Hospitality business loses £11k a year due to payment outages—report

Four in five experience payment issues during peak times.

UK hospitality venues reported at least 32 payment outages a year, or at least one every fortnight, costing them thousands of pounds, according to a report commissioned by payment technology platform Dojo.

In its report, almost a third of UK hospitality venues face weekly payment failures, an estimated business cost exceeding £11k per company.

Payment processing is particularly fragile during peak trading. 81% of operators run into payment problems during their busiest periods, undermining customer service when demand is surging.

The top frustrations with current payments technology are processing failures (33%) and slow transactions (32%), closely followed by connectivity issues (27%). A lack of flexibility over preferred payment methods and poor integrations are also common pain points.

Venues estimate a mean loss of £11,688 per year from broken payments technology or payments issues. One in three put the annual hit at £10,000 or more, with 11% even saying it costs them between £25,000 and £49,999.

Meanwhile, three in five (60%) hospitality leaders say they are likely to change their payments provider in the next 12 months. Yet, competing tech priorities internally (19%) is the most common barrier holding operators back from switching, as well as the belief their incumbent technology is “just about” good enough (17%).

When making the decision to switch, hospitality leaders want flexible terminals that speed staff workflows (33%), as well as real-time data and insight (32%). 

In response to the new legislation unveiled last year, 42% have introduced flexible mobile payment options such as pay-at-table and handheld devices, whilst 40% have upgraded hardware to enable digital, at-table tipping.

Dojo commissioned Censuswide to survey 250 technology decision makers in the hospitality sector. The survey was carried out in November 2025.