What Tab does

Tab is a payment processing platform purpose-built for the global tourism industry, headquartered in London with 11-50 employees and operating as a venture-backed private company. The platform enables hotels, hostels, villa rentals, tour operators, retreat providers (including surf camps, language schools, and yoga retreats), and other travel businesses to accept card payments across three channels: in-person via a mobile app on any device, in-advance through deposit collection to reduce booking no-shows, and on the merchant's own website through an embedded booking and payment widget. The company claims to serve thousands of tourism businesses worldwide with weekly automatic payouts in 140+ local currencies and no payout fees.

The platform is differentiated by domain-specific features including offline-capable payment processing for weak WiFi environments, multi-currency settlement, and integrations with major online travel agencies (Booking.com, Expedia, Despegar) and property management systems (Cloudbeds). The technology stack appears to be a custom-built payments and merchant onboarding layer rather than a white-label of a general-purpose processor, with self-serve online application enabling product-led growth.

Tab operates a transaction-fee revenue model on processed payments and distributes primarily through its own website via a self-serve application flow. The company is backed by investors associated with Airbnb, OpenAI, Dropbox, and Stripe, providing tier-1 signaling credibility. No specific funding amounts beyond early 2015 rounds (Y Combinator, DeNA, Investo) are disclosed, and no revenue, headcount growth, or valuation figures are available in the source material.

Name

Tab

Website

https://business.tab.travel

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tab is a payment processing platform built specifically for tourism businesses, enabling hotels, tours, and retreats to accept card payments in-person, in-advance, and via embedded website widgets, with weekly payouts in 140+ local currencies across thousands of global merchants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel Payments Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Travel & Expense Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Accounts Payable Automation & Invoice Payments for Travel Suppliers (THACAJAI), Travel Wallets & Prepaid Accounts (Multi-currency, Per-diem) (THACAJAC)

Keywords

• Tourism payment processing
• Hotel card payments
• Multi-currency payouts
• Booking widget integration
• Tour operator payments

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Payment processing fees: Tab charges businesses transaction fees for processing card payments. The platform enables secure bookings and on-the-spot sales for tourism businesses including hotels, tours, and retreats.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Tab is a payment processing platform custom-built for global tourism businesses. It enables hotels, tour operators, retreats, and other travel businesses to accept card payments in-person via the Tab app on any device, in-advance through deposit collection, and on their own websites via an embedded booking widget, with weekly payouts in 140+ local currencies.

Product overview

Tab is a single unified payment platform designed specifically for the tourism and hospitality industry. The core product enables businesses to take payments across three channels: in-person via the Tab app on any device, in-advance through deposit collection to secure bookings and reduce no-shows, and on their own website via a booking widget. The platform integrates with popular OTAs and property management systems (Booking.com, Expedia, Despegar, Cloudbeds) and delivers weekly payouts in local currencies with global coverage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tab Payment Platform A unified payment processing platform designed for tourism and hospitality businesses (hotels, hostels, villa rentals, tour operators, activity providers, retreats) that supports in-person payments, advance deposit collection to reduce no-shows, and website-based bookings via an embedded widget, with weekly payouts in 140+ local currencies and offline capability for poor-connectivity environments.

Quantifiable outcome

• Weekly automatic payouts for balances $500+

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• FareHarbor: Booking-platform and payment software purpose-built for tour and activity operators. Owned by Booking Holdings, it directly overlaps Tab's tours-and-activities vertical with integrated payment processing and merchant-of-record services.
• Bokun: Booking, distribution, and payment platform for tour operators and experience providers, now owned by Tripadvisor/Viator. Competes head-on with Tab's tours-and-activities merchant base and embeds payment acceptance.
• Peek: Marketplace and software platform for tours, activities, and experiences with integrated payments. Targets the same merchant profile as Tab (tour operators, retreats) and offers end-to-end booking-plus-payment rails.
• Checkfront: Cloud-based booking management platform for tours, attractions, and accommodations with built-in payment processing. Closely comparable merchant target and product feature set to Tab.
• Rezdy: Booking and distribution software for tour and activity operators with payment gateway integrations. Targets the same SMB customer profile as Tab, especially surf camps, retreats, and adventure operators.

Broad incumbents

• Stripe: Global payments infrastructure platform and likely underlying rail for Tab. While not tourism-specific, Stripe's expanding vertical features (multi-currency, offline, embedded finance) compete directly with Tab's differentiation thesis.
• Adyen: Enterprise-grade global payments platform offering multi-currency settlement and unified commerce. Targets larger hotel and travel merchants, competing for the upper tier of Tab's hotel and chain segment.
• Square (Block): SMB-focused payments and software platform with broad merchant tools. Competes for the boutique hotel, tour, and retreat SMB base that Tab serves with hardware-free mobile acceptance.

Regional players

• SumUp: European-origin mobile payment acceptance provider for SMBs. Competes most directly with Tab in the European and UK hospitality and tour operator market, including offline and multi-currency capabilities.

Others

• Cloudbeds: Property management system for hotels and hostels. Listed as a Tab integration partner rather than competitor — included as a peer because it controls the PMS-side data flow for Tab's hotel merchant base and could disintermediate payment flows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tab_HQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/tab.travel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tab