Tech can ease the tension between old systems and modern retailing. Seerbit’s Omoniyi Kolade offers an African perspective
The relationship between airlines and online travel agencies (OTAs) is showing signs of strain. What began as a mutually beneficial partnership; airlines gaining reach, OTAs offering customers flexibility has evolved into a battle over control, margins, and customer data. Airlines argue that OTAs add unnecessary costs and complexity. OTAs, in turn, say airlines are cutting them out through direct-booking incentives and restrictive data policies.
At the centre of this tug-of-war lies one of the industry’s least glamorous but most consequential issues: payments. Settlement delays, refunds, and foreign exchange frictions have become sticking points in how airlines and OTAs work together. As both sides digitise operations and rethink distribution, the question is whether smarter, more transparent payment systems could ease years of built-up friction.
To understand the roots of the problem and what innovation could look like we spoke to Omoniyi Kolade, CEO at travel industry paytech SeerBit.
At its core, what does this payment war reveal about inefficiencies in the global travel industry?
At the heart of it, this payment challenge shows us how much of travel is still running on rails that were laid decades ago. The industry is grappling with a structural mismatch between how money moves and how travel is sold today.
Online travel agencies typically operate on a “double-loop” model: traveller funds come in, then flow back out to airlines and hotels. It’s functional, but once you add scale, cross-border FX, or a wave of cancellations, the system strains under its own weight.
For airlines, already operating on razor-thin margins, this model starves them of the faster, cheaper settlement they need to manage cash flow. For travellers, it means delays in refunds and higher fees. And for suppliers across the chain, liquidity isn’t always there when it’s needed.
Much of this still runs through frameworks like IATA’s BSP, which, while important, were built for an era of batch processing and intermediaries. That architecture is too slow and too costly for a digital-first industry.
The irony is that the front end of travel has raced ahead: sleek booking apps, AI-powered pricing, one-click experiences. Yet behind the scenes, the flow of money hasn’t kept pace. That gap is exactly where the industry’s next wave of efficiency gains lies; faster settlements, cheaper cross-border transactions, and refund processes that work in days instead of weeks.
Why are legacy payment models like virtual cards breaking down in high-volume industries like travel now?
Virtual cards were a step forward compared to the older tools we had in travel payments. They gave OTAs and suppliers a way to control spend, reduce fraud, and streamline transactions. But the truth is, at scale, especially in a high-volume industry like travel, they start to buckle under the weight of complexity.
That’s why we’re seeing cracks in the model now. Travel volumes are back to pre-pandemic levels and growing globalisation has added layers of cross-border complexity, and consumer expectations for instant refunds and seamless experiences have never been higher. Virtual cards weren’t designed to handle that level of fluidity. They’re still constrained by the same reconciliation challenges, fragmented data flows, and FX exposures that slow the industry down.
The virtual card market is growing rapidly, especially in B2B travel, but what’s missing is the infrastructure to make these tools work seamlessly in the real world of multi-vendor, cross-border, high-volume travel. Real-time reconciliation, multi-currency support, and integrated settlement models that cut out unnecessary intermediaries.
What broader macro trends are fuelling this tension?
The tension in travel payments today is being driven by a mix of global and African-specific macro trends. First, digital adoption is skyrocketing—across Africa, mobile wallets and digital payment solutions are now mainstream. In Kenya and Ghana, over 80% of transactions flow through mobile money, setting consumer expectations for fast, seamless, and frictionless payments.
Second, cross-border complexity is increasing. With more international travel and intra-African tourism on the rise, payments must navigate multiple currencies, FX volatility, and fragmented systems. Initiatives like the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS) are helping, but the shift away from traditional rails is still early.
Third, efficiency and security pressures are mounting. Travel firms globally and locally are grappling with reconciliation bottlenecks, fraud risk, and operational overhead, while consumers demand instant refunds and reliable transactions.
Put together, these macro trends are creating both pressure and opportunity: travel payments are no longer just a back-office function—they’re a strategic lever that can drive trust, liquidity, and growth.
Beyond airlines and OTAs, how does this payment tension ripple across banks, fintech providers, and ultimately travellers themselves?
Beyond airlines and OTAs, the ripple effects of payment inefficiencies hit every corner of the ecosystem. For banks, it often means advancing funds to keep transactions moving while settlements lag through legacy systems. This creates liquidity pressures and adds costs that banks inevitably pass on to businesses and consumers. Fintech providers face a different challenge: they’re the ones trying to stitch together workarounds, navigating fragmented regulations, high chargeback rates, and complex FX rules to build instant, borderless, and digital-first solutions to enable real-time settlement, lower fees, and tighter security. The traveller ends up bearing the brunt of it all — delayed refunds, hidden FX markups, and fees that quietly inflate the cost of a trip.
Some say fintech innovation could replace or reimagine virtual cards altogether. What’s realistic in the short versus long term?
In the short term, virtual cards aren’t going away. They solve a very specific problem around control, fraud prevention, and reconciliation in travel payments, and for many players like OTA’s they’re still the most practical tool available. What we’re likely to see, though, is a hybrid approach:OTAs and airlines still using virtual cards, but layering on fintech tools to improve reconciliation, reporting, and data visibility. That buys the industry time, but it doesn’t solve the structural issues.
In the long term, I do see fintech innovation reimagining, if not outright replacing, the virtual card model. Account-to-account rails, instant payments, and tokenized solutions can deliver the same benefits of security and control, but with real-time settlement and lower costs. We’re already seeing them gain traction in other sectors. For travel, it won’t be an overnight shift — too much is tied into legacy processes — but the momentum is there. Over time, these rails will reimagine what settlement looks like, replacing batch-based, intermediary-heavy models with something instant, global, and built for the digital-first traveller.
Looking five years ahead, what’s the most likely payment setup we’ll see dominating B2B travel transactions?
I think the most likely setup dominating B2B travel payments will be real-time, account-to-account flows backed by open banking and instant payment rails. Tools like Mastercard’s Request to Pay already show how you can improve cash flow visibility and build more trust between buyers and suppliers and travel will follow that path.
The real transformation will come from integration. Instead of today’s fragmented patchwork of virtual cards, banks, and reconciliation layers, we’ll see fintech orchestration platforms emerge as the connective tissue. These platforms will embed payments directly into travel platforms ; invisible, instant, and borderless. Airlines, OTAs, and hotels won’t just process transactions; they’ll operate on unified rails where settlement, FX, and reconciliation all happen seamlessly in one layer.
The result will be fewer intermediaries, stronger liquidity, and settlement cycles measured in hours, not weeks.