BTA (Business Travel Account)

A centralised account for charging air and rail spend, closely related to a lodge card and often used for the same purpose. It lets a company settle flight and rail bookings made across the organisation through one central line of payment, rather than employees using personal or individual corporate cards. This gives finance teams a single, consolidated view of air and rail spend for reconciliation and reporting.

The term is most closely associated with card and payment providers that offer centrally billed accounts for airline and rail purchases made through travel agencies. Like a lodge card, a BTA is not issued to an individual traveller; instead, the account details are stored with the company's travel provider and used for approved bookings. Transactions are consolidated into one statement, typically with additional booking data for easier allocation. In practice, the terms BTA and lodge card are often used interchangeably, although a lodge card may also cover hotels and other services.

BTAs are particularly useful for companies with a high volume of air and rail travel. Central billing makes it possible to track spend by route, supplier and department, supports negotiations with airlines and simplifies VAT reporting. As with any central account, it works best when combined with a travel policy and approval process, ensuring that only approved trips are charged to the company. Because the account is held centrally, there is also no risk of an individual employee's card expiring, being lost or reaching its limit just before a booking is made.

In Tumodo, air and rail tickets — along with hotels, transfers and other services — are paid centrally by the company, either in advance or on postpayment, without the need for a separate card account. Invoices and acceptance certificates are generated automatically, and financial reports show all debits and credits for a selected period. Analytics by route, department and service type give finance teams a consolidated view of travel spend. Document formats, recipients and sending frequency are configured by the key account manager to match the company's processes.