this episode, we're going to unpack why travel payments are actually far more broken and far more important than most people think. We're going to get into where travel companies are unknowingly losing revenue, how friction at checkout quietly kills conversion, why trust and psychology matter just as much as technology, and how the smartest travel brands are starting to think about payments as a growth strategy instead of just back-end infrastructure. And to help us break that all down, I'm joined by my friend and CEO of Repaid, Will Plummer, a company that is focused on simplifying and modernizing payments for the travel industry. Will has spent years deep in this space, as you'll hear in today's conversation. And we go way beyond just payment processing. We talk about the real operational complexity behind global travel transactions and why the industry has struggled to innovate here for so long and what the future of travel payments could actually look like over the next few years. So whether you're an airline, tour operator, OTA, hotel brand, or just someone trying to understand where the industry is heading, then this episode has a lot in store for you. And
Will’s Path Into Travel Payments
SPEAKER_00on that note, I want to welcome in Will Plummer from Repaid. Will, it's fantastic to have you on Travel Trends. Thank you so much for joining us.
SPEAKER_01Oh well, thank you to you, Dan. I'm a big fan of the pod. So great to finally get on.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Will. No, I'm a big fan of yours and what you've built over the last decade plus. And I think we, you know, we've seen each other at conferences over the course of the year, and I'm really keen to be able to share your story because it's a fascinating background in the travel industry and what you've built is really unique. And so, but let's let's talk about a bit about your background, Will, just to start off. Tell everyone where you're based, first of all, because obviously you've got a lovely accent. And tell everyone a little bit about your background in the travel industry.
SPEAKER_01So, based in the heartland of the UK, uh near to a place called Peterborough, but right in the countryside. We're about an hour north of London. We have poor weather like the rest of the country. Um, but we get out and about and we love it. Uh, well connected to get around the world. And, you know, I think like everybody on the pod and everyone that hopefully is listening, travel is absolutely my passion. So it's this is where I grew up, this is home, but this is well connected to get where I need to get to. So I started out sort of very early on straight out of university, actually setting up a sports travel business. It was a brainwave that came to us uh probably after a night out. Um, but just how can we extend sort of university life, um, play some sports, do some travel, and then it it's it's built from there really. I've been involved in uh a DMC in the Middle East, uh, I've been involved in an outbound tour operator from the UK. And then the sort of origin of repaid, which was trust my travel until October last year, um, was really around how we could provide a low-cost financially protected payment solution for the travel industry. And over the course of the last 13 years, that's just grown and evolved into, you know, a hopefully cutting edge but um merchant of record driven payment solution that takes every travel vertical, supports them in what they need, and every need is different, um, keeps their cost down on cross-border payments, and hopefully improves their efficiency.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great. I appreciate you sharing that because obviously we've known each other for years in the Trust My Travel, which is now Trust My Group, as I mentioned in the introduction. You're both this the CEO of Trust My Group and the CEO at Repaid. And Repaid is the newly branded business that you're focused on taking forward. And I guess that's where, you know, when uh any startup is getting off the ground, there's always a problem that they have to solve. And you clearly solved that 15 years ago and have been growing this business successfully and are now ready for the next stage of growth. But I wanted to go back to that problem that you solved, given that you have a background in travel, a strong desire and interest in travel. And I think it's fascinating that you know it goes back to those university days when you realize this is the industry I want to be in, this is the lifestyle that I want to maintain. And so one of the things that happens for entrepreneurs like yourself is that you recognize a problem in the industry and you find a way to fix it. So tell us actually a little bit about what frustrated you so much that you actually decided to build something in the travel payment space.
SPEAKER_01It's a really good question. I'm pleased you asked it. But I think looking at it, it it was much easier actually to sort of be involved with a travel company, even to set up a travel company. And I played both sides from the the DMC to the outbound operator, it was really easy, you know, through the the naughs uh to set up a website. But in terms of taking payment from companies, that was a challenge. In terms of protecting those payments, and one of the things in Europe and in the UK is there is a requirement for a tour operator to financially protect that payment. So in the event of a travel company going out of business, the customers' funds are protected. And that for me was kind of paramount because you know people spend all of this money you know going on travel, saving for travel. Um, and if something goes wrong, how are they protected? You know, what what are the facilities in place to to look after that? So that really fascinated me. So we set that up and then it's just evolved, and it's evolved very much around how payments had involved. You know, if you go back 20 years ago, there wasn't e-commerce. Uh there is now when we first started doing the sports tours, we used to make all our bookings by fax. We used to go down to our bank, we used to literally issue sort of a swift um transfer, go in, sign everything. We're living in a completely different world now, and it's really fascinating how that's progressed over the years.
SPEAKER_00Well, now that the new branding repaid, because obviously, uh for those of you who are multitasking while we're having this conversation, it's repaid as in REPAYD.com. And one of the things I was keen to ask you, Will, given your uh origin story, and is that you work with tour operators, you work with online travel agencies as well as travel technology platforms. What was actually the genesis? Was it actually working with tour operators initially? What was what was the category, the sector you focused on for payments first?
SPEAKER_01Probably initially it was tour tour operators, but we very quickly got into tours and activities providers actually. There was a real kind of niche and a space within that. Yes, there are quite a few payment providers that were looking after that market, but given that they crossed so many different countries, so many different jurisdictions, there wasn't one service that was able to facilitate everything for those operators. So we found a real niche within that. Uh and then we've grown that into other sectors.
SPEAKER_00And the reason I asked that is because as many of our listeners know, my background is in the tour operator space, and we'll obviously know that as well. And one of the things that people don't fully appreciate is just the complexity of the tour operator model, with having to work with suppliers, service customers, multi-currency, and people crossing borders and being able to collect in one currency and then pay for their travel in other currency. Americans traveling to Europe, for example, is a simple scenario, but there's many more complex scenarios. And the reality is that the major banks that a lot of these travel companies work with, it's an incredibly lucrative space for banks to work in when it comes to foreign exchange. And once you can actually find a payment provider that actually solves for the unique needs of a travel business, and so this is why obviously a company like Trust My Travel came to be. So with tour operators in particular. But one of the things maybe we should
Repaid’s Rebrand And The Promise
SPEAKER_00cover at the beginning is the rebranding, just so people can understand what brought about the transition to repaid and what that means for your plans going forward.
