The 5 best business credit cards for travel in July 2025

Not all business travel cards work the same way. Understanding the different types helps you pick one that matches how your company travels, because the card that's perfect for a consulting firm flying weekly might be wrong for a startup that travels quarterly.

General

There are two kinds of general travel cards: flexible rewards cards and fixed value point cards.

Flexible rewards cards let you earn points that work across multiple airlines, hotels, and travel booking platforms. You're not locked into one carrier, which makes them ideal if your team books with whoever has the best price or most convenient schedule. The downside is that you won't get the elite perks that come with brand loyalty.

Fixed value point cards simplify redemptions by making each point worth a specific amount, usually 1 to 1.5 cents, toward travel purchases. There's no complicated math or transfer partners to figure out. You book travel and then use points to pay for the charge on your statement. These cards work well for companies that want predictable value without the hassle of maximizing redemption strategies.

Co-branded

Co-branded cards tie you to specific travel brands but can be valuable if you're already loyal to them.

Hotel cards like the World of Hyatt Business Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express make sense if your team regularly stays with one hotel chain. Beyond earning accelerated points on stays, these cards typically include automatic elite status, free anniversary nights, and room upgrades. The catch is that points usually only work at a single hotel chain.

Airline cards such as the United Business Card or Delta SkyMiles Business cards reward loyalty with perks like free checked bags, priority boarding, and companion tickets. If your company flies the same airline 80% of the time, these benefits quickly add up to thousands in savings. But if you're booking across multiple carriers, you'll miss out on rewards for a big chunk of your travel spend.

Using a personal card for business travel might be easy to do, but once tax season hits or an employee dispute arises, you can face other issues. The IRS requires clear separation between personal and business expenses, and mixing them on one card creates documentation challenges that can trigger audits or rejected deductions.

Yet, legal compliance is only one aspect. Business credit cards for travel can allow you to earn additional points on travel purchases compared to personal cards. While your personal card might give you 2% cash back on everything, a business travel card could earn 4x points on flights and hotels.

Business cards also protect your personal credit while building your company's credit profile. Every time an employee books a $5,000 trip on your personal card, it spikes your credit utilization and puts your personal assets at risk if something goes wrong. Business cards keep that liability with the business.

The employee management features alone justify using a corporate credit card program for travel. Instead of collecting receipts and processing reimbursements for weeks, you can issue employee cards with preset spending limits, category restrictions, and automatic expense categorization. When someone books a flight, you'll know instantly. And some travel cards integrate with travel and expense management software that allows you to embed expense policies right into the travel booking platform.

Business travel cards also include protections that personal cards don't. This can include trip cancellation insurance, rental car coverage, and purchase protection that actually covers business equipment.

Finally, there's a cash flow advantage. While employees using personal cards need immediate expense reimbursement, business cards can give you 30 days to pay, keeping more working capital in your account. For growing companies where every dollar counts, that extra float can make a difference.

Picking a business travel card isn't just about finding the highest sign-up bonus or the flashiest perks. The right card should make travel easier to manage, safer to execute, and more valuable for your bottom line. Here are five features that really matter when your team is traveling.

Generous travel rewards

The best business credit cards for travel rewards go beyond basic 2x points on flights. Look for cards that reward all travel spending, not just airfare and hotels. This can include rideshares, restaurants, and even the software subscriptions that keep your travelers connected on the road.

Take Brex's reward structure: 7x on rideshare means that $1,000 monthly Uber bill turns into 7,000 points. Add 4x on all travel booked through Brex, 3x on restaurants for client dinners, and 2x on software for your travel booking tools, and you're earning meaningful rewards on expenses that other cards treat as afterthoughts.

No foreign transaction fees

Foreign transaction fees are typically 2.7% to 3%, and they can add up fast when you're doing business internationally. A single $10,000 overseas trip costs an extra $300 in fees with the wrong card. Cards like Brex don’t charge FX fees, so that client dinner in London or software purchase from a European vendor costs exactly what it should.

