Pay As a Local

This post explains how Airbnb launched 20+ local payment methods (LPMs) across global markets in 14 months through architectural modernization.

• •Airbnb identified 300+ global payment options and shortlisted 20+ LPMs using a structured qualification framework across 75 top travel markets
• •The payments platform was replatformed from a monolithic system to a domain-driven, capability-oriented services architecture (Payments LTA)
• •A connector and plugin-based architecture was adopted for onboarding new third-party payment service providers (PSPs), reducing integration time
• •Multi-Step Transactions (MST) framework was introduced to handle complex, multi-stage payment flows in a PSP-agnostic way
• •Three standardized payment flow archetypes were defined: redirect flow, async flow, and direct flow to unify LPM integrations