SPEAKER_01Honest answer, we were getting a little bit sick after 12 years of people asking if they could book a holiday with us. As soon as you put travel in the name of the company, it's like, can I put my can I put my services with you? And and for us, the trust branding, the trust my branding had always been around the fact that the origin was it was, you know, every all of our service was based around a trust account, an escrow account where we protected uh funds. And that's still at the heart of everything that we do now. But sort of moving forwards, looking to expand further in you know, geographically, but also also into different verticals. It was, I guess, how can we be a little catchier? It's very uh on trend to change a vowel around. So uh that came naturally as well. But the concept was always how can we demonstrate to people that we are payment companies, but also demonstrate that we're still ultimately protecting them? So if anything goes wrong, they get repaid. That's that's the premise of it of everything that we do.
SPEAKER_00Got it. And I think that's obviously what travelers need to fully appreciate and understand that you know, throughout our sector, depending on what market you're in, there are some organizations like USTOA, for example, in the uh in the American market that have a bond of a million dollars for every tour operator in the event that there is cancellations or refunds that are needed if uh um any of their members falls under financial difficulty, that there is that security. Let's break that down a little bit because I think it'll be interesting to our travelers and travel advisors listening to this to understand the payment process and specifically what you just mentioned about giving that that security and that guarantee, because that obviously is a part of the process that was broken or could break along the way.
Merchant Of Record Made Simple
SPEAKER_00So walk us through the payment process because this ultimately is the reason that many travel companies struggle is that they get someone right to the point of purchase and they drop off at checkout. There's something that happens to them in that moment where they get cold feet and they don't continue with their purchase. So walk us through the payment process and exactly what it is that repaid it has introduced that has made the business so successful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I I think with anything in payments, it it has been an evolution, it continues to be an evolution of various different things. I think when people have looked at payments historically in the in the travel sector, and and the ones that are still doing it now need to sort of make serious changes, is that payments is an end-of-funnel kind of operation. You get all the way to the checkout, and then ultimately you go, right, pay me now. And the customer goes, Well, hold on a minute. I know you're selling great tools, but firstly, how do I know I can trust you? Secondly, do you take the type of payment method that I want to pay with? Thirdly, can I pay in my own currency because I don't really understand how much I'm paying? And and you've you've you've captured the customer and you've got them all the way to that point, and they go, Well, hold on a minute there. Uh, I don't trust you. You you're not taking what I want to pay in. And the stat is, and it varies by vertical in travel, 15 to 25% of people will drop off at that point. And that's a huge amount. You spend all of this money on SEO, on marketing, and you get them to the end and and they're they're kind of they've gone. So the premise of everything we do is that we're financially protecting both um the customer and the financial institution behind it, whether it be a bank or an acquiring bank, um, in all of that. So we sit as merchant of record, and what that enables us to do is actually to localize the payment for the customer as far as possible. So if you're a European customer but you've got um you're paying a US company, we will place you as that European customer with a local bank. So that saves the company money, there's better approval rates, you've got all your 3D secure, etc., on that. All money then flows into a trust account. So that is a completely ring-fenced client-only account, and money either stays there until after travel or it was released to the travel company or one of their name suppliers uh before that on the basis of an insurance policy that again protects everybody in that chain. We sit outside of that, the insurance company will pay back the customer if um the travel company fails. It'll also pay back the bank if the travel company fails and there's a charge back. But our main remit is that if that happens, we will always try and put on a replacement trip for the customer. So that's the first bit. That's the kind of the trust. So you go on, you see that um repay is supported. We will take the payment, we will issue that protection, and the customer knows that they've got that. And then we provide all the tools to the travel company to support their operation. And I can go on and on, Dan, but it's especially as things, as I say, keep evolving, it's about what payment types you're offering. It's about can you service that currency? And also then doing that, can you run the admin and the efficiency for your company without spending lots of time and money doing it? Because what you really want to do and why you go into this business is to sell your amazing tours and your amazing destinations.
SPEAKER_00That's exactly it. And I mean, so many companies that I've worked with over the years have struggled in this space because they run great tours. It's it's literally the reason they exist. But when it comes to managing their banking and specifically merchant accounts and trying to not only manage risk, uh optimize transaction costs, all the things that you need a partner to be able to do. And clearly that's why you've been so successful over the last 15 years and are now continuing to scale this business globally is the complexity of this space. So understanding uh global merchant accounts obviously is very important, the cross-border payment, but also things like the chargebacks. That's what that was a huge challenge during the pandemic. And we had virtual credit cards and trying to work with partners because everyone was sort of getting afraid of each other. And the term that you use that everyone uh is likely familiar with, the term of an escrow account, because that is, you know, whether you're buying on eBay or you're buying a house, there's always this concept of someone in the middle that makes sure that someone has the goods that they've received to make sure you release the funds. And so uh the one thing I wanted to ask you though, given the number of clients that you have, is if we actually play this out with a company like InCruises or GreenGo, tell us a little one or two examples of how Repaid has actually uh is working with partners in the travel space today and the ultimately the benefits they've seen as a result of that, because a lot of people will see payments just as a cost center, but the reality is when it increases your conversions, people see this as a back-end function. But I see this very much as a business necessity to increase conversions. So I'd love if you wouldn't mind to share some examples of clients you work with and what the results and benefits have been.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think you're absolutely right. And in 2026, conversion is is actually really important. Conversion on the website, conversion all around that efficiency is absolutely crucial in and the differential uh in your business. So uh you you named a few there, very different companies in terms of what they do. So uh Incruz is is a cruise club. Um they have customers all over the world, but they wanted to literally consolidate where they were based and what they were doing. So everything that they were doing previously involved a cross-border transaction on a card payment, and they are 99% um card. Um, so what we were able to do for them is onboard them. We were able to to mitigate their risk, placing with the banks very easily, um, because the banks understand what we're doing for them, they understand what we're doing for the customer, and then essentially interchange manage for them. And and what that means for the listeners that don't know all the gobbledygook and uh all the acronyms, interchange manages again back to placing the customer with a bank that's as local as possible to them, so an acquiring bank as local as possible to them. So for yourself based in Canada, purchasing a Canadian card, you'd want that to run with a Canadian acquirer because that would be cheaper, that would be better acceptance rate. What we've also then done is expanded that out to also uh improve increase and improve that currency conversion. So to be able to demonstrate early in the purchase chain the price in Canadian dollars. So you go, I know exactly what that is, I know exactly how much it's going to be charged for my card, but in cruises still get the US dollars that they want at a fixed exchange rate, and everyone has total transparency. And what that does is improve efficiency, but also reduce all of those little cost elements that really add up in this whole um supply chain. And then we we have other customers who are doing probably more complex things. Uh, you mentioned cooperators at the start, and because of how we built the insurance out, and actually within the group, one of the companies we have is an insurance MGA which specializes in this credit risk