Imagine this: Your company is sending five employees to a conference. Flights need to be booked today. The usual process? Ask employees to put $800 on their personal credit cards—then wait weeks for reimbursement.
It’s a bad experience for travelers, and finance knows it leads to messy reports, late receipts, and frustrated teams.
It’s no surprise that virtual payment cards are dominating conversations among corporate travel planners. In fact, 90% of travel planners expect virtual cards to become the primary way to book corporate travel within the next five years. That’s the power of virtual cards—and why they’re set to transform how organizations manage travel payments.
Simplify corporate travel planning with Emburse Virtual Cards—learn more and streamline your spending today.
The problem with today’s travel payments
Even as business travel rebounds, the payment process hasn’t kept up. Finance and travel managers are still stuck with:
- Long waits for reimbursements that frustrate employees
- Limited visibility into pre-travel spend
- Slow, manual reconciliation at month’s end
- Compliance risks when bookings happen outside policy
Traditional corporate cards don’t solve it either; they make it challenging to enforce policy at the point of purchase and leave finance teams reconciling after the fact—when it’s already too late.
Virtual cards: built for pre-travel costs
Virtual corporate cards flip the model. They’re ideal for upfront travel expenses like:
- Flights
- Conference registrations
- Pre-paid trains or shuttles
- Advance vendor payments
How it can improve the travel experience
For employees and contractors
- No more paying out of pocket for flights or conferences
- No waiting weeks to be reimbursed
- Clear, pre-set budgets mean fewer surprises
For finance and travel teams
- Instant visibility into bookings before the trip even happens
- Automated reconciliation—transactions post in real time, with receipts auto-matched by Emburse AI
- Policy compliance at the point of purchase, not weeks later
Virtual corporate cards allow employees to make essential business purchases while improving control and automating the reconciliation process. Learn how your peers use them in our free resource guide.
At a previous GBTA Convention, one speaker explained how virtual pay transformed their finance department—from having a monthly “hole” of unreconciled spending to achieving complete, end-to-end visibility for every traveler. Another shared how virtual corporate cards saved their teams 25 minutes per booking by eliminating calls to hotels for credit card authorizations.
Virtual cards capture expense details at the point of transaction, giving your team immediate, automatic reconciliation. The result: fewer paper receipts, no spreadsheets, and more time for strategic work.
Why this matters for your organization
Virtual cards aren’t just convenient—they’re a strategic advantage.
- Control. Set per-card limits, expiration dates, and approved merchants before the purchase is made.
- Visibility. Get real-time data on who booked what, when, and why—no more guesswork.
- Compliance. Reduce fraud and out-of-policy spend with proactive guardrails.
- Employee experience. Remove financial strain from employees who would otherwise front costs.
“Virtual cards took us from chasing receipts to seeing the full picture of travel spend before the trip even started.” — Travel manager and GBTA attendee
What’s next for travel payments
According to Mastercard research, 90% of travel planners expect virtual cards to become the dominant way to book corporate travel within five years. At Emburse, we see that shift accelerating—driven by smarter automation, embedded policy control, and unified travel and expense workflows.
By embedding Card Issuance and Emburse Expense Intelligence into one platform, organizations can manage pre-travel costs with precision and confidence.
The result? A smarter, more seamless travel payment strategy that works for both employees and finance leaders—and one that evolves with every trip.
Ready to stop fronting the bill?
Give your travelers freedom—and your finance team foresight.
Learn more about Emburse Virtual Cards and simplify corporate travel before it even begins.