7 min read
Ecotourism
Singita is a world-renowned luxury safari brand spanning four African countries. They partnered with TurnStay to go borderless and streamline their financial operations.
Founding
Singita’s story began nearly a century ago, when the grandfather of founder Luke Bailes purchased a piece of land in South Africa’s Lowveld—land that would later form part of the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve. What began as a family legacy evolved into a bold conservation vision: transforming a former hunting concession into a sanctuary for wildlife and a model for sustainable tourism.
Today, Singita operates 19 lodges, camps, and exclusive-use villas across four African countries, each designed to protect and celebrate the continent’s natural beauty.
Mission & Offering
Singita’s mission is to conserve and restore Africa’s wilderness while offering guests transformative, low-impact travel experiences. Through its collection of 19 lodges and camps, Singita blends world-class hospitality with a deep commitment to sustainability, community empowerment, and biodiversity protection.
Challenges
As Singita’s operations expanded across borders, their finance team faced increasing complexity. With guests booking from around the world, processing cross-border transactions, managing multiple currencies, and handling high payment fees became daily hurdles.
Low conversion rates on international cards and guest frustration over unexpected FX charges further strained the experience. Behind the scenes, reconciling settlements across multiple regions was time-consuming and fragmented—signaling the need for a more streamlined, borderless solution.
They decided to upgrade and go Borderless
That’s when TurnStay stepped in to simplify and unify Singita’s global payment operations. By providing a single platform built for international transactions, TurnStay helped Singita manage multi-currency payments, reduce fees, and improve conversion rates for guests around the world.
Jamie from TurnStay worked closely with Singita’s finance team to understand their regional workflows and pain points. Together, they designed a seamless transition plan—ensuring every lodge and camp could process payments effortlessly, no matter where the guest was booking from.
The Outcome
With TurnStay, Singita now operates with a truly borderless payment system—one that mirrors the seamless experience they deliver in every stay. Guests can pay effortlessly in their preferred currency or method, while the finance team enjoys faster settlements, simpler reconciliation, and full visibility across regions.
What was once a source of friction has become a competitive advantage—supporting Singita’s mission of excellence and conservation across Africa.
Ready to go borderless?
Talk to Jamie and the team of travel payments engineers and finance experts to streamline your finance operations, elevate your guest experience and go borderless.