by Matt Rej
Agilysys offers a range of hospitality management solutions for hotels, resorts, casinos, and stadiums. They support everything from PMS software to booking tools, POS, loyalty programs, and more.
Integrated payment acceptance is one feature that’s largely promoted by Agilysys. But the way this functionality is provided is largely misunderstood.
Agilysys doesn’t actually process payments themselves. Instead, they integrate with third-party processors, gateways, and other providers.
These solutions are not interchangeable, as the processor you ultimately use will directly impact your costs and operations. I’ll explain all of your options below, and why the best case for most businesses is to keep your current credit card processor.
Agilysys Payment Integrations at a Glance
- Shift4 — Hospitality-focused processor that’s one of the most common and longest-standing Agilysys integrations.
- Elavon — Acquiring division of US Bank and well-established option for merchants of all sizes.
- Adyen — Tech-forward platform that’s known for fair pricing, with some of the lowest rates you’ll find for high-volume businesses.
- Global Payments — One of the largest acquirers in the world, but notorious for hidden fees and frequent rate increases.
- FreedomPay — Gateway solution that allows you to bring your own processor.
- PAR — POS and payment system, structured so you can choose the processor behind the gateway.
- CITCON — Alternative payment method aggregator covering wallets, BNPL, and price display in multiple currencies through one integration.
- Tryo — Australian non-bank acquirer (relevant only to properties operating in Australia).
- Windcave — New Zealand-based acquirer and gateway, though they are now licensed in the US and Canada.
- GoCardless — Bank debit and ACH pulls aimed at recurring and invoice-based billing rather than card-present transactions or online bookings.
- Gravity Solutions — Tip pooling, distribution, and payout automation (no actual payment acceptance).
This is one of the most extensive lists that you’ll find in the hospitality software space. Typically, we only see two or three processors supported at most.
And even if your current credit card processor isn’t shown above, you can likely keep them by facilitating the connection through one of the gateways that integrates with Agilysys.
How Agilysys Pay Actually Works
Agilysys Pay is the payment layer that sits between the software and whatever provider you selected.
It’s not an acquirer. And Agilysys does not underwrite your merchant account or set your credit card processing rates. What it does is maintain the connections to the providers listed above so that transactions can move cleanly between your property’s software and the processor.
There’s an added cost to this arrangement, as Agilysys can charge more for providing additional value on the software side. While a slight premium in your rate can be justifiable on your processor’s side compared to standalone processing without an integrated setup.
But the tradeoff is that you keep a direct line to your processor instead of being forced to use a software’s in-house payment solution that’s effectively a middleman to the acquirer (common elsewhere).
That direct line to the acquirer is worth protecting, and it’s the reason your rates remain negotiable.
End-to-End Processors and Merchant Acquirers
This group offers direct merchant acquiring. They offer everything you need to accept payments under one roof, including gateways, hardware, payment security, and the technology needed to integrate with your Agilysys setup.
The best part about going directly to an acquirer is the cost. While fair rates aren’t guaranteed, and they can even vary for each merchant account within the same processor, you have access to IC+ pricing.
If you’re already using one of these providers, you shouldn’t consider switching to another solution just to accept payments in Agilysys.
Shift4: Popular option, just watch for extra fees and make sure you’re on the right pricing structure
Shift4 is the most common processor that we see connected to Agilysys, largely because the integration has been supported the longest. It’s a logical choice because the types of businesses seeking Agilysys are exactly the types of merchants that Shift4 targets.
Overall, Shift4 is a solid provider. Everything they offer works as expected, and your ability to sync with Agilysys will be smooth.
The downside is that Shift4 raises rates more frequently than we’d prefer to see. And they have a range of other fees that can increase your effective rate (though many can be removed or negotiated once identified).
Another pro tip to know is that you should confirm you’re actually on Shift4’s interchange-plus pricing program. They frequently try to enroll merchants on something called simple change pricing, which is not the same, and will definitely cost you more.
Elavon: Solid, but annual rate increases are standard
Elavon is one of the oldest and most well-established processors in the industry.
They’re fairly comparable to Shift4 in terms of what they offer. And similarly, pricing can be competitive as long as you monitor your account for extra fees.
We typically see Elavon increase pricing once per year. The amounts are usually marginal, though they definitely add up over time if you’re not pushing back on them.
One particular fee that hotels should watch out for is Elavon’s non-qualified volume fee. While this type of charge is traditionally applied to tiered pricing accounts, we even see this charge on IC+ statements. And it can be applied to any charge where a card was manually entered or processed online (which is obviously common for hotels, resorts, and casinos).
Fortunately, that fee can be eliminated. So if you spot it, contact Elavon ASAP and request its removal.
Adyen: Best combination of pricing and technology
I honestly think that Adyen is among the top providers on the market right now. What’s great about them is they do it all: exceptional technology, but also offering direct acquiring and fair pricing.
We normally see more expensive rates from top-tier tech providers. Or those that try to offer fair rates are hamstrung by a PayFac model. Neither of those apply to Adyen.
Their reporting could definitely use some improvement. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a favorable tradeoff when you consider the pricing.
Pricing can be as low as 0.25% + $0.10 per transaction for high-volume merchants, which is a really good deal for an integrated setup.
Global Payments: Massive company but expensive
Following its acquisition of Worldpay to kick off 2026, Global Payments is one of the largest processors in the payments space. Theoretically, they should be able to use their size as a competitive advantage. Offering lower rates and generating revenue based on pure volume. But unfortunately, the opposite is true.