Built-in expense management

Modern business travel cards stand out from traditional options because they offer built-in expense management. The best cards include expense management built right in, which means you won't have to juggle your credit card portal and a separate expense tracking app.

Brex integrates expense tracking directly into its platform. Once employees snap a photo of their receipt in the Brex app, the expense is automatically categorized and matched to an outstanding expense, and then Brex automatically syncs with your accounting software, whether that's QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, or Expensify. Your finance team gets clean, categorized data without chasing down receipts or manually entering transactions.

Virtual cards for security

Travel increases fraud risk, from sketchy ATMs to compromised hotel booking sites. Virtual business credit cards solve this by creating unique card numbers for specific purchases or vendors. With Brex, you can instantly generate virtual cards for online bookings or give employees temporary cards for their trips. Set exact spending limits, expiration dates, and merchant restrictions. If a ghost card gets compromised, you just delete it.

Real-time spending insights

Waiting until month-end to see travel expenses is like driving while looking in the rearview mirror. Modern business travel cards provide real-time visibility into every transaction.

Brex's dashboard shows spending as it happens. Your finance team can spot unusual charges immediately, employees can check their available budgets before booking, and you can adjust limits on the fly. The mobile app means this visibility travels with you, whether you're approving an emergency flight from your phone or checking if a team member's hotel charge went through correctly.

1. Brex

Brex is a corporate credit card that enables businesses to earn rewards on business travel while controlling and monitoring expenses across the organization. With Brex, companies earn rewards on all of their spending and get multipliers on popular expense categories, including all travel spending booked through Brex travel and rideshares.

Features

• APR: Charge card, no APR
• Annual fee: $0
• Foreign transaction fees: None
• Typical spending limit: 10-20x higher than traditional credit cards

Key benefits for business travelers

• Robust rewards: Earn 7x points on rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, 4x on all travel booked through Brex, 3x on restaurants, and 2x on software subscriptions. These multipliers target holistic business travel spending, not just flights and hotels.
• Spend controls: Set custom expense policies by employee, category, merchant, or nearly any other parameter to stop maverick spending before it happens. Businesses can also create virtual cards for specific trips with exact budgets that expire when travel ends.
• Integrated travel and expense management software: Businesses can embed travel policies right into Brex’s travel and expense management software, ensuring that when employees book travel, arrangements are in policy. And since transactions sync automatically to expense reports, there’s no need to reconcile expenses with credit card statements or chase down confirmation emails.
• Optical character recognition (OCR) technology: Equipped with OCR technology, the Brex mobile app extracts vendor names, amounts, and dates from receipt photos automatically. Employees take a picture and the data populates instantly, with no manual entry required.
• Automated expense reporting: Expenses flow directly from card swipes to categorized reports without employee input. Transactions match to receipts automatically, and the software flags missing documentation before month-end rather than during it.
• High credit limits: The Brex card stands out among the best high limit business credit cards by offering credit limits that are 10-20x higher than traditional cards. Brex evaluates businesses based on cash flow rather than credit history, allowing growing companies to scale travel spending without constantly requesting increases or managing multiple cards.

Who this card is best for

The Brex corporate credit card is best for startups and established businesses looking for one business credit card to serve all their needs, from T&E to workforce stipends to secure vendor payments. While businesses earn rewards, finance teams benefit from automated expense tracking and real-time spending controls. Unlike traditional bank cards that require weeks of paperwork and personal guarantees, Brex approves businesses based on cash flow rather than credit scores, which makes it accessible to venture-backed startups and profitable companies alike.

2. Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Mastercard

The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards World Credit Card offers businesses a T&E-focused card with straightforward rewards. With this card, businesses can earn 3 points per dollar on travel purchases booked through the Bank of America Travel Center and 1.5 points on all other purchases, plus an automatic 25% bonus on all points earned.

