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The HOTREC association, which represents hotels, restaurants and cafés in Europe, recently published an official position paper entitled "Making the Digital Euro Workable for the Hospitality Industry."
Their position is that the digital euro must be more favorable and competitive alternative existing private payment systems to ensure its acceptance by the sector.
The digital euro is envisioned as an official digital currency European Central Bank, which would allow citizens and businesses to make electronic payments directly in central bank money, without the intermediary of private payment systems. Unlike the cards or digital wallets that dominate the market today, the digital euro represents a public payments infrastructure, with the aim of increasing competition, reducing costs and strengthening European financial autonomy
HATRIC, the umbrella European association representing hotels, restaurants and cafés, has published an official document titled “Making the Digital Euro Workable for Hospitality”, clearly stating that a new European digital currency has potential, but only under one key condition - it must be economically viable for a sector that operates with a large number of transactions every day.
Hospitality, unlike many other industries, is a human-driven sector based on millions of daily interactions with guests. Every coffee, quick meal, or hotel service represents an individual transaction, often of low value but high volume. That’s why the payment cost structure is not a technical issue, but a direct profitability issue.
An additional challenge lies in the fact that the sector is predominantly made up of small and medium-sized enterprises, often family-owned, which, unlike large retail chains, do not have the negotiating power over payment service providers. In practice, this means that they are the ones who most often bear the relatively high costs of card fees, which reduces their competitiveness in the long term.
In this context, the digital euro appears as a potential solution, but also as a test.
In a highly concentrated European payments market dominated by global providers outside the European Union, a digital euro could become the first truly public, European alternative to existing systems. But its real value will not be measured by technological innovation, but by its ability to offer lower and more predictable costs of doing business.
HOTREC clearly emphasizes that the digital euro may not replace cash, it is already to supplementFlexibility in payment method choices remains key, especially in a sector where guest preferences vary by market and habits.
The key question, however, remains priceIf the digital euro replicates the existing fee structures of private payment systems, its implementation will remain formal, without real market interest. In other words, without a clear cost advantage, the sector will not actively use it.
That's why HOTREC proposes a concrete model that would enable real adoption.
Initially, low-value payments at physical points of sale should be fee-free, encouraging early adoption and shaping new consumer habits. In the long term, the model should remain simple and predictable, with clearly defined maximum fees for online transactions and a complete elimination of fees for offline payments.
HATRIC while proposing a model that includes maximum fee of 0,1% per online transaction, with an absolute limit of 0,04 euros per transaction, while offline payments would be completely free of merchant fees. Such an approach would enable lower and, more importantly, predictable admission costs throughout the euro area.
The operational aspect is equally important. The digital euro must function in real-world business conditions, which means reliable online and offline functionality, flexible asset management, and easy integration into existing payment systems. Without this, any technological advantage remains theoretical.
Ultimately, the discussion about a digital euro for the hospitality industry is not a question of innovation, but of balance. If it is designed as a real alternative that reduces costs and increases the autonomy of European businesses, it could become an important tool for the sector. If not, it risks becoming another layer of complexity in an already burdened payment system.
More about the digital euro at / Association HOTREC: "Making the digital euro functional for the hospitality industry".
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