insurance, is we can protect every facet of a booking. So we'll support a lot of companies in the UK and Europe where they have to meet the package travel regulations, the package travel directives. So a customer comes along, makes a booking, makes a payment, but that operator can then through us pay all of their suppliers around the world. They can manage the FX either through a micro forward, so buying just specifically for that purchase or on a spot rate, they can pay using local payment methods in 190 come uh countries, sorry, and they can know that everything is protected. So if they pay through us as an operator and we've paid the supplier, and the supplier goes out of business, they're protected by that way. So it feeds all the way through and provides that total, total ecosystem. Hopefully, and the aim, and I think we achieve it, is they also make cost savings not just in terms of from the interchange that they're saving on, not just from making local payouts versus uh wire, not just from commission they earn from our multi-currency pricing, which is our FX tool, but that whole admin and reporting angle, because it's all managed hopefully via API or if not through our platform. So you've not got members of staff trying to reconcile this and trying to reconcile that. You have this full audit trail uh of everything that you do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think the uh from my perspective, in preparation for our call, I was looking through a number of your clients, and Incruises really
Client Results From Localized Payments
SPEAKER_00stood out to me because I was actually on a call just last week with one of the advisory clients that I work with on our travel trends advisory side, a company called Classic American Tours, that is having great success in 2026, given the domestic market in the US and and Americans' outbound travel as well. And one of the things they've realized is, and they had heard this because I had spoken on a podcast on Tourpreneur talking about uh exchange rates and interest and managing the cash flow is a major source of profit for a lot of uh travel businesses. So, in addition to being able to increase conversion rates, there's actually more money to be made once you realize how to manage your cash flow. And so they were asking me some of the questions that I actually uh said to them, you need to meet Will from repaid because I think you're actually ready for their platform. And when I was looking at the in-cruises as an example, you know, when you have a million and a half transactions with a 90% acceptance rate and less than a 0.1% chargeback rate, that's a very meaningful result for a business. But it's also a category that most travel companies are not paying a huge amount of attention to because typically they're working with their existing banks, they're working with whoever the bank has recommended as the transaction provider for them. E-commerce for them is an additional layer of complexity. As you know, most of them are processing these uh credit cards offline in their contact centers. And so they feel very beholden to the systems that they use. And I was highlighting to the team at uh Classic American Tours how easy it is to transition. Like that this is actually this is this is there's there's gonna be a number of companies that'll be very keen for your business, repaid being one of them. And so have a discussion with your bank and let them know that you're gonna be exploring options. And so the the question I wanted to ask you on that note, given some of those examples of clients, is what is sort of a sweet spot for you for clients that come into the repaid uh universe? Like what does it look like in terms of their volume? What size of uh business do they need to be to take advantage of everything that repaid has to offer?
SPEAKER_01Well, uh I think I'd say the bigger the better. But uh we we've set ourselves up and and because of my background and you know, I've always sort of been involved in in smaller businesses and uh and growing those from there, is we'll support businesses of of any size. Uh, and and I really do mean that. We have our biggest client probably does half a billion a year in terms of processing, and our smallest probably does about 10,000. Uh, it I really hope it's a bit of a hobby horse, because I'm not sure there's much much profit in that. Um, but they seem quite happy with it, and and we'll support them in exactly the same way. Um, the sweet spot is where there is cross border payment so far. Where your customer is based in a different country to where you are or where you're registered. And that doesn't have to be all of your business, but that has to be a percentage. What we tend to find is where we're coming up against, you know, domestic arrangements, especially in the US, especially in Europe, it does tend to be certainly in certain um verticals, it does tend to be a bit of a race to the bottom on price. And that's not to say we're expensive, but we we don't profess to be the cheapest. We profess to actually make you savings across uh your whole operation. But there needs to be that cross-border element uh just in terms of how we do things.
SPEAKER_00Well, and obviously they're a tour operator, so they fit well within your wheelhouse in terms of the companies that you work closely with. Um but I know you also work with cruise lines as well. And obviously that is a massive sector that is continuing to have significant growth. And so when you look at the industry right now, and obviously this is travel trends, we're always keen to know where the the trends are. What what are you seeing when it comes to growth? And you mentioned DMCs before, but I believe you also uh work with airlines as well. So when you look at the travel space and where your business is growing, where do you see the big opportunities?
SPEAKER_01It's an interesting question in the c in the current market in terms of with with kind of ever-changing world events. And you know, we we've had come out of COVID, we've obviously had uh wars, fighting in in different places. I think there's certainly been a a change for for DMCs. Historically, they've they've been far more B2B based. I think a lot more are chasing you know that that direct consumer booking. And so they're having to look at the payments and what they're what they're offering on that side of things. And then hospitality, again, a really interesting one. I think due to legacy systems, but also due to the fact that OCAs have really dominated a lot of purchase in that space, they want to wrestle back control. They they are a little bit frustrated at giving away the percentage that they do, but they realize that they've got to improve the efficiency of what they do. And and that does come down to the payments. And you'll probably hear me talk a lot through this, Dan, about the sort of payments journey. And that is crucial for any travel business, whatever vertical right now, in terms of being able to think about the flow of money through your business and really work out where you can not just make money as as you were alluding to earlier, but save money. There is so much leakage that travel companies aren't aware of. And that's why we work with travel uh you know, companies of any size, because likely we can save them money just through inefficiencies they're not aware of, how they're paying for things, how the customer is paying for things, what currency they're paying in, and and just that whole admin exercise that is incredibly costly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's actually an important point you raised there because this is one of those areas where making the switch can actually save you money or and definitely make you money. And so it's not as if it's an area where you now need to go and get internal approval to switch over to a new system because it's gonna be an increased cost. And I think that's one of the things that gets lost in the understanding because the feeling is just, oh, this is this is gonna be hard, it's gonna be a hassle. And it's because the industry is so regulated, but ultimately that compliance, as you know, it's not optional, it's critical. And having you know, PCI compliance, for example, which I know is an important part of your platform given the trusted partners that you work with, and it's pretty extensive lists of companies that you support. And so I I wanted to dive into that because I think when people look at the title of this episode and try to figure out if it's for me, the reality is it's for everyone working in the travel industry to have a much better understanding of their payments process and to figure out where the opportunities are. So let's let's highlight some of those just to be really explicit around the benefits of looking at your existing provider and starting to ask the right questions. So for those people who are listening to this and are currently with another platform, what are the questions will they should be asking themselves when they're looking at their existing setup? Um, and then they should come prepared to ask a company like yours if they're looking to make the switch.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna take a step back, if I may, Danny, even further, because I've been around the block long enough to know that people see an episode on payments, they go, yeah, that's not for me. That sounds really dull and unsexy. That that is not the interesting bit of travel. And my answer to that would be if you're running a business or you're involved in a business where you're trying to make money, then payment is absolutely something you need to be looking at. And it's not just this end-of-funnel kind of function. It's just like, oh, I'll have this company or I'll have that bank or whatever else, they'll catch the payment and I'm winning. Because it's there's so much complexity and whatever vertical, there are so many ways that you can firstly save money, um, also potentially make money. And what I always encourage people to do, and and anyone that's heard me speak before, is when you're looking
