Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchasing

Posted on October 19th, 2011. Written by bookingbusinesstravel.

INTRODUCTION

This article is intended to help SME companies choose a credit card for payment of business travel bookings.

The author has managerial and operational experience of implementing corporate charge cards within a Travel Management Company environment, for companies with a spend of up to £1 million

OVERVIEW OF CORPORATE CARD TYPES

Credit card companies offer a bewildering choice of options. The MAIN card types are as follows:

LODGE CARDS
CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS
INDIVIDUAL CARDS

LODGE CARDS

What is a lodge card?

You have to use a travel agent.
The lodge card is “lodged” with the agent, who charges every purchase you make to the card.
It is not intended for other direct purchases.
They focus on added value to travel agent services:
Monthly statements include purchase orders, and/or cost centres, and other predefined fields.
Some cards provide additional reporting detail.
The initial setup can be complex thus the travel company you choose should already be working with a lodge card partner.

How does a lodge card work?

You have to book through a travel agent. If you book an EasyJet flight on www.easyjet.com you enter the card details but where do you enter the cost centre, or purchase order information etc?

How does that information end up on a statement?

1. You have to book through the travel agent
2. The agent will make the booking online (on the EasyJet.com website, for example)
3. That booking information then entered into the travel agents back-office system.
4. Manually, the travel agent then adds the Cost Centre and/or Purchase Order reference into the system and once a day, at midnight, an electronic file is then sent to the card company, who merge that information to the EasyJet transaction details already charged.
   That then appears on your statement.

The same procedure applies to any other suppliers, Eurostar etc.

Who offers lodge cards?

There are several companies offering lodge cards, including the major banks.
The most popular cards specifically designed for travel services are provided by AirPlus and Amex

AirPlus Card
https://www.airplus.com/uk/en/

Six Reports costing £250

1. Refundable unused tickets BA, Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Air China ONLY
2. Overview of flights, classes, destinations
3. Class of Travel Report – Business Class
4. Flight Volume Top 10 carriers – useful but will not assist in deal negotiations
5. Flight Volume Top 20 destinations – after the event
6. Travel Expense Report by service type

Payment terms – Up to 28 days credit

AirPlus Company Account Card

As above with:

Uploading to ERP (e.g. SAP) systems

Invoicing – flexible data fields including Cost Centre, Staff ID, Dept, Accounting Unit, Project Number

Not all suppliers accept AirPlus cards for payment and in these situations, Airplus can generate a virtual MasterCard number.

BookingBusinessTravel Advice:

Your travel agent should be supplying more meaningful reporting and we don’t believe the AirPlus reports are worth the £250
The refund report is a good facility to have, but only covers a few airlines. Your agent will have a system that identifies all unused tickets, but is your agent refunding you?

American Express® Business Travel Account (BTA)
http://corp.americanexpress.com/gcs/intl/unitedkingdom/corporatecards/bt/default.aspx

• 50% more on-business points with BA bookings
• Payment terms – Up to 55 days interest free credit
• Flexible Billing Options – weekly/monthly
• Free online reporting

BookingBusinessTravel Advice:

The travel reporting provides much the same data as your travel agent should be providing.
The incentive of 50% extra on-business points is of value especially for companies that have significant long-haul travel in premium class / business class on British Airways.

CORPORATE CREDIT CARDS

These are very different to Lodge Cards
Individual cards are issue to employees for business expenses and can be controlled and monitored by your company.

Who offers corporate charge cards?

All major banks will provide you with these cards but American Express offer more rewards than other banks.

The British Airways American Express® Corporate Card
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/corporatecards/public/en_gb

• When you book directly with British Airways (i.e. not through a travel agent?) you will earn 50% bonus On Business Points for the company use.
• Individual card holders receive 1 BA mile for virtually every £1 spent to their BA executive club membership. BA miles can be redeemed against flights/upgrades for anyone
• Online management information tool
• Annual fee £50
• Insurance: Travel Accident Benefit £225,000

The British Airways American Express® Corporate Card PLUS
http://www.britishairways.com/travel/corporatecards/public/en_gb

The same benefits as the corporate card above PLUS:

• Individual card holders receive 1.5 BA miles for virtually every £1 spent  and 3 miles for bookings on BA flights
• Bonus 2,500 On Business points when spending over £25,000 in one year
• Annual fee £180

BookingBusinessTravel Advice

Your company needs to use BA and the BA On Business programme regularly to benefit most.
From our experience to date, most UK companies spend 50% of air travel with BA.
The accrual of executive air miles for all other spend is an added bonus

INDIVIDUAL CARDS

For SME companies wishing to maximise reward and cashback schemes, the best card types are individual cards. Whilst these cards are not marketed to companies for company expenses, there is no prohibition against making purchases for your travellers online, and you will earn significant rewards or even cash-back.

AIR MILES:

British Airways American Express Credit Card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/ba-credit-card/

• 1,000 bonus miles currently offered
• 1 mile for virtually every £1 spend
• Redeem miles against a BA flight for yourself or anyone
• if £20,000 spent in one year, one additional “companion” ticket provided as a bonus (valid for cardholder + companion only)
• No annual fee

British Airways American Express® Premium-Plus Card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/ba-premium-plus-credit-card/

• 6,000 introductory bonus BA miles
• 1.5 miles for virtually every £1 spend and 3.0 miles for every BA flight
• Redeem miles against a BA flight and if £10,000 spent in one year, one additional “companion” ticket provided as a bonus

The miles are redeemable against a flight (valid for cardholder+companion only)

• £150 annual fee

BMI Amex Credit Card
http://www.flybmi.com/bmi/en-gb/loyalty-programmes/credit-card/credit-card.aspx

Works well with BMI Diamond Club Rewards and redeemable against BMI flights or Star Alliance Airline partners

• July offer, 30,000 destination miles, enough for two return tickets to Berlin, Vienna etc
• 1.5 destination miles for each £1 spend
• No fee

CASHBACK CARDS

American Express Platinum cashback card
http://www.americanexpress.com/uk/platinum-cashback-credit-card/

• First 3 months, 5% cashback, maximum £100 payout (£2,000 spend)
• Minimum spend required £3,000 per annum
• Spend over £7.501 in the year and earn 1.25% cashback
• No annual fee

 

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