Hilton, Marriott, and IHG Have All Launched UK Debit Cards. Here’s Why.

When IHG launched a co-branded debit card with Revolut and Visa earlier this month, it became the third major hotel group to enter the UK debit market in under two years, following Hilton in 2024 and Marriott in 2025. United Airlines also launched a UK debit card in March. But for the hotel groups, these are their only debit products anywhere in the world, which raises the question of why the UK, and why now. “The UK is a particularly attractive market because debit cards are the dominant form of everyday payment,” said Paul Proctor, IHG’s senior vice president of global loyalty and partnerships. A Debit Country Debit cards accounted for 26.1 billion payments in the UK in 2024 — over half of all payments — and are forecast to reach 30.6 billion by 2034, according to UK Finance’s Payment Markets 2025 report. Almost all UK adults hold at least one debit card and most use it as their default payment method. “A debit product is m