Map The Money Flow First
SPEAKER_01at this, actually start with a blank piece of paper and map out your money flow through your business. And I would challenge most people that are listening now as to when the last time they actually did that was, or if they've ever done that. Do you know who who takes your car payment, when you get that money, because that delay obviously affects your cash flow, when you have to pay suppliers, how you're paying suppliers, what the currency flow looks like through all of that, and and it varies so much by each company, each vertical, and and that is where your business can save money. And so, in terms of when you're evaluating um different providers, the challenge is, and I you know, I know the challenge, and that's I guess why we do what we do, but different there is no not necessarily one payment provider. You know, there's there's people that process cards, there's people that process cards cross-border, there's people that do FX, there's people that do um, you know, payouts. And it depends what's available in your market and how you what you're used to, because you've probably always got facilities from your local bank or you've reached out to one of the big acquirers on the market, and it's been really easy for you to on board, but that doesn't mean you can scale with that business. And as your business changes and develops, so I'd be asking them how they're going to support you cross-border, but it you've got to have that diagram to start with. Now, where we're different and we make no bones about being different is this whole merchant of record concept. So we actually sit in the middle. So the customer actually has a three-way contract with you as the travel company and with ourselves because we're providing that guarantee and that financial protection bit. But that enables us to do the magic that we do in terms of that interchange management. That enables us to put that FX in there, that enables us to put our uh local payout providers in place, but also we've built that whole infrastructure infrastructure specific to travel. So we don't do any other industry. We flirted with it a little bit uh around COVID when travel wasn't so good, but we don't touch anything else because we know travel. We're not an acquirer that is doing retail, that is doing, you know, 101 other things. We're all about travel, so we're pretty confident we know what we're talking about, and we're pretty confident with every vertical that there is in travel, we have a solution that will fit the bill. Um, so that's the conversation. There are absolutely other people that do these things, and you can actually put these together yourselves. But until you get that bit of paper out and until you map out the flow, you're behind the you're behind the curve a little bit on this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, I appreciate you sharing that. I think that's really a valuable perspective. And one of the other things I wanted to highlight as the uh former Trust My Travel, but now uh Trust My Group, is that you have the concept of repaid and the travel merchant accounts, but you also have TMU management and you'll help with insurance. And tell us a little bit about that side of the business as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that that really uh sprung out of COVID, actually. So we'd we'd always had Trust My Travel and that's what repaid has has become today. So that was the financial protection. Um sorry, financial payment protection. Behind that uh was and still is a trust, an escrow account, but also an insurance. Obviously, COVID hit and all insurers ran for the hills, especially uh in the travel space. But what we were able to find is the data that we collected, and we we have data on every sort of connection to that transaction that's flowed through us. So we know who's booked it, where they've come from, how long the lead-in time is, where they're going, what airline they're flying with, what hotels they might be staying, whether we've paid them, whether someone else has paid them, whether they've been paid by virtual cards. So we've got all of those different elements. Um, and we realize post-COVID uh we could pull something together ourselves in terms of supporting the industry. We are uh on the TME management side of things, we're a regulated MGA, so as a managing general agent. Um, and we write credit risk policies for travel companies to meet uh regulate regulatory uh requirements, especially across the UK and Europe. Uh, and then we also uh provide credit risk um policies to acquiring banks um and to FX houses. So all the elements that we've built into repaid, we actually understand what the risks are to the supplier of the elements that we're taking. We protect that risk for them. Uh and so it becomes a really nice kind of ecosystem that everyone is connected into uh and everyone is protected in.
SPEAKER_00And the reason I wanted to ask that question is because you know, we're now in an era where, you know, certainly there's the geopolitical challenges that we're both aware of, and we've you know been in this industry together for you know two decades. And the reality is is the travel industry does go from crisis to crisis, and it isn't until a crisis occurs like COVID or most recently some of the airline failures like spirit in the US. So when all of a sudden you have a supplier fail, that's all of a sudden when you realize maybe I should have had insurance. And you know, one of the things that you know we both uh also know from the industry is you can't mandate the sale of insurance, but it's highly, highly encouraged for travelers to purchase insurance. And obviously there's a whole host of reasons why they should consider that. Um, but on that, I want to make sure we also speak to consumers that are listening to this because I'm sure they're also looking at and evaluating these travel companies, and clearly they're the ones that are 25% of the are dropping out. And so if you were to speak to them directly, Will, given that you have clients that have moved across to repaid for all the right reasons and are having success, what would you say to customers who are looking at travel companies trying to decide who to do business with? What should be some of the signals they're looking for to give them the trust and confidence? Since you know, such a big focus of yours is consumer protection and making sure that we can successfully grow with clarity and confidence the travel industry and strengthen resilience that people keep coming back, which is something that I think you and I are probably both bullish on about the travel industry, is that when we have these challenges, the beautiful thing about our business is it comes roaring right back. And so tell us a little bit what consumers should be looking for from their travel companies.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And you're right, it does come roaring back, but it's that bad experience that that sours things for that consumer. So I think the first piece of advice would always be if it sounds simple and stupid, but if something appears too good to be true, it probably is. If if the website it just doesn't look right, it it is not right. I mean, we you talk about, you know, a secure domain, um, but also you want to see those trust signals throughout a booking journey. So I guess the message is both to the consumer and to the website operator, the provider. And I'm I'm talking more from an an e-commerce perspective. So what are those trust signals that that you want to uh want to send? I don't think you can underestimate saying how you're protecting the customer's money. So, in you know, we're heavily UK European driven on the on the financial protection side. That's that's our background, that's that's how we started. But actually saying that the money is protected through a trust account, through an insurance policy, actually covering that off in terms and conditions and making that really prominent is a
Trust Signals That Reduce Drop-Off
SPEAKER_01really good trust sign. And if you're the customer, I think you want to see that. I think you want to understand where that money goes. We're a little bit on the repaid, we're a little bit different because you know, we send out the confirmation, you know that uh if you've booked with this travel company, you get separate confirmation from us, but that just reinforces the message that that booking is protected. And what and what the confirmation says is you're protected and we've got you should anything go wrong. And then as you go through that booking journey, you know, are you able to cleanly make um a credit card payment? Are you confident in that checkout page? You know, you can look up whether people are as secure, you can look up whether they've got PCI, but you've got to look at all of those trust signals. And I think the travel companies, and again, it comes back to this payment journey in an e-commerce environment, the travel companies that put those trust signals in, put that messaging on their website, put the right currency, put the right payment type, are the ones that get that conversion 100%.
