How lastminute.com cut payments launch times by 70%

Challenge: Tackling routing and risk

In a highly dynamic and competitive sector like travel, where lastminute.com operates, every transaction matters. As the business continued to grow, optimizing payment routing, further strengthening fraud management, and streamlining dispute handling were key priorities.

In essence, lastminute.com needed a partner able to handle fraud and simplify the complexities of global payment routing. 

Solution: Streamlining with direct acquiring

 This is why lastminute.com extended its partnership with Adyen, switching to direct acquiring and unlocking the full potential of Adyen’s platform. 

"Over the past year, we experienced further benefits from Adyen’s technology stack. We were able to quickly integrate new payment methods in various regions, such as iDeal in the Netherlands, Bizum in Spain, TWINT in Switzerland, and Scalapay in Italy. All this in just a few months, with minimal impact on internal teams and consistently high service quality."

Nicola Bettari Payments and Fintech Director, lastminute.com

Results: Reliability, speed, and a strategic edge

By working with Adyen, lastminute.com has further strengthened its infrastructure, resulting in a smoother payment experience for travelers and a backend built for global scale.

"We’ve seen significant improvements during our partnership with Adyen. The overall card acceptance rate across regions increased by about 2%, while the time needed to launch new payment methods was reduced by around 70%, and costs by 60%."

Alessandro Luchetti, Head of Payment Operations, lastminute.com

With a flexible tech stack in place, the team can now test and implement new ideas at speed, turning payments from a technical necessity into an engine for innovation. 

Challenge: Complex payouts slowing down growth

Although lastminute.com had already optimized the customer checkout, there was still room to streamline the backend flow for suppliers.

They needed to optimize processes and resources, and make supplier payment management more scalable.

Solution: Effortless payouts via virtual cards

By introducing Issuing, lastminute.com extended its partnership with Adyen to make supplier payouts more efficient. This step led the brand to generate prepaid virtual cards directly on the Adyen platform. These cards, Visa-branded and part of its B2B Travel Card program dedicated to online travel agencies (OTAs), create a streamlined way to pay airlines, hotels, and other suppliers.

"With Adyen, we can rely on an optimal user experience and reliable, modern technology that adapts to our organizational structure. Thanks to advanced configuration options, we benefit from multi-level settings for both accounts and individual cards, and we can issue new cards in additional currencies almost instantly."

Luca Pizzochero, Card issuing & B2B Payments manager, lastminute.com

With Adyen’s unified platform, lastminute.com can optimize financial flows, enabling incoming booking revenue to fund supplier payouts more efficiently.

Results: Accelerating cash flow and global operational agility

The adoption of prepaid virtual cards on Adyen’s unified platform has helped simplify and accelerate supplier payments, while keeping processes reliable. Funds can now reach virtual cards 2–3 days earlier. This technical evolution ensures greater reliability and global cost control. The payout engine remains uninterrupted, and the ability to issue cards in multiple currencies has significantly optimized exchange rate costs.

This is supported by the ability to monitor the entire card lifecycle in real time, with immediate updates delivered via dashboard and API.

"Thanks to Adyen, the time needed to retrieve key information has decreased significantly compared to the past, and reconciliation times have dropped by 5%. This allows us to work more agilely and focus resources on higher-value activities."

Luca Pizzochero, Card issuing & B2B Payments manager, lastminute.com

The journey doesn’t end here. The next phase of the partnership will focus on further improving the efficiency of supplier payments, a priority given the high seasonality of the travel industry.

"To anyone considering Adyen as a partner, I can say that having a competent and reliable team by your side truly makes a difference, enabling daily innovation. We continue to grow, confident that everything works at its best, even when complexity is high behind the scenes."

Nicola Bettari, Payments and Fintech Director, lastminute.com