Travel policies

What is a travel policy?

Upon accessing the platform, users with flight booking privileges can view and book any flight without restrictions. A travel policy establishes criteria that dictate which flights can be booked directly, which require approval, and which are not permissible, ensuring compliance with a company's travel guidelines and financial controls.

Importance of implementing a travel policy

Implementing a travel policy in a booking platform is essential for several reasons:
Ensures adherence to the company's existing travel guidelines.
Helps manage and control the booking team's expenditures.
Prevents booking errors by new users.
Allows individual travellers to book their own travel while maintaining spending oversight.

Types of travel policies

Travel policies can be applied to flights in two ways:
Flights requiring approval: Set criteria for flights that will appear on the platform but require approval before booking. Users can request these flights, but no costs are incurred until approval is granted. For instance, a department head may need to approve all travel for their team. The process allows for different configurations of approvers, including options such as "all of them", "any of them", or a "number of them".
Forbidden flights: Set criteria for flights that won't be displayed on the platform, making them unbookable for users. An example would be prohibiting travel to countries with specific visa requirements.

Please note that until a flight requiring approval is actually approved, there will be no seat reservation or ticket issued by the airline. It's crucial for the approver to confirm the flight promptly to secure a seat reservation. Therefore, we strongly advise having multiple approvers within the company to ensure rapid approval.

When to create a new travel policy?

Creating a new travel policy is advisable when it caters to distinctly different user groups or budgetary considerations. For instance, one policy might target maritime workers seeking the most affordable flights, while another caters to executives with a more flexible travel budget. Policies can also be department-specific, aligning with the unique needs of different organisational units.

What conditions can be regulated by travel policies?

Travel policies can enforce a variety of conditions to manage travel arrangements effectively. These conditions include:
Price and duration: Establishing maximum, minimum, or specific ranges.
Fare type: Applying policies based on fare types like marine, public, or mixed.
Cabin class: Restricting or requiring approval for certain classes.
Route parameters: Various custom fields can be added to each booking and based on the field, travel policies can be created to require approvals or forbid travel. For example, after creating a "reason for travel" field, a travel policy can be created that permits booking tickets to any location for sales activities by specifying "reason"="making sales". Conversely, for tickets with "reason"="visiting head office", the policy will restrict purchases to flights heading anywhere else than the head office's location. For now, such fields can be added by customer support.
Refundability and carrier: Managing preferences for refundable tickets and specific airlines.
Country restrictions: Countries can be restricted or require approval, for example if a visa is required or sanctions are in effect.
Comparison with the cheapest options: Requiring approval for flights exceeding the price of the cheapest available option.
Ticket cancellation policies: Limiting purchases based on cancellation policies.
Max number of stops: Setting limits on the allowable number of stops.

Approval process

The approval process is straightforward:
The user selects a flight that requires approval and clicks the button “Request approval”.

Approvers receive notifications via email and phone.

Upon approval, the booking is confirmed; if declined, no booking is made. The user is notified in either case.
All pending, declined, or confirmed flights are viewable in the platform's booking section.


Check out this video from the approver's perspective.

Note: Currently, this process supports only flight bookings. Baggage, hotels, and flight changes are not supported.

Do user roles impact travel policies?

User roles do not directly influence travel policies; being an admin doesn't automatically confer the right to approve. However, it is recommended to assign approval responsibilities to individuals with higher access levels, such as Admins, Super Agents and agents, to ensure seamless access to bookings. It is required to have access to the C Teleport platform to be assigned approval responsibilities.
Approvals are designated on a per-rule basis, allowing for tailored oversight across different departments.

Who can be an approver?

Any user with an Admin role who has access to the tenant.
Booker/Agent or Super Agent within the same tenant.

What is a ‘tenant’?

A 'tenant' in the C Teleport platform is an account created for each client, characterised by a single currency and designed as a framework to categorise and segregate different segments within an organisation, such as clients, departments, and offices, with the ability for all users to view each other's bookings within it. This system is particularly beneficial for conglomerates or groups of companies, where there may be multiple tenants under a single corporate umbrella.