SPEAKER_00Well, one other thing, just to flip the other side of it there, is that when our travel companies who are listening to this that are figuring out how do they optimize their payment process, and one thing I'll share from my experience is that in travel, we see like a 90% drop-off rate when people actually have to go through the process of entering their payment details. And we've done a lot of optimizations with the platforms, and often it's to do with the fact that customers they're not quite ready to purchase, but obviously something comes up. There's some type of friction in the booking experience itself that customers are now wavering. And so I would love obviously, Will, you've worked with so many different companies, and I'm sure one of the things that's on people's minds listening to this is some advice from you around how they can decrease that friction to increase conversion rates. And I'd love if you wouldn't mind sharing that when it comes to online bookings, online payments. You know, what are some of the things you've seen that have made a real difference for your partners to get to increase those conversions? And then maybe if you wouldn't mind sharing too, even when someone's calling in to the contact center, because something you brought up, and I just wanted to underscore this too, Will, because it couldn't be more important. You've mentioned the merchant of record a few times in our conversation. I have seen companies that don't that when you have a travel agency and you have a tour operator, that they don't want to be the merchant of record because they don't want the responsibility associated with that. And so they want to handle the booking, but they want the tour operator to be the merchant of record. They just process the credit card, take their commission, and pass you off to the tour operator because that's the the unf unfortunately one of the ways our system uh works, and I would say a part of the way it's uh broken, you have a lot of intermediaries that are trying to uh insert themselves in the middle of a consumer and a uh and a tour operator trying to capture that booking by doing discounting and other and so then the question becomes who's the merchant of record? And so that is something I just wanted to highlight to all of our listeners for them to understand, because when something goes wrong, that's the first question that your credit company's gonna ask, or is like, who is the merchant of record here? Who are you actually doing business with? So um I just want to underscore that for all of our listeners, the importance of that and to better understand that. But yeah, if you wouldn't mind, we'll tell us from an online payment processing or from a consumer calling in, what would you recommend for travel companies listening to this to improve upon to increase their conversions?
SPEAKER_01I think you highlight a really good point around um, you know, again, the the merchant of record, but that communication piece, the attentive travel companies, okay, that that might be just post the actual confirmation, but the attentive travel companies, the ones that deliver clear messaging, are the ones that are gonna uh win on that. In terms of um people phoning in, so sort of phone payments, make sure you've got a secure system in place. It's no longer good enough. In fact, it it falls foul of practically well every PCI rule there is, but it you cannot simply write down a credit card number on a piece of paper and then take it off to your accounts department, sort of wave it around and then wait till someone posts it later in the day. Where in 2026 that was never acceptable, but it it certainly isn't something you can do now. Um it is still done uh in in many parts of the world. Um from an online perspective, um the way that the world is moving, it's probably more hidden for for the customer, but uh you know, moving to note um from a card processing perspective, moving to network tokens. So those issued by Visa and MasterCard, um, firstly they're massively improving your your PCI scope and what you have to do. Uh they're securitizing the car details where you don't have to do anything with them, but they're also increasing the the conversion rate on that because the the network knows where it is. There is that better connectivity between the issuer and the acquirer. Um, and I know I think it's October, November this year, uh network tokens will be compulsory in Europe, certainly for MasterCard. Uh, and I think the same will follow uh for Visa very shortly. Um, but it is all about that clarity to a consumer. So you can it's really easy to serve up endless different payment methods. But what I would suggest is firstly try and refine them to the customer that you've got in front of you. Um, and not always, but you can typically refine that through IP checks or whatever else. So you can serve up their currency, you can serve up the payment types for that uh particular country, and then you can get that conversion. But also what you don't want to do is serve up every payment type under the sun, uh, a different box for Visa, a different box for American Express, because A, you'll lose the customer in terms of the friction, in terms of working out where they have to go, but it just feels too convoluted in in the process. So as much as you can streamline, as much as you can ensure that you demonstrate the security of the platform that's operating, uh, that tends to get the better conversion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. I'm sure it's going to be really listening. There's a lot more to this, obviously. And I know when you speak to potential customers, you're running through all the different scenarios and the and the benefits. And clearly, this is an area that you are continuing to innovate on, and you are you know the leader in this space in this field, and that's that's uh was clear to me in preparing for our conversation, seeing some of the new clients you brought on. Obviously, I was reading the uh focus wire feature of Adulte coming on, um, where you're you're now integrating your merchant of record payments into their platform for travel packages and multi-day tours. Like this is like such a sweet spot. And um, but tell us a little bit about where repaid is headed in terms of like the technology, the infrastructure. I know you're continuing to scale the team and build this out. So tell us a little bit more about what's ahead for you in 2026 and beyond in in this space, where where you're seeing innovation and what you're prioritizing as you grow.
SPEAKER_01I mean, firstly, in terms of what we're doing as part of the rebrand, we built uh a brand new system for all of our customers, uh, far more focused around the reporting. So uh later this year we're bringing in an AI tool which will allow AI because it's fashionable, obviously, but an AI tool that will allow uh people to analyse all of the data that we've got for their particular company the way that they want. I think what we've been guilty of in the past and what I know other payment companies do is they serve up what we think you want to see. But if you want to see that you've had this many visa transactions from Nigeria going to France, then you should be able to analyse that data because that will help your business make decisions in terms of what payment types you need, but where you might also, beyond payments, um, you know, address and direct your marketing moving forwards. So that's something we're really um interested in and exciting. We are currently um expanding out how people can connect to us uh to make sure that we don't restrict accessibility to our services. And what I mean by that is connecting to ResTech platforms, connecting to independent gateways that will allow for greater expansion and greater connectivity for us, um bringing in a lot of new um alternative payment methods. Uh we're obviously addressing things like the um network tokens. Uh we work incredibly hard behind the scenes to um help our customers minimize chargebacks, but also when they get chargebacks, uh fight them. So we work with a number of providers that provide AI tools and support on the back end, as well as an excellent team that we have uh managing that from our side of things. We are exploring Agentic Commerce. I'd say that's very early from our perspective in terms of of how that sits. We think it's still very much um a core human function, uh, especially with a lot of our client clients in terms of how they are uh booking their travel. Uh we're always kind of ear to the ground, testing things, seeing what works. Um but yeah, just it's an interesting and ever expanding place. As you said at the start, you know, we've been doing this for a long time, and the payments world has changed considerably. It continues to change, um, and we're trying to make sure that we always move with it.
