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In a sector as competitive as tourism, payment optimisation has become a key strategic factor in improving the customer experience and reducing operational friction. Traditionally held back by slow processes, opaque fees and high booking abandonment rates, the traveltech ecosystem now requires agile solutions that respond effectively to the diverse needs of international travellers.

In this context, the ability to integrate local payment methods, ensure robust cybersecurity and simplify cross-border transactions can make the difference between customer loyalty and lost business opportunities. In the following interview, we explore how advanced technology and financial regulation are coming together to transform payment collection for accommodation providers and tourism operators.

To gain a deeper understanding of these challenges, we spoke with Álex Saiz Verdaguer, CEO and founder of MONEI.com, a fintech company with more than a decade of experience that has established itself as one of the most innovative players in this sector.

MONEI is one of the Tech Tourism Cluster’s more than 150 members. Could you briefly explain the main features of your company?

MONEI is a payment institution authorised and supervised by the Bank of Spain (registration no. 6911). We develop and operate our own payment infrastructure for merchants. We started more than a decade ago as a payment tool integrated into Shopify and, over time, evolved into a regulated payment institution with end-to-end proprietary technology.

In practice, we provide businesses of all sizes with everything they need to accept payments: online card payments, digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, local payment methods — Bizum in Spain, MB WAY in Portugal and Bancontact in Belgium — buy-now-pay-later options, and in-person payments directly from a mobile phone using Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android devices, without the need for a card terminal.

We are the only native Bizum acquirer in Europe, which allows us to process Bizum payments and settle the funds directly with merchants. Our platform runs entirely in the cloud, using a serverless architecture on AWS. It holds PCI DSS Level 1 certification — the highest standard for handling card data — as well as ISO 27001 certification. It also routes transactions across multiple acquirers to maximise payment acceptance rates. In 2025, we processed €228 million for approximately 2,500 active merchants, with teams based in Málaga, Barcelona and Vic.

How did the idea of challenging the traditional payment gateway giants come about, and what has been the key to gaining traction against established solutions?

MONEI was born out of a very specific frustration: for an online business in Spain, accepting payments meant dealing with slow processes, opaque contracts, outdated technology and very limited options for introducing new payment methods. We started by solving this problem for Shopify merchants and soon realised there was room for a different proposition: modern technology, transparent terms and conditions, and a personal approach.

Rather than directly confronting the major players, we have focused on doing particularly well the things they tend to prioritise less. Our success has been built on three key elements. First, proprietary technology: we do not resell a third party’s platform, which allows us to launch payment methods and integrations quickly. Second, our licence: as a payment institution supervised by the Bank of Spain, we can work directly with payment schemes and settle funds with merchants without intermediaries. Third, local specialisation: we focus on the payment methods consumers actually use in each market, starting with Bizum in Spain.

Our growth reflects this approach. The volume processed increased from €58 million in 2023 to €228 million in 2025, and in 2026 MONEI received Adigital’s Scalability Award.

In the tourism and hospitality ecosystem, payment friction — whether during online bookings, quick check-ins or payments at the destination — remains a critical factor in the customer experience. How does your technology help accommodation providers and tourism operators reduce abandoned bookings and optimise cross-border payments?

Tourism has its own specific characteristics. Customers often pay weeks before arriving, online and in-person payments coexist, and businesses need to manage deposits, security deposits and subsequent charges for extras, damages or no-shows. A significant proportion of customers are also international.

The most effective way to reduce abandonment is to offer each traveller the payment method they already use in their home country and can complete in seconds on their mobile phone: Bizum for domestic travellers, MB WAY for Portuguese visitors, Bancontact for Belgian customers, or Apple Pay and Google Pay for international travellers more generally. These methods use the phone’s own biometric authentication or the customer’s banking app, eliminating steps such as manually entering card details. For higher-value bookings, instalment payments can also help customers complete their reservations.

In their day-to-day operations, accommodation providers can pre-authorise an amount on a card as a guarantee and capture it only when necessary, securely store tokenised card details for subsequent charges authorised by the customer, or send payment links by email or messaging to complete a booking made over the phone or collect payment for an additional service.

At the destination, reception teams, guides and activity providers can accept payments by asking customers to tap their card or mobile phone against the provider’s own iPhone or Android device, without needing a card terminal.

For cross-border transactions, we route each payment across multiple acquirers to improve approval rates for foreign cards. All payments — both online and in person — are reconciled through a single dashboard, significantly simplifying accommodation providers’ administrative processes.