Features

• APR: 17.49% to 27.49%
• Annual fee: $0
• Foreign transaction fees: None
• Typical spending limit: Not disclosed

Key benefits for business travelers

• Straightforward travel rewards structure
• No foreign transaction fees
• No annual fee
• 25% rewards bonus

Who this card is best for

The Bank of America Business Advantage Travel Rewards card works best for small to mid-sized businesses that want straightforward travel rewards without complexity. Companies already banking with Bank of America gain the most value through the 25% rewards bonus, while the no-annual-fee structure appeals to businesses with occasional rather than constant travel.

3. New United Business Card

The New United Business Card is a co-branded card that offers unique benefits for businesses that consistently fly United. With this card, every dollar spent on United flights earns double miles. Cardholders also benefit from free checked bags and priority boarding.

Features

• APR: 20.49% to 28.99%
• Annual fee: $350
• Foreign transaction fees: None
• Typical spending limit: Not disclosed

Key benefits for business travelers

• Earn double miles on United flights
• Check a bag for free
• Priority boarding
• No foreign transaction fees

Who this card is best for

The United Business Card makes sense for companies that frequently fly United. The free checked bags and priority boarding deliver immediate value for frequent United flyers, while businesses spending significantly annually on United flights can quickly earn miles toward future travel.

4. World of Hyatt Business Credit Card

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers generous rewards to businesses that book travel with Hyatt hotels. With this card, businesses get automatic Discoverist status, which includes room upgrades and late checkouts, as well as up to 9x points for stays at a Hyatt location. This card also offers rewards multipliers for other categories, including dining, airlines, and car rentals.

Features

• APR: 19.99% to 28.49%
• Annual fee: $199
• Foreign transaction fees: $0
• Typical spending limit: Not disclosed

Key benefits for business travelers

• Automatic Discoverist status
• Earn up to 9x points at Hyatt properties
• No foreign transaction fees
• Annual free night certificate

Who this card is best for

The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card is best for companies that frequently stay at Hyatt locations, particularly those traveling to major cities where Hyatt has a strong presence.

5. Alaska Airlines Visa® Business Credit Card

Despite being smaller than the major carriers, the Alaska Airlines Visa Business Credit Card offers considerable benefits to those who use Alaska Airlines frequently. Businesses can earn 3x miles on Alaska Airlines purchases while also earning 2x miles on gas, shipping, and local transit.

Features

• APR: 20.24% to 28.24%
• Annual fee: $70 plus $25 per card
• Foreign transaction fees: $0
• Typical spending limit: Not disclosed

Key benefits for business travelers

• Can earn a companion ticket
• First checked bag is free
• No foreign transaction fees
• 20% back on in-flight purchases

Who this card is best for

The Alaska Airlines Business Card is best for West Coast-based businesses where Alaska Airlines primarily operates. The companion fare alone justifies the $70 annual fee for any business taking one cross-country trip annually.

Business travel credit cards integrate with expense management software, but keep this in mind: the quality of that integration determines whether you're actually saving time or just moving problems around.

Basic business credit cards offer CSV exports that you can upload to expense management platforms like Concur. This is technically integration, but you're still manually matching transactions and receipts while hoping nothing gets lost in translation. Real integration means your credit card is part of your spend management software, with no required uploading or missing data.

Modern cards like Brex sync every transaction instantly with its expense management platform. When an employee pays for dinner in Tokyo, it appears in your dashboard immediately, complete with merchant details, spending category, and exchange rates calculated. The employee takes a photo of the receipt, and it automatically attaches to the right transaction.

The best integrations don't just move data. They actually control spending before it happens. The best expense management software can set spending limits, block certain merchants, require pre-approval for certain purchases, and route expenses to the right approver based on amount or category.

This sync between your card and expense platform means policies you set get enforced. If you want to bar alcohol spending from company cards, the card can decline those purchases automatically. If international travel requires director approval, the platform can block foreign transactions until approved.

The best travel business credit cards natively build complete expense management into their platform. Instead of juggling separate interfaces, employees submit receipts, managers approve expenses, and finance teams run reports in one platform. For companies that need to control travel costs, this integration can be invaluable.

Employees abusing per diem payments can seem minor until you audit your travel expenses. The old way of giving employees cash advances or reimbursing whatever they spend up to a limit can create a nightmare of receipt tracking and policy violations.