SPEAKER_00Well, you brought up something there, Will, that I Actually reminded me of something I wanted to ask you because when we were looking at different payment solution providers, one of the pushes in that direction was to offer a wider array of payment options. So some people who wanted to pay debit for that matter, other people who wanted to pay Ali Pay or Apple Pay. So one thing I'm actually keen to ask you because what we found was that primarily people are using Visa, MasterCard, American Express, kind of the big three. And then beyond that, there's sort of edge cases where sure you do want to give people options to use other forms of payment, so it does increase your conversion rate. But I was just generally keen to know how important that is in the consideration set. Are you seeing more people use alternative forms of payment?
SPEAKER_01Yes and no. And the reason for the question is, you know, I think even going back eight, ten years, you know, there was a big rush. WeChat Pay, Ali, Ali Pay. If I have those on my website, if I offer those payment types, I'm going to get all of these Chinese customers and everything's going to be solved. We are seeing a growth for it, but it really depends who you are and what you're doing. Because I think what people have been guilty of and and how they've thought about it is as I say, you you put on this payment type and that's going to solve everything. You know, if you're not appealing to that market, if you're not supporting the language of that market, you're not supporting the currency of that market, then the payment type is important for that final bit of fulfillment, but it it's not necessarily the driver. So it's back to that blank piece of paper. If you wanna, if you're supporting a particular market, if you want to expand into that market, then that payment method as part of a man uh marketing campaign, as part of your strategy, has to be in there. Um and and so we are seeing growth, but it tends to be right. I want to expand into China. So I will look at Alipay, I will look at WeChat Pay, I want to expand into parts of Europe. Obviously, there was you know, Germany and uh the Netherlands, which typically aren't served heavily by card, they've always been ideal or soffort, and now Wiiro in Europe is taking over. Um, so that people are looking as they look at those markets to put those payment types in. But what you cannot do is just flood your checkout page with a hundred different payment types. And I have seen people do that, and it's just friction. And I think again, coming back to that technology piece, as far as you can identify that customer through your journey and tell them at the start how they can pay, but also make sure they've got that option at the end, but not in a convoluted way, because you will just kill that conversion again, and that conversion is the most important bit. So absolutely we're getting more interest in it, uh, but I think people are uh being a little bit more savvy as to how they put it on, and they're not just putting alternative payment methods on for the sake of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's great. You validated something that I, you know, started to see, and I wanted to uh be sure that was the case, which is that so there was such a big push to have all these alternate forms of payments, but really realistically, how important are they? Because most people are paying with their main credit card, and it's it almost becomes a distraction. Um, it almost brings up the question of should I be paying in one of these alternative currencies? Why are there a hundred different options to pay for this when the reality is that 99% are primarily using you know three major cards? So uh I appreciate sharing your perspective on that. The other thing I wanted to ask you too, just in terms of the markets that you're focused on, given that we have a large global audience, half of our listeners are in the US, and then we've got Canada, UK, Australia, but we've listeners in 125 countries, and certainly there might be some edge cases out there, tour operators in Columbia, for example, that listen to our podcast, when they're considering repaid, what are the main markets
What’s Next In Travel Payment Tech
SPEAKER_00you work in? So and are there any markets specifically you're not in yet that you're planning to move into?
SPEAKER_01So the first thing to say is we take and we have customers all over the world, uh in every different market. We we're not we don't restrict market, uh, provided the country isn't on a sanction list, uh, and provided we can make sure that you get paid, uh, we can support you. Uh we have six main processing um countries and and to an extent that can exchange re extend regionally, but it really depends uh by each one. So our main operation is out of the UK. Uh we then have uh payments out of Europe through Spain, the UAE, Singapore, Canada, and the US. So that that's in terms of pay-in, in terms of the card and alternative processing, the the major markets that we're supporting on on that front. From a bank pay-in perspective, three partners we're supporting pretty confident, but it keeps changing. It's it's over 200 countries in terms of uh pay-in methods and and payout methods and the currencies that that sit behind those. Um so we're not processing domestic uh domestically in every country, but what we find is that most of these perhaps more remote destinations equally aren't getting customers from every destination around the world. You know, they tend to be at the moment heavily North American, European, Southeast Asian kind of based in terms of their market set. Um, and that's where we've got real traction over the years.
