Business travel card: How to choose the best corporate card for overseas trips

When you’re away on a company trip, having a corporate card or business travel card often comes in handy.

Your employees can use the corporate card or business travel card to book airfare and hotel rooms. That means they won’t have to pay out of pocket and seek company reimbursement, while your company can track relevant employee spending, making things easier for everyone.

Modern corporate card providers like Airwallex can help you better manage and keep track of your business travel expenses, make organising trips more efficient, and thus improve your corporate travel management.

What is a corporate card and business travel card?

APEC Business Travel Card vs business travel card

These two cards serve entirely independent purposes for cross-border operations:

• APEC Business Travel Card: This is an official travel document designed for the 21 participating APEC economies. It allows fast-track immigration and visa-free entry for up to five years, acting strictly as an entry permit.

• Business travel card: This is a commercial payment instrument used to settle business costs. It is used to pay for flights, client entertainment, and operating subscriptions, carrying no special immigration privileges.

Business travel cards and corporate cards

A corporate card/business travel card is a payment card that employers issue to employees to use for company expenses. 

Corporate cards are a great way for employers to make sure their employees have the sufficient money they need to make the necessary business expenses, such as booking flights, ground transport, accommodations, and business dinners, without having to use their personal credit cards, then seeking reimbursement. 

Many corporate travel cards also come with additional benefits such as cash rebates and exclusive discounts, which can make business travel more affordable and enjoyable.

The one-stop financial and remittance platform Airwallex offers a multicurrency corporate card that serves as business travel corporate card/employee card.  The card is available in physical or virtual forms, and includes Apple Pay and Google Pay support. The Visa corporate card is perfect for online or physical expenses for employees, such as business trip expenses like flights and hotels, and other miscellaneous expenses like coffee and snacks.

A virtual corporate card is also available for company use, tailored for online business procurement for specific teams, departments, or the entire company. It is ideal for managing expenses like software subscriptions, office supplies purchases, supplier payments, and marketing expenses.

The multicurrency corporate card supports multiple currencies, comes with no annual fee, and offers an unlimited 1% cash rebate* and 0% foreign transaction fees. Expenses are directly deducted from your Airwallex multicurrency account, cutting out foreign exchange conversion costs, reducing operating expenses, and streamlining company expenditure management.

How to choose the right business travel card?

Choosing the right business travel card can be a daunting task. With so many options available, it can be difficult to decide which is the best for you. In this article, we will outline the core differences between traditional options and the Airwallex corporate card, and provide some tips on finding the best business travel solution. 

How to choose the right business travel card for your company?

Selecting the ultimate solution requires analysing maintenance costs and spending controls. According to the 2025 Airwallex Hong Kong annual trade report, 3 in 5 companies identify rising operational costs and currency fluctuations as their top challenges. Businesses must prioritise fee-free alternatives that support native multicurrency spending.

• Analyse transactional costs: Select platforms offering 0% foreign fees to preserve margin.

• Verify deployment flexibility: Ensure the provider supports instant virtual setup with digital wallet compatibility.

• Assess administrative oversight: Finance managers need central dashboards to set custom spending limits instantly.

In summary, Airwallex Visa corporate cards offer businesses a more flexible way to manage multi-currency spending. Businesses can create cards for free and pay directly from their account balances in multiple currencies, reducing unnecessary FX conversion costs. 

Airwallex also lets businesses create company cards instantly, so employees can start using them online right away. At the same time, businesses can view card transactions in real time, set spending limits, and automatically sync expenses to Xero, facilitating bookkeeping and expense management.

Create your Airwallex Visa corporate card today

If you want to save money and manage your business spending more easily on your next company trip, create a free Airwallex Visa corporate card today. To get your multi-currency corporate card, simply apply online and the card will be issued instantly. 

Applying for the Airwallex Visa corporate card is free. You can quickly proceed with the following steps:

• Open an Airwallex account.

• Choose between applying for a company card or an employee card.

• Set the purpose, name, and spending limit for the card

• Once you have successfully applied for the virtual card, you can start using it immediately.

The Airwallex Visa corporate card supports multiple currencies and can be added to Apple Pay or Google Pay for easy mobile checkout. You can also enjoy a $0 transaction fee for your international card payments even while travelling abroad.

Employers can better gain better control over their employee’s business travel expenses by setting a spend limit and tracking their spending in real-time with Airwallex. They can also save time in expense reimbursement as they can find all business travel spending in one place. Businesses can also instantly create, freeze, or cancel any cards, allowing real-time monitoring of employee expenses.

Travel global with the Airwallex Visa corporate card. Click here to apply.

FAQs

1. What are the main advantages of using a business travel card?

Corporate cards can help companies save money by offering cash rewards, discounts, and other perks that can be used to pay for business trip expenses such as airfare and hotel bookings. This makes them an ideal choice for businesses that travel frequently or have large expenses related to business trips.

With an Airwallex corporate card, eligible transactions can earn an unlimited 1% cash rebate on business spending.* Paying directly from native foreign currency balances eliminates forced double conversion fees completely. 

2. What type of businesses can apply for the Airwallex corporate card?

Any business, including small and medium-sized enterprises, can apply. Simply visit the Airwallex website or app, upload your business proof documents, and open a corporate account. The approval process typically takes 1-3 business days. Once the account is activated, you can easily apply online for the Airwallex Visa corporate card, with card issuance usually completed within minutes.

*T&Cs apply.