The top business credit cards solve this with programmable spending controls. Instead of handing out $150 per day and hoping for the best, you can issue cards that enforce your per diem policy automatically.

Here's how it works: Set daily spending limits that match your per diem rates for each city. For example, San Francisco might get $175 per day while Kansas City gets $125 per day. The card automatically enforces these limits, so once a traveler hits their daily cap, the card declines. No awkward conversations and no surprise overages on expense reports.

Virtual cards make per diem control even tighter. Businesses can issue a virtual card for each trip with the exact budget loaded. Once the trip ends, you can deactivate the card. Any unused budget stays in your account instead of tempting employees to max out their allowance on the last day.

Real-time notifications and expense tracking enable accounting teams to monitor spending closely. Managers get alerts when employees approach their daily limit, and employees see their remaining budget in their mobile app. For maximum control, businesses can limit meal purchases to restaurants only, excluding bars and liquor stores, or approve specific hotels in advance and block all others.

Acceptable travel expenses can vary between company policies, but the IRS has specific rules about what qualifies as a deductible business travel expense, and getting it wrong can trigger audits or rejected deductions. For a travel expense to qualify as a business expense, you must be traveling away from your regular place of business for work purposes, and the trip must require you to be away longer than an ordinary workday.

The primary purpose of the trip must be business, though you can add personal days as long as they don't exceed the business portion.

Most common business travel deductions

The IRS generally accepts these travel expenses as deductible when they meet the “ordinary and necessary” test:

• Transportation costs: Airfare, train tickets, bus fare, and rental cars all qualify. So does mileage reimbursement on your personal vehicle at the standard IRS rate. Don't forget parking fees, tolls, and Uber rides to and from the airport.
• Lodging: Hotel stays are fully deductible for business nights. If you extend your trip for personal reasons, only the business nights count.
• Meals: You can deduct 50% of meal costs while traveling for business or 100% if you provide meals to employees or clients during meetings.
• Communication: Business calls, internet charges, and hotel WiFi count as travel expenses, as long as they're for business use.
• Tips and gratuities: Reasonable tips for services provided during business travel, such as bellhops, housekeeping, and taxi drivers, are deductible.
• Dry cleaning and laundry: Dry cleaning and laundry qualify only for trips lasting longer than one week.
• Shipping: Sending materials to trade shows or samples to clients while traveling qualifies, as does shipping your luggage if it contains business materials.

Ordinary vs. necessary expense

The IRS uses two tests for every business expense, travel included. Ordinary means common and accepted in your industry. Software developers flying to tech conferences? Ordinary. Plumbers flying first-class to fix a toilet? Not ordinary.

Necessary means helpful and appropriate for your business. For instance, a sales team traveling to close deals meets this test. Flying to “explore potential opportunities” with no specific meetings planned? That's a gray area that may not count.

For most travel expenses, you need a receipt. The IRS requires receipts for any travel expense over $75, although prudent businesses keep receipts for everything. Credit card statements aren’t sufficient since they show you spent money, but not what you bought or why it was business-related.

While expenses under $75 don’t need receipts, they do need documentation. Businesses must record the amount, date, place, and business purpose for every expense. Missing any of these elements can result in the IRS disallowing the deduction.

For expenses over $75, receipts must show:

• Name and location of the vendor
• Date of the expense
• Amount paid
• Detailed description of items purchased

Digital receipts serve as valid documentation, making business credit cards with receipt capture functionality particularly valuable. When employees photograph receipts immediately after purchase and attach them to transactions automatically, companies maintain IRS-compliant records without managing physical paperwork.

Some expenses have additional requirements:

• Meals: Receipts over $75 must include documentation of attendees and business relationships. Records should specify “Dinner with John Smith, ABC Corp, discussing Q3 software contract” rather than just “Client dinner.”
• Transportation: Airline receipts must show travel dates, routes, and class of service. Rideshare and taxi receipts need pick-up and drop-off locations to establish business purpose.
• Per diem rates: Federal per diem rates eliminate the need for meal receipts but still require proof of travel. Lodging receipts remain mandatory even under per diem arrangements.

