Travel management can feel a lot like a mystery novel, with plenty of twists and turns that can leave you wondering what comes next.
But when you add payments to the mix – both for you and your travellers – things can start to get complex.
There’s likely a lot on your plate already, after all – everything from handling and overseeing travel arrangements and operations to monitoring compliance with company travel policies, and travel budget spending while making sure your company gets the best travel deals at the right time.
And that’s not to mention handling expense claims from employees who must be reimbursed for their advanced payments during their business trips.
It can make you wonder how you get it all done and still find time for the things that matter to you.
To help you unravel the clues of travel payments, you need a reliable, central corporate payment solution that complements your payments at every step of the journey.
Pre-trip preparations: Setting the scene
Before the trip, there’s a lot to do.
Once the itinerary is ready, it’s time to start booking and paying the usual upfront costs – hotels, flights, event tickets, and other necessities.
This is becoming increasingly complex, with considerations needing to be made for the sustainability of the transport and accommodation, potential leisure opportunities for the traveller, and the allocated budget, among other regulations and policies.
So how can you ensure that the booking process complies with your company’s policies?
There’s one smart and simple solution: Centralised payment.
By leveraging a centralised payment solution in your booking process, enforcing your company’s travel policy becomes more efficient – even at scale – thanks to the ability to control the expenses that can be made.
Since payments are routed through a single ERP system, you’re able to set limits and permissions uniformly on any outgoing payments that fit your corporate travel policy.
And with a real-time overview of all travel spending, you’re able to identify and follow up on any non-compliant expenses that bit easier.
This can also improve the experience for your travellers by removing the ambiguity they may feel about making payments, especially for those who travel infrequently.
Clearly, centralisation can have a positive impact on how your payments are processed, including reporting and analysis – something that will become very useful later in the story.
On-trip expenses: Dealing with the twists in the tale
Now that they’re on the road, your travellers should be equipped with a safe and dependable payment solution that can keep up with them.
But there needs to be a balance: It should be easy to use but also provide the security and control you need to optimise processes down the line. After all, they should be focused on their job, not worrying about how they will pay and where they keep their receipts.
Thankfully, modern payment solutions like corporate credit cards – both physical and virtual – offer the balance you need.
Corporate cards strike the balance between convenience and security.
Between contactless payments, the reduced need for carrying cash, and wide acceptance, as well as the likes of 3D Secure security standards, having a credit card at hand can make paying for expenses both simple and secure.
Virtual cards bring another level of security, helping reduce fraud thanks to the ability to generate unique and single-use card numbers for each payment.
Plenty more data can be retrieved from payments made through cards, especially when compared to traditional reimbursement processes.
And when paired with a real-time, centralised expense platform, it’s possible to track payments on the go and, for example, flag any unauthorised expenses.
Again, payments via corporate cards can be centralised, giving you the ability to define spending categories, set transaction limits, and restrict unauthorised purchases out of the box.
This effectively works as a guardrail that keeps spending in check while allowing employees the flexibility they need on the road.
But just like your favourite page-turner, you need to keep this momentum up until the end.
Post-trip reconciliation: Ensuring a satisfying end to the story
After returning from the trip, it’s time to deal with the admin.
This is usually time consuming, tedious, and manual. So how can you make the reconciliation of expenses more efficient?
Again, the secret is in your payments: You can consolidate expenses through your ERP and T&E systems to access detailed transaction data all in one place.
This ensures none of your data gets lost along the way, making cost allocation that bit easier.
Even better – with the right integrations, this can happen automatically, removing a large part of the manual work we traditionally associate with post-trip reconciliation.
This payment data can then be analysed to identify potential areas of savings or even as a basis for negotiation with preferred suppliers.
This is especially important as suppliers are increasingly taking a tougher negotiating stance compared to previous years, according to a 2024 survey by Deloitte.
With the data to back you up, you’ll be in a better position to win some concessions.
With the right build up, you no longer need to be left with a cliff hanger – every trip is an opportunity to streamline your payments.
AirPlus: The hero in your payment story
AirPlus provides the payment solutions that makes life easier for travel managers and their travellers – before, during, and after their trip.
These solutions help to make your cost control a success story by enabling the allocation of costs to budgets before transactions.
It’s also possible to set parameters such as access to Business Class travel before bookings are made – or even payment terms to ensure that corporate purchasing policies are respected.
And between centralised lodged accounts, simple and secure corporate credit cards and virtual cards, and deep integration into popular expensing systems, you’re well equipped to tackle the variety of payment scenarios you’ll be facing.
AirPlus makes corporate payment smart and simple for customers around the world with solutions like central accounts, corporate and virtual credit cards, as well as digital procurement and data intelligence tools that simplify and optimise the corporate payment experience for travel managers like you.
All of which means you can spend less time checking adherence to travel policies, and more time reading a mystery novel – or who knows, maybe writing one yourself?
To find out more about how AirPlus helps Travel Managers solve the mystery of payments, visit the AirPlus website.
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