Create Folio Expenses Automatically

Emburse Enterprise customers have the option to add Emburse Folio, an AI-powered service that automatically creates line-item expenses for all hotel and car folio items without the need for a special data feed or a corporate credit card.

How It Works

Simply forward a receipt emailed to you by a merchant or upload it via the Receipt Gallery, and Emburse Folio automatically creates a hotel or car rental expense in Emburse Enterprise—complete with such itemized expenses as room charges, parking, and internet fees—saving time and eliminating the potential for data-entry errors.

During this process, you will see a brief purple glow as line items are created, indicating background Emburse AI activity. This glow confirms the system is processing and organizing folio details for you.

Expense report with a hotel folio automatically itemized into multiple line items, shown with a purple glow from Emburse AI.

Because it uses AI, Emburse Folio adapts globally, handling different templates, languages, and file types, including image-based receipts and PDFs.

If you later change an AI-assisted value manually, the sparkle icon is removed. These visual indicators help you quickly identify which details were captured automatically from the receipt.

Auto-Filled UDA Fields

Your organization can map AI OCR data to user-defined fields (UDAs) on the expense line-item form. When mapped, Emburse Enterprise automatically fills the selected UDA values from supported receipt, folio, air, meal, and car rental data. Unmapped fields are ignored.

UDA Name Description Originating Expense Type
merchantCity The city where the merchant or vendor is located. Generic
merchantCountry The country where the merchant or vendor is located. Generic
merchantState The state, province, or region where the merchant or vendor is located. Generic
location A formatted merchant location combining the city and country, and including the state/province code when available. Generic
tipAmount The gratuity or tip amount included on the receipt. Generic
vatRegistrationNumber The merchant's VAT/GST/Tax registration number shown on the receipt or invoice. Generic
merchantPostalCode The postal or ZIP code of the merchant's address. Generic
merchantAddress The street address of the merchant or vendor. Generic
invoiceNumber The receipt, invoice, or transaction reference number. Generic
alcoholAmt (available with Emburse Assurance only) The portion of the total expense related to alcoholic beverages. Meal
hotelCheckInDate The hotel check-in date shown on the booking or receipt. Hotel
hotelCheckOutDate The hotel check-out date shown on the booking or receipt. Hotel
hotelConfirmationNumber The hotel reservation or confirmation number. Hotel
airDepartDate The departure date for the flight or airline booking. Air
airReturnDate The return date for the flight or airline booking. Air
airClass The travel class for the flight, such as Economy, Business, or First Class. Air
airline The airline carrier associated with the ticket or itinerary. Air
airPassengerName The passenger name listed on the airline ticket or itinerary. Air
airTicketNum The airline ticket number associated with the booking. Air
pnr The Passenger Name Record (PNR) or airline booking reference code. Air
carRentalDate The pickup date for the rental vehicle. Car Rental
carReturnDate The return or drop-off date for the rental vehicle. Car Rental
carAgency The rental car company or agency name. Car Rental
carClass The category or class of the rental vehicle (for example: Compact, Economy, Luxury). Car Rental
carNumDays The total number of rental days calculated between pickup and return dates. Car Rental

Forward a Folio Receipt

When you receive a PDF, image-based, or HTML receipt from a hotel after your stay, simply forward it to the email address assigned to your organization. (For more details, see How to Find the Email Address in the Create Expense Items Via Email article.)

  • Receipts can be text-based or image-based.
  • Putting the amount and currency code in the subject line will make it easier to track the receipt.
  • If the folio is a PDF, remove any forwarded text from the body of the email.
  • If you have a signature block, delete it from the body of the email.

    • Email draft with a hotel receipt PDF attached, ready to send to the Emburse receipt processing email address.

Upload a Folio Receipt

You may also upload a hotel or car rental merchant's receipt to Emburse Enterprise via the Receipt Gallery for automatic itemization. See Create Expenses via the Receipt Gallery for details.

View a Folio Receipt in Emburse Enterprise

Once the receipt has been uploaded, you will find it in the Offline section of the eWallet, labeled "Folio Receipt."

  • You may use the folio receipt immediately—even if it remains in the processing state—to enter itemizations manually. However, the itemizations will be created for you automatically if you wait until the folio is done processing.

New hotel expense with attached folio appears in the eWallet, showing date and total amount.

  • Select the arrow next to the stacked-squares icon to see the captured folio itemizations.

eWallet view showing a hotel receipt with folio data expanded, including itemized charges and taxes.

  • If you only see the triangle and not the stacked-squares icon, the itemizations are still being processed.

    • Hotel expense in the eWallet showing a zero amount, indicating the folio is still being processed.

Add a Folio Transaction to an Expense

  1. Create a new expense report and select the + button to add line items.

    Empty expense report screen prompting the user to select Add Expense or drag items from the eWallet.

  2. Find the desired hotel folio receipt in the eWallet, check its box, and select ADD.

    eWallet with a hotel folio receipt selected and the Add button highlighted to attach it to an expense report.

  3. Fill in the necessary expense details and select ITEMIZE.

    Hotel expense line item with folio details filled in and the Itemize button visible.

  4. On the itemization pane, simply select DONE.

    Itemization pane showing folio line items captured from the receipt with the Done button visible.

  5. All of the itemizations from the hotel folio you forwarded have automatically been added to the report.

    Expense report listing automatically itemized hotel folio charges on separate line items.

Credits on Hotel Folios

Emburse Folio itemizes any hotel credits you receive, like refunds, food-and-beverage credits, or loyalty rewards. Each credit displays as a negative amount and stays on its own line, including when the folio lists more than one credit with the same description and amount.

Emburse Folio includes these credit amounts in the folio total. The Remaining amount displays 0.00 when the itemized amounts, including these credits, equal the total on the hotel receipt.

Deposits and payments on hotel folios are not itemized as separate lines.

Consolidate Folio Expenses by Expense Type

If your organization has activated consolidation, transactions of certain expense types will be combined in order to reduce the number of line itemizations that appear.

For example, a typical hotel bill for a three-day stay might list three room charges, three room tax charges and three lunches.

Hotel folio itemization with separate room charges, room taxes, and lunch charges for each day of a stay.

With consolidation active, you will only see one combined room charge, one combined room tax charge and one combined lunch charge instead of nine itemizations.

Same hotel folio with consolidated line items showing one combined room charge, room tax, and lunch.

Your organization may also opt to leave specific expense types unconsolidated.

Note that payment, deposit, credit and cash advance itemizations will not be consolidated but will not prevent qualifying itemizations on the same receipt from being consolidated. However, receipts containing VAT charges will be completely excluded from consolidation even if there are other qualifying itemizations on the receipt.

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