The IRS requires businesses to retain travel receipts for at least three years from the tax return filing date and can extend up to six years for claims involving losses or income underreporting exceeding 25%. When receipts are lost, businesses can reconstruct expenses using bank statements, calendars, or written explanations, but this should be the exception.

With the right software, digital receipt storage costs virtually nothing, while IRS audits can cost thousands in time and penalties. Capturing every receipt and tagging it with business purpose immediately protects your business against future complications, and modern business credit cards automate this process.

The best travel expense app depends on whether you need to track business expenses after the fact or prevent problems before they occur. Traditional expense apps like Expensify, Concur, and Zoho Expense focus on receipt scanning and reimbursement workflows, or digitizing the same inefficient process companies have used for decades.

Modern platforms take a different approach by combining payment and tracking in one interface. When the credit card and expense management are part of the same platform, transactions flow automatically with merchant details, categories, and amounts already populated. Employees simply add receipts and notes rather than rebuilding each expense from scratch.

Brex exemplifies this integrated approach. Every purchase made on a Brex corporate card appears instantly in the mobile app with smart categorization based on merchant type. The app recognizes Delta as airline travel, Marriott as lodging, and Uber as ground transportation without manual input. Most receipts are automatically generated, and if they aren’t, employees photograph receipts on the spot, and they automatically attach to the right transaction.

While many standalone apps allow users to track travel expenses, the best apps offer integrated platforms for business travel credit cards and expense tracking. When your payment method includes built-in expense tracking, you eliminate duplicate data entry, reduce errors, and gain complete visibility.

Those best apps also integrate with accounting software, accelerating common accounting processes. Integrated platforms like Brex sync continuously with your accounting software so that transactions, receipts, and categorizations flow automatically into your general ledger with the right expense codes. Instead of monthly CSV imports that break custom mappings, you get real-time data that respects your existing chart of accounts. This seamless integration transforms expense management from a monthly expense reconciliation nightmare into an automated background process.

Brex offers the best business credit card for travel because it offers rewards for business travel while solving the challenges businesses face when employees are on the road. While traditional cards focus solely on rewards, Brex combines 7x points on rideshare and 4x on all travel with the expense management tools that make CFOs' lives easier.

The integrated platform means every Uber ride, client dinner, and hotel stay flows directly into categorized expense reports without manual entry. Virtual cards let you set exact budgets for each trip, and real-time controls prevent out-of-policy spending before it happens. When employees need receipts for tax compliance, they're already attached to the right transaction through automatic OCR capture.

For growing companies, Brex's cash-based underwriting provides up to 20x higher limits than traditional cards without personal guarantees. This matters when you're scaling quickly and need to book last-minute flights for the entire team without worrying about credit limits.

For businesses choosing their first travel card or reconsidering their current option, the decision comes down to priorities. If you fly one airline exclusively or stay with one hotel chain religiously, a co-branded card might edge out others on pure point value. But for most businesses juggling multiple travel providers, managing employee expenses, and trying to maintain financial control, Brex provides the complete solution that goes beyond just earning rewards.

Phase Genomics, an early-stage genome research company, is one of many businesses that benefited from the complete solution Brex provided. Before Brex, COO Kayla Young was handling all travel booking, which meant managing up to 50 trips per year. “I spent a lot of time on Hotels.com or Expedia, or wherever we could to find the best rates. We run on a tight budget, but I also don’t want to put my people in a bad place, so I’m constantly floating across that line. Bookings were just all over the place,” Young said.

Brex cards and travel changed that for Young and Phase Genomics. “Being able to book everything through the Brex portal keeps me a little more centered; the credit cards are uploaded already, and I can easily attach names to bookings. With travel and expense data seamlessly connected, reconciliation becomes that much faster,” Young added. “Brex adds a whole new level of efficiency to travel and expense management.”

Sign up for Brex today to get the best corporate credit card for travel and join 30,000+ companies using Brex cards to spend smarter.