Best Payment Solutions for Small Hotels (2026)
Some links below are affiliate links: if you subscribe we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our rankings. Here’s how we research & rank.
Taking payment should be the easy part of running a hotel — but the wrong setup means high fees, slow payouts, and awkward moments at check-in. The right payment solution takes cards online and in person, settles quickly, and plugs into the tools you already use.
We compared the leading options for small properties on the things that actually cost or save you money: transaction fees, payout speed, and how well they integrate with booking systems.
Here are our current picks, ranked. Fees change often, so always confirm current rates on the provider's site.
| # | Tool | Best for | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stripe | Hotels taking direct online bookings on their own site | 4.6 |
| 2 | Square | Small hotels and B&Bs taking cards at the desk | 4.4 |
| 3 | SumUp | B&Bs that only occasionally take cards in person | 4.1 |
| 4 | PayPal | Hotels wanting a payment option guests already trust | 4.0 |
Stripe
Best for online and booking-integrated payments
- Best for
- Hotels taking direct online bookings on their own site
- Price from
- ~2.9% + fixed fee per online transaction (verify)
What we liked
- Integrates with most booking engines and website builders
- Excellent for online, card-not-present payments
- Transparent, well-documented pricing
Worth knowing
- In-person hardware is secondary to online
- Some setup is developer-oriented
Square
Best for in-person and hybrid payments
- Best for
- Small hotels and B&Bs taking cards at the desk
- Price from
- ~2.6% + fixed fee in person (verify)
What we liked
- Great in-person hardware and simple flat pricing
- Fast, predictable payouts
- Easy for non-technical owners
Worth knowing
- Fewer deep hotel-system integrations than Stripe
- Best when in-person is a big part of your mix
SumUp
Best low-cost card reader for tiny properties
- Best for
- B&Bs that only occasionally take cards in person
- Price from
- Low per-transaction fee, cheap reader (verify)
What we liked
- Very affordable card reader
- No monthly fees on the basic plan
- Dead simple to start using
Worth knowing
- Fewer online and integration features
- Not built for high volume
PayPal
Best for guest familiarity and quick online payment
- Best for
- Hotels wanting a payment option guests already trust
- Price from
- ~3.4% + fixed fee typical (verify)
What we liked
- Guests recognise and trust it instantly
- Fast to add to a website or invoice
- Good for deposits and one-off links
Worth knowing
- Fees can be higher than Stripe or Square
- Fewer hotel-specific integrations
What you’ll actually pay
With payment tools the 'price' is the transaction fee, so the right choice depends on whether guests pay online or in person, and on your volume. Rates below are standard published US rates for July 2026 — negotiated/volume rates and non-US pricing differ. Always confirm current rates with the processor.
| Tool | Published entry price | How it’s charged | Fees & add-ons | Trial & contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Online: 2.9% + 30¢ | In person: 2.6% + 10¢ | No monthly fee; developer-friendly | No lock-in; ~2-day payouts |
| Square | Online: 3.3% + 30¢ (Free plan) | In person: 2.6% + 15¢ | Plus $49/mo/location lowers rates (2.9%+30¢ online / 2.5%+15¢ in person) | Free plan; hardware extra |
| SumUp | Online: 2.5% | In person: 1.69% flat | No monthly fee; cheapest in person | Pay-as-you-go; reader one-off cost |
| PayPal | Online: 3.49% + 49¢ | In person: 2.29% + 9¢ | Advanced/Pro drop to ~2.59%+49¢ but add $25–30/mo | No lock-in; instant brand recognition |
- Match the tool to where you take payment: SumUp is cheapest in person (1.69%); Stripe and Square are strongest online. A few tenths of a percent matters at hotel volumes.
- On €200,000 processed a year, a 0.5% rate difference is €1,000. Compare on your real online/in-person split, not the headline rate.
- 'Free' plans (Square, SumUp) have no monthly fee but higher per-transaction rates; paid tiers (Square Plus, PayPal Advanced) lower the rate — worth it only above a volume threshold.
- Check payout timing and chargeback handling — cash flow matters as much as the headline rate.
Pricing checked July 2026against each vendor’s public pricing; custom-quote figures are third-party estimates. Confirm current pricing before you buy. Sources: Stripe pricing, Square pricing, SumUp pricing, PayPal merchant fees.
Our verdict
If most of your bookings happen online through your own site, Stripe is the best choice — it plugs into nearly every booking engine and website builder. If you mainly take cards at the desk, Square gives you great hardware and simple, predictable pricing.
Very small B&Bs that only occasionally take cards can start with a cheap SumUp reader, and PayPal is worth adding as a familiar option guests trust for deposits. Always check current fees, since they change.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use my booking system's built-in payments instead?+
Often yes — many PMS and booking engines use Stripe or a similar processor under the hood, which keeps payments tied to reservations. If yours doesn't, choosing your own processor from this list gives you control over fees and payouts.
How do I keep card payments secure and compliant?+
Use a reputable processor like those listed, which handle PCI compliance and encryption for you. Avoid storing raw card numbers yourself; let the payment provider tokenise and secure them.
Sašo Radović is the founder of HotelChrono, a hotel-data service, and a small-business consultant. He researches the software that independent hotels, rentals and service firms actually rely on, and ranks it independently — with no vendor influence. Where a score rests on research rather than a full hands-on setup, ToolPickr says so.
Spotted something out of date? Tell usand we’ll correct it — see our methodology.