Integrate South African Payment Gateway for Direct Bookings

Problem Statement:

• Stripe is not available in South Africa, preventing hosts from using Direct Basic
• Hospitable's Direct Premium payouts only support bank accounts in the US, UK, and Australia — South African bank accounts are not supported
• Hosts in South Africa cannot currently accept direct booking payments through Hospitable

Current Workaround:

• Hosts in SA are unable to use Hospitable's direct booking platform for payment processing
• They must rely on alternative booking methods outside of Hospitable or manage payments manually

Impact:

• Hosts in South Africa are excluded from using Hospitable's direct booking features
• Lost revenue opportunities for both hosts and Hospitable in the SA market
• Manual payment processing creates operational inefficiency and risk

Proposed Solution:

• Integrate a payment gateway that operates in South Africa (e.g., PayFast, Yoco, or similar)
• Support South African bank accounts for Direct Premium payouts

Unlock:

• Hosts in South Africa would be able to accept direct booking payments through Hospitable
• Expand Hospitable's direct booking platform to a new geographic market
• Provide SA hosts with a seamless, integrated payment solution