SPEAKER_00One other thing I wanted to ask you, given your expertise in the payment space, pre-COVID, one of the major techniques that tour operators employed was trying to get full payment upfront as early as possible, because we knew then the value of money and the option to uh to leverage not only foreign exchange, but also interest. And those were two ways that many tour operators, large-scale tour operators, generated significant profits. One of the things that we've seen post-pandemic, customers have gotten wise to the value of their dollar and interest rates uh increasing, has been one of the big factors. So people are very mindful of when they pay. So people are overwhelmingly paying only when they have to, even if that means at the last minute. So they're putting a minimum deposit down and then they're doing their payments until they have to make the final payment on their trip. And so I'd love to understand from your vantage point, given the number of clients you have and the expertise, and I'm not asking you to reveal any one particular travel company's strategy on this, but I would love if you wouldn't mind sharing with our listeners, what are you seeing strategically the way travel companies are approaching the payments process that is working really well?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, great question. You're you're absolutely right in terms of the trends and and how that has shifted. Um, I know travel companies probably had it all their own way um pre-COVID or or mainly their own way. And I I think one of the things that that we've seen is they they were winning before because they they were then holding their suppliers off into ransom in terms of when they paid it off, so they were winning both sides. So true. So true. They they've renegotiated that. I mean, I think you'll see and a lot of the trend now from operators is the likes of sort of virtual credit card payments out to suppliers, and and then that suddenly that becomes credit to them that they're they're offsetting. Again, it's looking at this this strategy and and what you need as your business and how you're gonna make things work. You've got to decide what you're doing as a business and weave payments into that. It's no good going, right, we're doing this amazing sale with no deposits. Oh, but we've got to pay this supplier then, because that's too late. You've got to figure out your money movement, you've got to understand where your money movement is, you've got to understand whether you can lock in your exchange rate and how you can do it. And there are lots of one of the things we have with operators at the moment is where previously they've done big foreign exchange forward. So for argument's sake, they have uh a lot of US dollars and they want to buy South African Rand because that's their big supplier exposure. So they they buy it, they lock in their rate, and they're they're absolutely committed whether they win or lose. Um but the danger with that is as the exchange rate moves, they don't know the volume of business they're gonna get. So one of the one of the um tactics that we employ through our multi-currency pricing uh solution with our partners is basically micro forwarding. So you are literally forwarding on a booking by booking basis. So if Dan books a holiday, I know when your deposit deadline is, I know when your balance deadline is, but I also know when all the deposit and balance deadlines are for the supplier. And I can build all of those things in and they all click into place so I can protect my margin. Yeah, it doesn't improve my cash flow, but it protects my margin, and I'm no longer sort of playing with fire and not knowing and hoping that I'm gonna win. And I I think that's what you've got to do, and it it is back to this whole blank piece of paper. I I cannot emphasize enough if you do not understand your payment flow, then you cannot put on a promotion, you cannot put together a marketing um promotion effectively. I just because it just lands companies in in trouble, and and that is the the biggest message, I think. Payments is crucial. I I I truly believe that, and I think it is getting more and more crucial uh the further it goes on. I think the other thing that we're gonna see, and the the thing that is getting a little bit outdated, is this whole idea that you pay for something, you go to a hotel, uh you pay for your stay, and then you kind of drip feed through all your ancillaries or all your extras on different things. And I think we'll move far more to uh firstly through through tokenization or through wallet systems, this whole concept of you committing and then being charged along the way through, it'd be far more frictionless, it'd be far more cost-effective, and it'd be far better for the provider, and it'll be a much better experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you raised several really interesting points there, and one that you highlighted that uh around actually paying suppliers, because that's the other side of it. And it's interesting you mentioned that because that's certainly a strategy that some operators employ to get the money as as early as they can and then delay paying it out for as long as possible. But you know, one of the beautiful things about the tour operator space is the fact that if managed well, meaning collecting the money and remitting in time for suppliers and doing well by your suppliers, because ultimately you're gonna have to renegotiate contracts with them and that they're gonna choose whether they continue to partner with you. And so and that's critical for their needs to be able to deliver on the the guest experience. And so, you know, trying to work out the best way to collect funds and then uh pay out so if an American traveler books in US dollars and the customer is traveling to Europe, and then when you actually have to pay out the suppliers, just understanding what that foreign exchange difference is and starting to wrap their head around both foreign exchange and interest rates and working with a savvy payment provider like repay to better understand their business model. I like what you said, Will, about just drawing a blank piece of paper. And when you highlighted the entire process, whether companies have actually ever even done that, I can say, you know, hand on heart, most of the travel companies I work with have not. And it's like it literally becomes something within the finance department that they raise once in a while when it's a problem. It's not something that most travel companies proactively consider. And I'm really hoping that this episode opens a lot of eyes and ears to the fact that wait a second, we should be reevaluating what we're doing at the moment because this could be a missed opportunity to save costs, increase revenue, as we've talked about. But ultimately, what I t what I typically see is a finance department will raise it when they're having issues with chargebacks or they're having issues with paying suppliers. They will then raise it to the executive team or to the board that we need to consider something else. And um, and so and often then it's it's way too late. You probably needed to make the change a year or two before, and now you're firefighting. And so, um, yeah, so I really hope that this has inspired a lot of people to re-evaluate uh their payment process and and um but just uh I want to finish off, Will, with a couple last questions for you, since you are such an avid traveler and such a key part of this space, and you know, it was fantastic seeing you at ITB and and seeing your relationships within the travel industry. I mean, it was so funny that when we were standing together that one of the listeners to our podcast, Sue Vincent, who you knew who I had not met yet, that works at TUE, was listening to our listening to the ITB episode of the pod the Travel Trends Podcast and had said, wait a second, are you Dan Christian? And she's like, wait a second, you're Will, I know you. And that's the beauty of our industry. You are, you know, you you're well connected and you are obviously an avid traveler. And so on that note, I wanted to talk about what you have planned for this year in terms of the conferences you're attending, and even too, some of your personal travel plans. Because obviously, you know, you you work with all these companies, and you need to uh get off the island once in a while and go and see the world and and have a leisure trip. So yeah, tell us what you have planned for 2026, Will.
SPEAKER_01And that's why we all do this, absolutely. And I love the story about Sue as well, because she literally lifted her headphones off and she hit she was hearing me through the headphones, and then you and I were talking, uh, waiting for coffee. So uh what have I got planned? Yeah, so conferences this year. Uh I'm hoping to get out to to focus right again, based on your recommendation, uh Dan. So I hope they're looking after you uh on that one. World travel market is always uh you know a main staple, not least, because it's it's not too far. Um Hedna later this year, uh talk about uh the hospitality space. And then personally, uh we've actually just booked a trip to Costa Rica with the family. So uh really excited for that. It's something I've wanted to do for the last three or four years. Finally managed to get it in. Um and so yeah, very, very much looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, as you know, I'm a huge fan of the Focus Right conferences, so I'll be delighted to see you there in Europe and certainly the conference in Florida, which I'm so thrilled they're going back to what I consider to be the uh the best and the epic place for Focus Right conferences at the Diplomat in Fort Lauderdale. So that'll be amazing in November. And obviously it's a perfect place.
SPEAKER_01You gave me in the in the coffee queue as well. So that that's what pushed me over the edge.
SPEAKER_00So that's awesome. I'm so I I genuinely um because I uh it's interesting. I love the Focus Right team. I don't have any uh stake or incentive um other than the fact I love going. I record you know an event spotlight there, and so we'll obviously we'll make sure you're part of that. But I actually do, you know, I I just I firmly believe it is one of the best conferences, and but it's also uh for business opportunities, especially for you, Will, with repaid and how you're growing and the business is evolving, it's a perfect place for you to be for those big OTA partnerships and for the most senior executives in the industry, the decision makers, they are there at the focus right conferences, and specifically that one in Florida. And as
Conferences, Costa Rica, And Next Steps
SPEAKER_00you and I know, most of those deals get done at the bar on the second night of the event. So it's uh it's where we'll we'll find each other and and um and it's where you're gonna connect with some of those people. So for sure that but I want to go back to your personal travels. So Costa Rica, that's so exciting, man.
