Currency conversion is the conversion of one currency into another during a payment, settlement or refund. The conversion can happen at the issuer, the acquirer or a dedicated FX provider, and the rate applied can include a mark-up over the wholesale rate. Differences between the rate at authorisation, the rate at capture and the rate at settlement can produce small but recurring reconciliation differences.
Travel payments glossary
Currency conversion
The conversion of one currency into another during a payment, settlement or refund.
Why it matters in travel
Travel businesses constantly sit between currencies — selling in GBP and paying suppliers in EUR or USD, or selling in multiple currencies into a single settlement currency. Tracking the rate used at each step, and the cumulative cost of conversion, is essential for healthy margins.
A travel business selling in GBP and paying suppliers in EUR loses margin to every FX leg if the conversion rates are not tracked. A 0.5% mark-up at authorisation, another at capture, another at settlement and another at supplier payment adds up to a meaningful slice of gross margin — and most travel businesses do not see the cumulative cost until it surfaces in a year-end review.
The teams that get currency conversion right negotiate transparent rates with their FX provider, settle in currencies that align with supplier obligations, and surface the conversion cost at the booking level. The teams that do not track this hand a slice of every margin to FX providers without realising it.
How felloh helps
felloh keeps conversion rate, currency and FX cost context on every payment, refund and settlement so the booking-level finance picture stays honest even as currencies move.
Where this shows up in finance operations.
Currency conversion touches more than one workflow at felloh. Start with the pages most travel teams reach for next.
- Financial Operations
Reconciliation, settlement, refunds and protected-funds workflows on one booking-aware ledger.
Explore - Automate Reconciliation
Bulk settlements unpacked to fees, refunds and chargebacks; bank transfers matched without references to chase.
Explore - Know Your Cash Position
See received, protected, committed and available cash by booking — without rebuilding the picture from exports.
Explore
More on travel finance operations.
Real-world context from the felloh team and customers, written for travel finance and operations.
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InsightsReconciliation: What it is and why your Travel Business needs it
Why travel operators see a gap between sales records and the bank balance — and the basics of reconciling payments back to bookings.
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UpdatesCard Payment and Bank Transaction Reconciliation Made Easy for Travel pros
With felloh we make reconciliation of card payments and bank transactions simple.
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Connect the dots.
See how payments, settlement, refunds and reporting evidence connect around every booking.