Hotels are the worst example since they are also low margin and the consumer makes the purchase over the phone or online with their debit card handy or paypal account ready.

And, generally speaking, infrequently.

That's why mobile-based payments tend toward small, frequent purchases. Those are the situations where a few moments of additional convenience can be the difference between a fleeting thought and an impulse purchase.

Good point, or total instore purchases with no registers what so ever. You bump it with the phone, you buy it and put it in your cart. That will be entirely possible in the next 10 years.

Which brings up another competitor, bump.

My understanding is hotels are actually high margin in the travel space. That's why all the airlines and travel sites ram and jam you into booking a hotel. They make $10-30 per night hotel commission but only $1-5 on a airline ticket.

Also, it's a fixed cost business in general. So, if a hotel gets those last three or four rooms rented a night that can be their profit. That why Hotel Tonight and Hotwire, etc. are able to get sick, sick deals.

They're low margin over total cost, but high margin over the marginal cost of renting an otherwise unoccupied room.

Very good point. I still don't think most customers would choose a different hotel then the one they want over pulling out their wallet and using a debit card. I don't think most hotel chain CEOs would go for it either.