Making the Digital Euro Work for Hospitality

Hospitality is a people-driven sector, built on millions of daily interactions between businesses and customers. Every day, hotels, restaurants and cafés welcome guests and process numerous payments, many of them low‑value purchases such as a coffee, a quick meal or a hotel service.

The sector is overwhelmingly composed of small and medium‑sized enterprises, many of them family‑run. Unlike large retail chains, these SMEs have limited negotiating power with payment providers and often face card acceptance fees 3 to 4 times higher than major retailers.

In a highly concentrated European payments market dominated by non‑EU providers, the Digital Euro could offer a genuine European public alternative for digital payments. Its success, however, will depend on one key condition: it must remain economically sustainable for the merchants serving customers every day.

Key Recommendations:

1. The Digital Euro must complement cash and preserve payment choice

The Digital Euro should complement, not replace, cash. Businesses must remain able to offer payment methods that reflect customer preferences and national payment habits.

2. The Digital Euro must be structurally cheaper than existing solutions

As a public currency, the Digital Euro should avoid replicating the fee structures of private payment schemes. If acceptance costs mirror today’s card fees, businesses will accept the Digital Euro only formally, without actively promoting its use.

3. Zero fees for low-value point‑of‑sale payments during launch

Low‑value payments shape everyday consumer habits. A temporary EU‑wide zero‑fee regime for low‑value Digital Euro transactions at physical points of sale would:

• Encourage early merchant adoption
• Make the Digital Euro attractive for daily payments
• Reduce reliance on non‑EU payment providers

4. A simple and predictable long‑term fee model

Once adoption stabilises, the Digital Euro should apply a clear, uniform EU‑wide cost structure:

• Maximum merchant service charge: 0.1% per online transaction
• Absolute cap: €0.04 per transaction
• No merchant service charge for offline payments

Such a model would ensure lower and predictable acceptance costs across the euro area.

5. A design that works for everyday business operations

For the hospitality sector to adopt the Digital Euro at scale, it must remain simple and practical:

• Integrated online and offline functionality to ensure continuity during connectivity issues
• Flexible merchant holdings with batch settlements of up to 48 hours
• Seamless integration with existing payment systems

Read the Full Position Paper: Making the Digital Euro Work for Hospitality