In today’s hotel industry, ‘book now, pay later’ practice is widespread. However, despite the prevalence of this phenomenon, the psychological and behavioral influences of ‘book now, pay later’ transactions on consumers have received almost no research attention. Using an experimental design, this research examined how deferred payments influence consumers’ perceived price, perceived risks, and purchase intention according to the time of booking in the leisure travel context. The results demonstrated that people perceived less risks and had a greater purchase intention when a hotel offered the ‘pay later’ option compared to the ‘pay now’ option. However, individuals planning a trip in the near future did not show any significant differences in perceived risks and purchase intention between the options of ‘pay later’ and ‘pay now’.