Book a demo

Use cases: Travel & booking agents

Pay suppliers from a card program you own

Issue a single-use virtual card per booking for the exact amount, plus tour leader and advisor payout cards, in your brand and through one API.

Book an intro call See how the API works

Your supplier payments run on someone else's cards

OTAs, travel management companies, host agencies and tour operators collect from the traveler, then pay hotels, ground operators and guides on the traveler's behalf. Much of that already runs on virtual cards, but on a provider's program: their rules, their portal, their data, and often a balance you fund before the busy season.

Moon lets your platform run its own Visa card program through one API. Your booking engine creates a virtual card for each supplier payment, for the exact amount, tagged with the booking ID and limited to the supplier's merchant category. With just-in-time authorization enabled for your program, your system approves each charge in real time against its own ledger, so suppliers are paid from money you've already collected.

The same program covers the rest of the trip: physical cards for tour leaders paying guides and entry fees on the road, and payout cards for advisors' commission. Every charge comes back on a webhook with your booking ID attached, and daily reconciliation files close the month.

How the money moves

  1. Card issuedBK-4821 · $1,240.00
  2. Booking confirmedHotel · 3 nights · card sent
  3. Hotel charges the card$1,240.00 · matched to BK-4821
See the API call
curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.themooncard.com/v1/api-gateway/card/8f1c611d-098d-4f61-b106-f7b6d344b1ae \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json' \
     --header 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
     --data '{
        "external_id": "agency_ops",
        "amount": 1240,
        "metadata": { "booking": "BK-4821" }
      }'

What you can do

  1. 01

    A card per booking

    Issue a single-use virtual card for each hotel, transfer or tour, for the exact amount due, and close it once the supplier has charged.

  2. 02

    Deposits and price changes

    Load a supplier's deposit at booking, then add the balance, or the difference after a price change, to the same card before departure.

  3. 03

    Tour leader cards

    Give tour leaders physical cards with a daily or monthly limit for guides, entry fees and local transport, instead of a cash float.

  4. 04

    Advisor commission payouts

    Pay host-agency advisors their commission on a card in your brand, issued after a hosted identity check.

  5. 05

    A balance per client

    Keep each corporate client's or brand's travel spend in its own balance, so one client's bookings never draw on another's money.

  6. 06

    Cards inside your software

    Booking and agency software can give each agency on the platform its own cards and balance, under your brand and through one API.

Why travel platforms choose Moon

  • A program you own

    The cards, the spending rules and the transaction data belong to your platform, not a provider's portal. You decide what each card can do, and change it through one API.

  • Paid from money collected

    With just-in-time authorization enabled, Moon asks your system to approve each charge in real time against your own ledger. Supplier cards draw on traveler payments you already hold, so you don't park cash in advance for each booking.

  • One booking, one exposure

    Each card holds only its booking's amount and can be limited to the supplier's merchant category. A disputed or compromised card affects one booking, not your whole supplier spend.

  • Reconcile by booking ID

    Your booking ID travels as metadata on the card and on every webhook for its charges and refunds. Daily reconciliation files give finance the same data at month-end.

How it works

  1. Connect

    Integrate the Moon API, or start with our team on a pilot.

  2. Issue

    Create cards and send payouts from your own product.

  3. Control

    Set limits per card and see every transaction.

Questions

What if a hotel won't accept a virtual card?
Send the card details with the booking, along with a card authorization form, so the hotel has both before the guest arrives. Start with suppliers that already accept virtual cards, then add others once your process is in place. If a charge is still declined, a webhook reports it with the reason, so your team can fix it while the booking is live.
What happens when a booking is canceled or refunded?
The unused balance stays with you. Freeze the card so it declines new charges, then close it once no charges are pending, and whatever is left returns to your prepaid balance. If the supplier refunds a charge, the refund lands on the card and a webhook reports it with the booking ID, so you can pass it on to the traveler or close the card.
Can we reconcile payments by booking ID?
Yes. Add the booking ID and any other references as metadata when you create the card, and Moon returns them unchanged. Every authorization, clearing, reversal and refund arrives on a webhook with that metadata attached, and daily reconciliation files list the same transactions for finance.
We already use a virtual card provider. Can Moon run beside it?
Yes. Start with flows your current provider doesn't cover, such as advisor commission payouts or physical cards for tour leaders, and keep supplier cards where they are. Moon cards are created by API under your own IDs, so you can move bookings over at your own pace.
Where can we launch, and which licenses do we need?
Card programs can launch in the US, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Tell us where your business and your cardholders are based, and we'll confirm what's available for your program before you build. Cards are issued by Moon's partner financial institutions under their licenses, so you don't need a card-issuing license of your own; you keep the registrations your travel business already holds.
Can we start with a pilot?
Yes. Start with one supplier type or one market, such as hotel bookings, then add the others. Before any real booking, the Sandbox runs the same endpoints as production: create booking cards, simulate authorizations, clearings, reversals and refunds, and receive the same webhooks with your booking metadata attached.

Run supplier payments on your own cards.

Tell us how you pay suppliers, tour leaders and advisors today, and we'll set up a sandbox around your booking flow.

Plan a pilot with us Browse the docs

Other use cases