Travel policies allow you to keep control over what your travelers book and how much they spend on travel. As an admin, you can set travel policies for different projects, departments, or job levels to reflect the different travel options and needs.
What is a travel policy?
A travel policy consists of two parts: rules and preferences.
Rules
Rules define upper limits of what employees are allowed to book (e.g., which cabin class they are allowed to fly or how much they are allowed to spend on a hotel night). During the booking process, a violation of a rule will lead to the travel option being flagged as "out of policy". A traveler is still able to make a booking that is out of policy, but they are notified and see the reason for it.
Preferences
Preferences are "softer" than rules. They are used to tailor travel options to your company's individual requirements (e.g., if rebookable or cancelable flight fares should be booked preferably) but they do not restrict the booking behavior like rules do. A deviation from a preference is not marked as "out of policy". A traveler can make a booking regardless of whether it is in line with preferences.
Which rules and preferences can I set in the travel policy?
To set your travel policy, navigate to "Company" > "Travel policies" (https://my.comtravo.com/account/policy). For each vertical (i.e., flights, hotels, trains, rental cars), you can define rules and preferences. Please note that you have to define the rules/preferences for each travel policy.
Flights
As rules you can set
- the highest cabin class allowed
- the budget per one-way flight
- additional cabin class and budget rules based on flight duration
You can define a default rule and up to 3 additional rules based on the flight duration (e.g., allowing a higher cabin class or budget for long-haul flights).
As preferences you can define
- if flight tickets should be rebookable, cancelable, or include checked baggage
- which airlines should be preferred or avoided.
Hotels
As rules you can set
- the highest star category allowed for hotels
- the budget per room per night
- additional country-specific budget rules
For the budget, you can define a global default and specific amounts by country.
As preferences you can select
- the minimum star category a hotel should have
- if hotel rates should be cancelable, include breakfast or WiFi
Trains
As rules you can set
- the highest class allowed for train rides
- the budget per one-way ride
For the preferences section, you can define if train tickets should be cancelable, flexible, or include a seat reservation.
Rental cars
As rules you can set
- the highest car class allowed for rental cars
- the budget per rental day
As preferences you can define
- if the rental insurance should be with or without excess
- if the rental car should include a navigation system
- which vendors should be preferred or avoided
How do you enforce travel policy during the booking process?
Travel policies will be applied to all bookings by email and with the online booking tool. Preferences are used to pre-fill search filters in the online booking tool (e.g., to search for 2-4 star hotels or for rebookable flight tickets) and rank matching search results up. For the email channel, preferences guide the travel agents to provide you with the most suitable options.
Any travel option that is violating a rule of the travel policy will be marked as "out of policy" – for bookings by both email and via the online channel:
Online booking tool/MyComtravo
Search results that are out of policy are clearly highlighted in the flight and hotel booking tool. The reason for the violation is explained so that bookers can look for other options that are in policy.
In the offer email, options that are violating a rule are flagged as "out of policy", including the reason.
Check-out
During the checkout process, out-of-policy bookings are marked, including the reason. Please bear in mind that users can still book any option that is out of policy.
Notifications:
You can receive notifications for out-of-policy bookings. Read more here.