SPEAKER_01We've got clients out there as well, so it's it's perfect. Uh a lot of DMCs out there. It's it's obviously incredibly popular, but looking forward to seeing all the wildlife and the bird life, seeing a little bit of sun, a little bit of warmth. Uh we don't get that much in England, so yeah, super excited.
SPEAKER_00Can I ask how old your kids are?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, 14 and 12. Man. And at an age where they're still happy to come on holiday with us. Uh I imagine that may continue if if the bank of dad is still paying. Um, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. That's a perfect age for both of your kids. I'm sure many of our listeners are feeling the same thing. That, you know, taking your kids to Costa Rica on a trip like that that is much more wildlife, uh, adventure, outdoors, you know, the volcanoes, the hot springs, the beaches, the howler monkeys. I mean, it's uh you're absolutely gonna love it. And that's for sure what connects us and bonds us in this space is you know, where are you going next or where have you just been? Um and that to me is um you know absolutely why I love this space, because that's usually the conversations, as we both know, quickly descend into that. And just so you know, you do business with people that you like, and um, and obviously I really enjoy your company, Will, and I'm really impressed with the company you've built. And I was thrilled to do this spotlight together. I was really keen to have you on the podcast for this conversation. And also, just so you know, for all of our listeners, Will and the team have kindly sponsored season eight of our podcast as well. So you're actually going to continue to hear more about Repaid in season eight, which launches in September and runs right through till January. And so we'll continue to feature Repaid. And obviously, I'm thrilled that we have that partnership together, and we'll look forward to many of our listeners continuing to learn more about Repaid. And for those of you who are listening to that season, uh I would have asked you to come back and listen to this episode so you could actually meet Will, learn more about him, the company he's built. Um, but just in closing, Will, is there something else you'd like to share with all of our listeners that you want to make sure they know about repaid and to know about yourself and the future of the business?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think the one message I'd I'd like to finish with is payments is often a last consideration. It's often something that's that's done, it's signed off. There's often not a connection between pay-ins and payouts, and it's incredibly complex. And I do appreciate that a lot of people they find their supplier and they think, I'm done. All I'd ask is if it's not us, go and have a conversation. Start with that blank piece of paper, understand what your flows are, but have a come and have a conversation. Trust me when I say, and it's the one thing I always advocate to my team, is let's not sell to people that we don't fit into. Because that doesn't work. It doesn't happen if a customer just leaves after three to six months. I will advise you where to go if I think there's a better fit, but I'm pretty confident for a lot of companies out there, we can help, we can advise you, we can help you put together a whole strategy from from front to back that can really improve your operation. And as Dan said, if nothing else, I I absolutely love talking to people in the travel industry. It is the most amazing space because we have that shared passion for seeing the world. Uh, and just when we see each other at conferences, it doesn't matter if it's been months or years, there's there's always a lot of uh fun, there's always a lot of great connections. Um yeah, the deals at the bars we don't talk about, that's called networking dance. Uh we'll leave that there in case my wife's listening.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Well, let's make sure that all of our listeners can connect with you and the team so that for sure, I mean, and Will, what he said is absolutely genuine, and I know that from spending time with him in person and also seeing the relationships he's built across the industry. People uh gravitate to you and also really respect your your guidance and feedback. So for those people who are interested in even reaching out to you to get some guidance on this space, obviously I know you're someone that would gladly answer their questions, whether they're potentially going to be a customer or not. You're uh you're just that way inclined. So tell everyone how best to be able to reach out to you and the team.
SPEAKER_01So uh hit me up personally at uh Will Plummer on on LinkedIn. Uh you can reach me at Will.plumber. That's P-L-U-W-M-E-R at repaid, R-E-P-A-Y-D.com, uh, or hit the team up at solutions at repaid.com. Uh and we'd always be happy to have conversations. As I say, even if we can't help directly ourselves, pretty confident we know someone that can.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome. Will well, I'm so excited for your continued success. My best to you and the team. I certainly will see you at focus right and potentially even before, but I certainly look forward to seeing you next time in in person for some networking. And uh and thanks again for your support, partnership, and for being on Travel Trends. It's been uh wonderful to speak to you today.
SPEAKER_01No, thanks, Dan. That's been great. And as ever, it's always good to catch up and always good to chat.
SPEAKER_00And that's a wrap on the latest spotlight episode of the Travel Trends Podcast. I really hope you enjoyed today's conversation with Will Plummer, the CEO of Repaid. Thanks again to Will for joining us for this conversation. I've been so keen to get into payments and create a spotlight episode like this ever since I was on the Torpreneur podcast and the number of people that reached out to me afterwards to better understand cash flow, managing foreign exchange, and paying suppliers. And I think this is probably the most important but most misunderstood area of the travel industry right now. So my hope is that many of our listeners will take away from this conversation that payments are no longer just operational infrastructure that quietly sit in the background. Payments really impact conversion, customer trust, cash flow, and ultimately revenue growth. And from today's conversation, we discussed a number of points that hopefully will be of benefit to our listeners. One of them, of course, is just how uniquely difficult the travel industry is when it comes to payments and how many companies are really unknowingly losing money from both friction and fragmented experiences. And we finished the conversation talking about the future of travel payments, which is gonna be about speed, simplicity, and creating experiences that feel completely seamless for travelers. And the reality is, and we all know this, is that travelers expect everything to happen instantly today. And so many companies really do need to modernize how their money moves. And if they do, they're gonna have a serious competitive advantage. If you want to learn more about repaid and the work they're doing in the travel payment space, you need to check them out at repaid.com. That's r-e-p.com. And you can also reach out to Will directly on LinkedIn. And we're really excited to be having Repaid join us. As an official season eight partner for our Travel Trends Podcast, you're going to be hearing more from Will and the team throughout the season. As always, thanks to all of our listeners. If you enjoy this spotlight episode and the conversations we have with people shaping the future of travel, then be sure to check out traveltrendspodcast.com/slash spotlights, where you can explore all of the episodes. And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe to our monthly newsletters so you'll never miss an update or a new episode of what's happening across the travel industry. And we do post clips and highlights on our social channels. So you can find Will there as well at Travel Trends Podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening and joining us. And until next episode, safe travels.
