Hotel billback

An arrangement where the hotel invoice is billed directly to the company rather than paid by the employee on site. This removes the need for the traveller to pay out of pocket and later claim reimbursement, simplifying both the traveller's experience and the company's expense tracking. Billback is commonly used alongside a lodge card or centralised corporate payment account.

In a billback arrangement, the company and the hotel (or the travel provider) agree in advance which charges will be billed to the company — typically the room and taxes, and sometimes meals or parking. The traveller checks in and out without paying for these items, and the hotel sends an invoice to the company or charges a central payment account. Any personal extras not covered by the agreement are settled by the traveller at check-out.

Billback simplifies life for travellers, especially those without a corporate card or those travelling to countries where paying locally is inconvenient. For finance teams, it means fewer expense claims and fewer receipts to check. However, it requires clear rules about what the company pays for, and an efficient way to receive and match hotel invoices. When invoices arrive from many hotels in different formats and currencies, reconciliation can become time-consuming without a central system. Billback arrangements also need to be set up individually with each hotel, which limits their use to properties the company visits regularly.

Tumodo removes much of this complexity. Accommodation booked through the platform is paid centrally by the company, either in advance or on a postpayment basis, so employees do not pay for their rooms at the hotel. Invoices and accounting documents are generated automatically, stored in the Finance section and can be exchanged via EDI or integrated with the company's accounting system. Finance teams can find any document by employee name or trip number.