PayPal Adds Hotel Booking to App with Selfbook Deal

PayPal has just taken a big step into the travel space. The company has teamed up with hotel payment platform Selfbook to let users book hotels directly from the PayPal app. This new feature is now part of the app’s “Offers” section, giving users a fresh way to plan trips and pay all in one place.

With this move, PayPal is trying to make the hotel booking experience smoother. Users can browse available hotels by selecting their travel dates and number of guests through an in-app browser. Once they find a hotel, they can pay using their PayPal balance, credit card, or even the PayPal Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) option—if the hotel supports it.

So far, only hotels that already use Selfbook’s payment system will show up in the app. It’s unclear if Selfbook’s full hotel catalogue is available, but PayPal is already calling this a step forward for online travel.

“We’re excited to go big in travel with Selfbook and help PayPal customers discover new merchants and save money through unique rewards and discounts,” said PayPal’s CEO, Alex Chriss.

Why This Travel Feature Might Stick

This isn’t just a small test. PayPal said that travel bookings using its payment tools have jumped 84% in recent times. That’s a big reason why the company is looking to go deeper into space. And with so many people booking trips online, PayPal wants to offer more than just payments — it wants to be part of the full journey.

Selfbook, on the other hand, are also seeing new growth. Beyond the PayPal app, the company is working to embed PayPal’s checkout tools in other areas too. One of those is Perplexity, an AI tool that now lets users search and book hotels directly within the chat.

“Paying for a hotel has traditionally been the most fragmented part of travel—search one place, book another, pay somewhere else,” said Selfbook CEO Khalid Meniri in an interview with media. “With PayPal, we’re collapsing all of that into a single flow… It’s not just more convenient for travellers, it gives hotels better margins and more control.”

Selfbook is also set to use PayPal’s full enterprise payment suite. This means more hotel partners can process credit card payments with better control and fewer commissions.

PayPal’s Travel Pivot Could Change the Game

This new hotel feature might not seem like a big deal now, but it shows where PayPal is headed. The company is building beyond simple online payments and starting to become a full-service digital wallet that supports everyday needs—from shopping and subscriptions to travel and entertainment.

And by using a partner like Selfbook, which already works with many hotels, PayPal doesn’t need to rebuild a travel platform from scratch. It can plug into what works and offer better service to its millions of users.