Reconciliation

Reconciliation in the travel industry is the process of matching and verifying financial records between different systems and parties. This helps businesses make sure that all transactions are accurate and complete.

Reconciliation is especially important in corporate travel. In large organizations, the process is typically handled by a corporate travel department (CTD) and HR team involving

• collecting all transaction data, such as booking records, supplier invoices, and payment receipts;
• comparing supplier invoices with confirmed bookings to ensure all details (dates, prices, services) are aligned;
• checking that payments made to suppliers match invoice amounts and that all traveler payments and reimbursements are correctly recorded;
• flagging any mismatches, missing payments, or errors and resolving them; and 
• generating reports for internal analysis and auditing.

These steps can be automated using expense management software. Corporate travel cards and virtual cards also simplify the process by centralizing spending and producing detailed transaction records.