Complex Travel Group managing director Mark Trim says the removal of card surcharging will hit travel businesses and consumers.
Hotels and travel businesses that add a card surcharge must remove it on 1 October 2026. Booking fees and weekend or public holiday surcharges sit outside the change.
“Undoubtedly every travel intermediary is impacted by the RBA changes in a negative way, and with less transparency and reduced credit card benefits, you can also assert that this change is also bad for consumers,” he told Travel Daily.
“It is likely that consumers may end up paying more across the economy while businesses use this change to increase their general prices by greater than the card processing changes.”
Surcharges go from 1 October
The Reserve Bank of Australia published the conclusions to its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging on 31 March 2026. Most changes take effect on 1 October 2026. The removal covers the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks.
The network rules cover credit, debit and prepaid cards. The RBA lifted its prohibition on no-surcharge rules, and the card networks impose the ban through their scheme rules. The RBA does not regulate merchants directly.
American Express, UnionPay and PayPal have also decided to remove surcharging. PayPal’s no-surcharge rule takes effect on 5 October 2026.
Booking fees stay outside the ban
The changes apply to surcharges added because a customer pays by card. Weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, and booking fees or service fees are not covered.
Businesses can continue to offer discounts for particular payment methods, and can choose which payment methods they accept.
Interchange caps cut
The RBA lowered the cap on domestic-issued consumer credit card interchange to 0.3 per cent. The cap for commercial credit cards stays at 0.8 per cent. The debit and prepaid cap falls to 8 cents or 0.16 per cent, from 10 cents or 0.2 per cent.
The RBA estimates the lower caps cut merchants’ wholesale card payment costs by around $910 million a year. Caps on foreign-issued card transactions take effect on 1 April 2027.
Agencies will reprice
Trim said high transaction costs and low margins make the transition hard to navigate for travel and tourism businesses.
He said every agency will have reviewed its pricing and remuneration models for the 1 to 1.5 per cent in card transaction costs, and will have reframed that cost as overhead such as rent, wages or insurance premiums.
He expects booking fees to be introduced or increased. “We do not believe there will be a single agency that will simply accept such a large hit to profit without some sort of adjustment to their pricing,” Trim said.
Flat fees expected to dominate
Trim said a fee will be implemented either as a percentage of the booking and handling fee or through a flat fee model.
“Given the friction caused by a need to recalculate percentage fees, we expect that flat fees will become the dominant model, alongside discounts for cheaper payment methods,” he said.
“Ultimately a flat fee model rewards those with the highest transaction costs, American Express card users for example, and penalises those using cheaper debit cards or similar.”
The RBA states American Express is not currently subject to formal regulation by the RBA. The RBA also states that a number of financial institutions have announced changes to credit card rewards programmes and benefits following the review.
Suppliers under pressure
Trim urged agencies to place more pressure on suppliers to pass on savings made through lower-cost settlement methods. He puts the margin to be returned at 0.5 to 0.75 per cent when settling through no-cost or low-cost payment methods.
He said travel management companies have the simplest transition, with fewer conversations needed and established fee-for-service models that can be adjusted to cover higher costs.
Trim is managing director of Complex Travel Group, an Adelaide business founded as RoundAbout Travel.