I wanted to emphasize how important it is for South African clients to have access to a payment integration that supports instant bookings. Unfortunately, Stripe and PayPal are not viable options in South Africa, which means the only way for us to currently accept direct booking payments through Hostfully is via the ChargeAutomation integration. The downside of this setup is that we are unable to offer instant bookings, which inevitably creates booking drop-off and bounce rates.

We recently migrated from RoomRaccoon, a Dutch company that integrates directly with Peach Payments. This allowed us to offer a seamless guest experience with instant bookings and a fully integrated payment journey within the booking engine itself — something that builds trust and improves conversion significantly.

At the moment, the Hostfully payment journey creates several challenges for guests:

Guests see a “Request to Book” button instead of a “Book Now” button, which creates hesitation and encourages them to book elsewhere, such as Airbnb.

After submitting a booking request, guests are redirected out of the booking flow and sent a separate email containing a payment link from ChargeAutomation. In today’s environment, many guests are understandably cautious about making payments through emailed links, which can feel untrustworthy or disconnected from the booking process.

Once payment is made, bookings are not automatically confirmed. We are required to manually mark the payment as received inside Hostfully before confirmation emails and automated guest communication are triggered. This creates unnecessary delays and uncertainty for guests, particularly outside office hours. For example, if a guest books on a Saturday evening, they may not receive confirmation until Monday morning if the reservations team is unavailable on Sunday.

I also believe there is a real gap in the South African market for reliable PMS platforms that truly specialise in short-term rentals. Many operators are actively looking for alternatives that combine strong automation with a seamless guest experience. I genuinely believe Hostfully would benefit hugely from a direct integration with Peach Payments, as it would make the platform significantly more attractive and accessible for South African property managers considering a move to Hostfully.

As you can see, having a direct integration with a South African payment gateway would make a significant difference to both conversion rates and the overall guest experience — not only for us, but likely for many of your South African customers as well.

Thank you for your time, and I sincerely hope there may be an opportunity to address this in the near future.