We consistently find Global using its size to apply aggressive billing tactics across its entire portfolio. Whether its extra fees, massive rate increases, frequent rate hikes, assessment padding, or a combination of everything, Global is one of the worst offenders in the industry.
Their risk assessment fees and settlement funding fees are two that we commonly find when auditing statements.
That said, if you’re already set up with Global or one of its subsidiaries, you’re honestly better off staying put. As the cost and headaches associated with switching may not be worth it.
They are open to negotiations once you’re able to identify junk fees and request fair pricing terms. So don’t give up on them just yet.
Payment Gateways
Gateway providers don’t technically process payments. They just move the transaction while keeping card data secure, and hand the authorization to whichever acquirer you want to use.
Meaning you can use a gateway as a workaround to keep your current processor, even if that processor doesn’t technically integrate directly with Agilysys.
For example, let’s say you’re using:
- Fiserv
- Stripe
- TSYS
- Bank of America Merchant Services
- Chase Payments
- North
- Moneris
- Nuvei
- Braintree
- CardConnect
- Fullsteam
Or any of the hundreds of other payment processing options on the market. Any name that isn’t listed anywhere on the integration list from Agilysys.
You can use a payment gateway as the middleman to keep your own processor.
The drawback here is that by adding another party to the mix, it’s one more mouth to feed, which will increase your cost. But it’s still usually worth it since you won’t have to change your provider.
FreedomPay: Flexible omnichannel gateway
FreedomPay connects to over 1,500+ solutions, so there’s a good chance your provider is on the list and you can potentially even integrate it with other tools your business is using, consolidating everything into one platform.
It’s a great option for properties that get paid through multiple channels. You can set it up on your website, through third-party booking systems, in-person, and really any custom combination.
This is ideal for any hotel or resort that wants a complex payment setup to support varying guest experiences. And the ability to bring your own provider is obviously the main benefit.
CITCON: Includes non-traditional card acceptance
CITCON is unique in the sense that it solves a narrower problem.
In addition to standard gateway capabilities, it also facilitates BNPL acceptance, digital wallets, and international schemes into a single integration. So everything is covered through a single integration.
If you have lots of guests coming from other countries and you want to not only support their local payment methods but also display pricing in their currency, CITCON can handle it.
PAR: Restaurant-focused POS and gateway service
PAR is best known in the fast-casual restaurant chain space, providing POS and processing solutions for names like Arby’s, Carl’s Jr., and Zaxby’s.
But they also support needs for hotels, casinos, and theme parks. Partially if you need to deploy POS systems across a range of different locations on the property, while keeping everything synced in one place.
Consider them if you need a gateway, hardware, and POS that’s processor agnostic so you can bring your own acquirer.
Regional Processors
These options are also end-to-end acquirers that have a gateway included. Though they aren’t available everywhere.
Tyro: Australian merchant acquirer
If you’re looking for a payment processor in Australia that integrates with Agilysys, Tyro is the one. For everybody else, you can skip over this option.
For those of you located in Australia using another provider, you should look for a gateway as an alternative if you don’t want to switch to Tyro.
Windcave: Primarily for New Zealand and Australia
Windcave is based in New Zealand, and that’s where a heavy concentration of their accounts are. Though they’ve since expanded to Australia.
And they recently obtained acquiring licenses in both the US and Canada. So while you technically can Windcave here, their footprint is relatively small and we honestly just don’t see many businesses in this space using them.
There are better options out there, and I can’t really recommend switching to them. But they’re fine if you’re already set up.
Specialty Payment Solutions
Agilysys also integrates with some niche-specific payment platforms.
But these would need to be used in addition to your standard processing. As neither are a replacement for basic credit card processing or merchant acquiring.
GoCardless: ACH payment acceptance
GoCardless handles bank debit and ACH transactions rather than card payments. Money gets pulled directly from a customer’s bank account, which removes card interchange fees from the equation entirely.
This isn’t really designed for standard consumer transactions at hotels or resorts. But it works good for event deposits, corporate invoicing for repeat catering services, and any other arrangement when you are collecting from the same payer on a repeat schedule.
It can also be used for member dues on golf courses and country clubs, if you’re looking for a creative way to avoid certain processing fees.
Gravity Solutions: For tip pooling and distributions
To be clear, Gravity Solutions doesn’t handle any payment acceptance. The software manages pooled tips and payouts, while integrating with your POS system and payroll to move money from the transaction to the employee.
This is a useful solution for hotels, casinos, and resorts. As tip distribution is a compliance exposure as much as an operational one. Automating this can address both labor and legal programs that are tougher to manage manually.
Costs here are platform and per-payout fees rather than associated with transactional rates. It’s worth budgeting for, but it sits in a different category entirely from everything else on this list, and it shouldn’t be evaluated against your processing costs.
What All of This Means for Your Payment Processing Rates
Agilysys supports all of the above, but none of it is mandatory.
The software relationship and the processing relationship are separate contracts, priced individually, and negotiated separately.
That’s genuinely good news for your business. You have the freedom to essentially use any processor you want, including the one you’re already using.
But the biggest thing to understand here is how your rates will change based on your setup.
Direct acquirers can offer the lowest rates if you have a transparent markup over interchange. Though that’s not guaranteed, and you still need to watch your statements closely. Whereas gateways increase costs because a middleman is added, but it may be the only way to keep your own provider.
Overall, there’s no clear “best” for everyone or “winner” on this list. It’s all about what makes the most sense for your business.
Regardless of which option you go with, keeping rates low will always be connected to ongoing statement audits and negotiations. Your processor will keep trying to get you to pay more over time. And it’s your job to stop that from happening.