Access and Visibility: Each tenant functions as a distinct entity, with all agents within a tenant, granted the capability to view bookings pertinent to their segment. This delineation ensures that information remains organised and accessible to those with relevant roles.

Cross-Tenant Access: There's flexibility to configure users from one tenant with the ability to view or manage bookings from other tenants within the same organisation. However, this level of access is restricted to users holding specific roles—namely Agents, SuperAgents, or Admins—since standard travellers are only permitted to access their own bookings.

Role Implications: Typically, users endowed with cross-tenant access are assigned the "SuperAgent" role. This designation implies a broader operational scope, indicative of a sizable company structure that necessitates oversight across multiple tenants.

Examples: To illustrate, a multi-tenant company might have diverse tenants designated as mycompany-headoffice, mycompany-accounting, mycompany-hr, mycompany-engineering, mycompany-usa, or mycompany-europe, each reflecting a specific operational facet or geographical region of the business.

How many approvers can there be?

Either one approver or a list of approvers.

Options include:
Approval by just one from the list.
Approval by a specific number of approvers, e.g., at least two.
Requirement for all listed approvers to approve.

Sequential approval (one approver following another in a specific order) is not supported.

Recommendation: Having more than one approver is advisable to avoid unavailability issues when approval is needed.

Understanding approval requirements

To understand why a flight requires approval, users can click "Learn why" on the booking page.

How to set up a travel policy?

Depends on whether you are modifying an existing policy or setting up a new one.

Clients that already use travel policies

How to create a new travel policy?
Open this link (access is limited to Admin roles).
Select "Create a new rule".
Choose the necessary conditions.
Note: If you opt for "Route Parameters" and require new custom fields, please contact us through chat or at support@cteleport.com before proceeding, so we can add the fields for you.
Decide on the rule type:
For forbidden flights, you can immediately save the rule.
For flights requiring approval, first choose the approvers and decide how many need to approve the flight.
Save the rule.

How to update the existing travel policy?
Use this link (only Admin role users have access).
Navigate to the Travel Policies section.
Locate and select the policy you wish to amend by clicking the Edit icon.
A grid displaying the current conditions and rules will open.
To modify a rule, proceed to the Manage column and click the Edit button.
The form displaying conditions, rule type, and approvers will appear.
Here, you can alter any conditions or add new ones.
Adjust the list of approvers by selecting Manage in the Approvers section, where you can add or remove approvers by ticking the blue checkmark.
Once completed, click the "Save Changes" button.
The rule will be updated, and you'll be redirected to the Conditions grid.
Remember, changes to a policy that includes users take immediate effect, so consider this when updating a policy.

Clients new to travel policies
If you have not previously utilised travel policies within the platform and are interested in setting them up, please reach out to us at support@cteleport.com. We will provide you with access to the necessary tools for setting up and managing your travel policies.

Experimenting with rules: Testing and drafts

To safely explore rule configurations, assign them to a tester user or keep the policy in draft mode without adding users. This approach prevents unintended restrictions or approvals in the live environment.

Managing conflicting rules

Rules within a travel policy can encompass multiple conditions, which may occasionally lead to conflicts.

Requires approval: For a rule demanding approval to be activated, all specified conditions within that rule must be fulfilled during the search process. For instance, if a rule contains three conditions and only two are met, the booking can proceed without requiring approval. This ensures that approval is only sought when all criteria are strictly satisfied, streamlining the approval process.

Forbidden: It is feasible to compile multiple rules within a travel policy to enforce restrictions. By disallowing a wide range of scenarios, only a few ticket options will be left. However, it's important to avoid setting too many limitations, as this could potentially block all ticket options. For instance, if you apply rules such as "forbid price >= 1000$" alongside "forbid price <= 1000$", you'll end up blocking tickets at all price levels. This method lets you tailor restrictions closely to meet your policy goals.

Should you require guidance on establishing or adjusting your travel policies, do not hesitate to contact us.

Updated on: 17/10/2024