The Best Business Credit Cards for Vacation Rental Property Managers and How Topkey Helps You Manage Them

As a vacation rental property manager, choosing the right business credit card is crucial - but managing those cards efficiently is even more important. From emergency maintenance purchases to routine supplies, your business likely processes hundreds of transactions monthly across multiple properties. Let's explore the best credit card options for property managers and how to manage them effectively.
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Best Business Credit Cards for Property Managers

When selecting a business credit card, vacation rental managers should consider factors like rewards categories, annual fees, intro APR offers, and expense tracking features. Based on Forbes’ latest rankings, here are some of the best options:

1. Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 3x points on travel, advertising, and shipping purchases—ideal for managers who invest in marketing and frequent travel.
  • Points can be redeemed for travel, cash back, or gift cards at a high redemption rate.
  • Includes cellphone protection—valuable for managers handling bookings and guest communications.

2. American Express® Business Gold Card

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • 4x points on the top two categories where you spend the most each month, such as gas stations, restaurants, and technology purchases.
  • No preset spending limit, making it flexible for covering fluctuating expenses like maintenance and contractor payments.
  • Amex Offers provide additional savings on essential services.

3. Capital One Spark Cash Plus

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases, making it easy to maximize rewards without tracking spending categories.
  • No preset spending limit, giving flexibility for high-cost expenses like property renovations or bulk supply orders.

4. Bank of America® Business Advantage Customized Cash Rewards

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Lets you choose your highest cash-back category (up to 3%), making it flexible for managers who have varying business expenses.
  • 0% intro APR for 9 billing cycles, useful for financing large upfront purchases like furniture or appliances.

5. Amazon Business Prime American Express Card

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 5% back on Amazon Business purchases and 2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and wireless services.
  • No annual fee (Prime membership required), making it a great choice for managers who frequently purchase supplies from Amazon.
  • Flexible payment options, including 90-day interest-free financing on U.S. purchases at Amazon Business, AWS, and Whole Foods.

6. CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 2x miles on American Airlines purchases, gas stations, cable and satellite providers, and eligible American Airlines travel benefits.
  • First checked bag is free on American Airlines flights, a great perk for managers who travel frequently.
  • Companion certificate for domestic travel after spending $30,000 in a year.

7. Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 3x miles on Delta purchases and 1.5x miles on purchases over $5,000.
  • Free first checked bag and priority boarding—perfect for property managers flying to multiple rental locations.
  • Companion certificate for a main cabin round-trip flight each year.

8. Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 3x points on Southwest purchases and 2x points on advertising, transit, and social media purchases.
  • Four upgraded boardings per year and in-flight Wi-Fi credits.
  • Helps earn Southwest Companion Pass faster, a great perk for managers who frequently fly Southwest.

9. Topkey Corporate Cards*

• Why it’s great for property managers:
  
  • 1.5% Cashback¹
    Customizable spending limits for different team members, helping control expenses for staff and contractors.
  • Integrated directly with Topkey’s financial automation platform, allowing for seamless expense tracking, receipt management, and real-time reporting.
  • No personal guarantee required, keeping business and personal finances separate.

10. Lowe's Business Rewards Card from American Express 

• Why they are great for property managers:
  
  • Earn 3% cash back at Lowe’s and 2% cash back at U.S. restaurants, U.S. office supply stores, and on wireless phone services.
  • No annual fee, making it an affordable option for property managers who frequently purchase building materials, appliances, and maintenance supplies.
  • Special financing options and discounts on eligible Lowe’s purchases.
  • 5% off at Lowe’s

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Managing Credit Cards with Topkey

While these cards offer great benefits, the real challenge for property managers isn't choosing a card - it's managing expenses across multiple properties, cards, and team members. Our customers' experiences highlight these challenges and how Topkey helps solve them.

The biggest game-changer for property managers is streamlined receipt capture with Topkey - Instead of manually tracking paper receipts or struggling with month-end reconciliation, Topkey’s platform:

• Sends immediate text prompts after purchases
• Enables instant mobile receipt upload
• Automatically matches receipts to transactions
• Stores everything digitally for easy reference This automation significantly reduces the administrative burden while ensuring no expenses slip through the cracks.

Key Challenges Topkey Solves:

1. Property-Level Expense Tracking As Aidan Groll from Blue Gems Management explains, "We no longer have any guesswork on which property an expense is for. There's no disconnect between accounts payable and the actual expense that gets recorded in your owner statement and Quickbooks."
2. Team Card Management Riley Goldman from Beachside Vacation Rentals previously struggled with manual expense tracking: "I would literally print out my credit card statement, and I would go through each line one by one. I'd call every single one of my people and say, what is this receipt for? What did we buy? Which cleaning supplies should be billed to this unit?"
3. Owner Billing Accuracy Mike Wesling from Anchor Point highlights how Topkey helps prevent expense leakage: "If we didn't have that, I'd probably stuff that receipt in my wallet, and then three weeks later, I would pull it out and have no idea who I bought it for and what it was for. We'd have a lot of leakage without Topkey."
4. Integration Capabilities Jed Stevens from Koloa Kai values Topkey's integrations: "With Topkey, I categorize the expense by property and which of the accounts in Quickbooks it belongs to. Then I hit 'Sync', and it goes to Quickbooks, and I don't have to touch it again. It's a huge relief."

Conclusion

Using the right business credit card can increase profitability, simplify expenses, and offer valuable perks for vacation rental property managers. However managing multiple cards efficiently requires automation and smart financial tools—which is exactly what Topkey delivers. 

No matter which credit card program you use, Topkey will help you save time, reduce expenses, and increase profitability.

As Aidan Groll from Blue Gems puts it, "Even if you only have 10 units now, when you get to 100, you'll be very grateful that your accounting and finance processes were dialed in from the ground up. Because if you're building a skyscraper, you start with the foundation — and I think Topkey should be the foundation in really any successful short-term rental management company."

Ready to transform how you manage business credit cards? Schedule a demo to see how Topkey can help automate your financial operations and eliminate expense leakage.

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*Topkey is a financial technology company and is not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank; Member FDIC. The Topkey Visa Debit & Charge Cards are issued by Thread Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa cards are accepted.

¹Terms and conditions apply to the charge card rewards program. To redeem your Points Rewards, you must email us at support@topkey.io and provide the name of the Account holder with your request to redeem your Points Rewards. You may redeem your Points Rewards only if you are not delinquent in any amounts then owed to Topkey. The purchase of money orders or cash equivalents, and account funding made with your charge card are not eligible for charge card rewards.  Please refer to the Topkey Charge Card Rewards Terms and Conditions.

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