What is Hotel Billback?

Billback is a payment option offered to corporate clients. Invoices for individual hotel stays or conference/meetings, booked by an Agency are not settled on departure but are sent to the Agency or credit house and presented to the client as a consolidated invoice either weekly, fortnightly or monthly dependant on the volume of business.

Agencies can act either as a Principal or Agent and have a right to elect which capacity they operate under -

Principal - When the agency is acting as a Principal, they would contract directly with the Hotel/venue and assume financial responsibility for the clients invoiced charges.

Agent - Acts as an intermediary and is involved in checking the contract between the hotel/venue and client but the financial responsibility rests with the client.

In the case of billback, billing instructions to the hotel/venue should be clearly established in writing on a transaction by transaction basis and clearly identified on confirmations.

The client will settle the consolidated invoice with the Agent or credit house, who will in turn settle the account with the hotel; normal agency trading terms are 30 days.

The billback option has several advantages for corporate clients, it streamlines the billing process by reducing the number of individual invoices handled by the company and can often result in 'back office' savings.

It assists in managing the travel and expense policy and identifies individuals who may stray from policy.

The billback process offers the client, Accuracy, because the Agency or credit house will check the invoice against rates booked. Visibility and accountability as any overspend is identified immediately.

This billback process also gives the traveller/event organiser peace of mind, by settling the account on departure, it allows the client to manage their expense policy, saving time, reducing costs and adding value.

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