With the rise of mobile and instant payments, alongside strict European security regulations such as PSD2 and strong customer authentication requirements, cybersecurity is non-negotiable. How does MONEI balance a seamless, one-click user experience with the highest standards of AI-powered fraud prevention?

In payments, security and conversion are not conflicting objectives if they are properly built into the system from the outset. PSD2 requires strong customer authentication for most online payments. With the 3D Secure 2 protocol, the issuing bank receives much more information about each transaction and can authenticate it without interrupting the user when the risk is low — the so-called frictionless flow. The regulation also provides exemptions in certain circumstances, such as low-value or low-risk transactions.

In addition, methods such as Bizum, Apple Pay and Google Pay incorporate authentication directly into the phone through fingerprint recognition or facial recognition, making security practically invisible to the user.

Behind the scenes, card details never reach the merchant: they are replaced with tokens. Our infrastructure complies with PCI DSS Level 1 and ISO 27001. We also continuously monitor transactions using risk rules and models that analyse patterns to detect unusual activity. As a supervised payment institution, we also apply anti-money-laundering controls and verify every merchant during onboarding.

Our view is that artificial intelligence should not be used to add barriers, but rather to introduce friction only where it is justified. The vast majority of legitimate customers should be able to pay without even noticing the security measures, while only suspicious transactions should require additional verification.

How do you ensure accessibility and technical integration so that any business can adopt your technology seamlessly?

We recognise that not every business has a technical team, so we adapt the integration process to each company's starting point.

A small accommodation provider or activity business can start accepting payments without writing a single line of code, using payment links, QR codes or MONEI Pay, our app for accepting payments through Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android phones.

Businesses that already have an online shop can activate MONEI through modules for leading e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop and Magento, as well as more advanced platforms such as commercetools, Medusa, Saleor and Sylius.

Businesses with their own development teams have access to a documented API, payment components that can be integrated into their websites or applications, and a comprehensive testing environment.

In the tourism sector, MONEI is already integrated with Hotelgest hotel management software, and other property management systems (PMSs) and booking engines will be connected in the coming months.

Registration is digital, merchant verification takes place online, and we provide personalised support in Spanish, Catalan and English. We have recently taken another step forward with an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that allows AI assistants to consult and manage MONEI payments, meaning integrations can also be carried out through AI tools.

Looking ahead to the future of digital money — with the emergence of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the evolution of account-to-account payments and the integration of payments into AI-powered conversational environments — where do you think the payments sector is heading, and what role will MONEI play in this transformation?

We believe the sector is moving in three complementary directions.

The first is account-to-account payments. Bizum has demonstrated in Spain that consumers readily adopt instant payments directly from their bank accounts when the experience is straightforward. With the new European regulation on instant credit transfers, more payments will move directly from account to account, reducing costs for merchants and enabling immediate settlement.

The second is programmable money. The digital euro being developed by the European Central Bank, together with euro-denominated stablecoins regulated under the European MiCA framework, opens the door to payments that are executed automatically according to predefined conditions. For example, payment for a booking could be released at check-in. MONEI is participating in the ECB's digital euro pilot and is developing EURM, a euro-denominated stablecoin designed within the MiCA regulatory framework.

The third is conversational commerce. More travellers will plan and book their trips through AI assistants. For an AI agent to make payments securely on someone's behalf, standardised protocols, explicit user authorisation and clear limits are essential.

At MONEI, we have already developed an MCP server that allows AI assistants to execute payments, and we have implemented Bizum's reference integration into the Universal Commerce Protocol. Our role is to provide the regulated, programmable payment infrastructure that connects these new systems with merchants, so that a hotel or travel agency does not have to worry about which technology its customers use to pay.

You are part of a leading innovation environment through the Tech Tourism Cluster ecosystem. What synergies do you find in collaborating within this network of traveltech companies, and how does it help you scale your technology in the face of global distribution giants?

Tourism is one of the country's major economic drivers, and sooner or later, almost every technological innovation in the sector involves the payment process. Being part of the Tech Tourism Cluster allows us to gain first-hand insight into the specific needs of the industry — hotels, travel agencies, activity providers and software companies — and adapt our product accordingly.

The most natural synergies arise with traveltech companies developing booking engines, hotel management systems or experience platforms. By integrating a regulated, locally adapted payment layer, they can offer their customers methods such as Bizum without having to build or license that infrastructure themselves. This is the model we already apply with Hotelgest and aim to extend to other providers in the sector.

We do not believe the answer to competing with global giants is to replicate their scale, but rather to focus on specialisation and collaboration. A business ecosystem that shares knowledge, customers and pilot projects can deliver solutions better suited to the market, provide closer customer support and keep the value generated by tourism payments and data within the local economy.