A Corporate Travel Policy Template and Best Practices

A corporate travel policy is the foundational document for any managed travel program. It provides clarity, ensures fairness, and is your most powerful tool for controlling costs. However, creating one from scratch can be a daunting task.

This article provides a comprehensive but easy-to-use template for your corporate travel policy. You can adapt this template to fit your company's specific culture, goals, and budget. We have also included "Best Practice" notes throughout to explain the strategic thinking behind each section.

Corporate Travel Policy for [Company Name]

Section 1: Introduction

1.1. Purpose This policy provides the guidelines and procedures for all business-related travel for [Company Name]. Our goal is to ensure the safety and well-being of our travelers while maintaining fiscal responsibility. This framework enables us to manage travel expenses effectively and simplifies the process for our employees.

1.2. Scope This policy applies to all full-time and part-time employees, contractors, and any other individuals traveling on behalf of [Company Name]. Compliance with this policy is mandatory.

Best Practice: Start with a clear statement of purpose. Explaining that the policy is about both safety and cost control helps with employee buy-in. Being explicit about the scope prevents confusion about whether the policy applies to, for example, candidates or consultants.

Section 2: Booking and Reservations

2.1. Official Booking Channel All business-related travel, including airfare, hotels, and car rentals, must be booked through the company's designated online travel management platform, Routespring. Bookings made on consumer websites or directly with suppliers ("rogue bookings") are not permitted and will not be reimbursed.

Best Practice: This is the most important rule in your entire policy. Mandating a single booking channel is the only way to ensure policy compliance, capture travel data, and track traveler locations for Duty of Care.

2.2. Advance Booking To ensure cost-effectiveness, all travel must be booked as far in advance as possible.

Air Travel: All flights must be booked at least 14 days prior to the departure date.
Hotel Stays: All accommodations must be booked at least 7 days prior to check-in.
Bookings made within these windows will require additional approval.

Best Practice: Advance booking is one of the easiest ways to achieve significant cost savings. Automating the enforcement of this rule in your booking tool is key to its success.

2.3. Air Travel

Class of Service: All employees are required to book Economy/Coach Class for all domestic and international flights. Business Class is permitted only for international flights with a flight duration of over 8 hours and requires pre-approval from a VP-level manager.
Lowest Logical Fare: Travelers are expected to book the lowest logical fare available at the time of booking. "Lowest logical fare" is defined as the most affordable fare that does not increase overall travel time by more than 2 hours or require more than one additional layover.

2.4. Accommodation

Hotel Price Caps: Travelers must book hotels that are within the per-night rate cap specified in the Routespring booking tool. These caps are dynamic and based on the average market rate for the destination city on the requested dates.
Preferred Hotels: The company has negotiated special rates and amenities with preferred hotel partners. These will be clearly marked in the booking tool, and employees are strongly encouraged to book these properties.

2.5. Ground Transportation

Rental Cars: The approved vehicle class for rental cars is Mid-size/Standard or its equivalent. Travelers should refuel their rental car before returning it to avoid excessive charges.
Taxis and Ride-Sharing: Services like Uber and Lyft are permitted for transport to/from airports, between meetings, and to/from client dinners.

Section 3: Approval Process

3.1. Pre-Trip Approval All business travel requires pre-trip approval from the employee's direct manager. This approval must be obtained through the Routespring platform before tickets are issued.

3.2. Approval Timeframe Managers are required to approve or deny travel requests within 24 business hours of submission to avoid fare increases.

Best Practice: Pre-trip approval is your primary defense against out-of-policy spend. Automating this workflow in your travel platform makes it efficient and ensures a clear audit trail.

Section 4: Payment, Expenses, and Reimbursement

4.1. Payment for Travel All airfare, hotels, and car rentals booked through the Routespring platform will be paid for directly by the company using a centralized payment method. Employees should not use personal credit cards for these bookings.

4.2. Expense Reporting

All expense reports must be submitted via the company's designated expense management platform within 15 days of trip completion.
An itemized receipt is required for any single expense over $50.00. Credit card statements or non-itemized summaries are not acceptable as receipts. Expenses submitted without required receipts will not be reimbursed.

4.3. Meal Expenses When traveling on company business, employees will be reimbursed for meal expenses up to a per diem of $75.00 per day for domestic travel and $100.00 per day for international travel.

4.4. Client Entertainment Reasonable expenses for entertaining clients are permissible but require pre-approval from a manager if expected to exceed $200. The expense submission must include the names, titles, and companies of all attendees.

4.5. Non-Reimbursable Expenses The following is a non-exhaustive list of expenses that are considered personal and will not be reimbursed by the company:

Airline seat upgrades
In-flight Wi-Fi (unless required for business work with manager approval)
Hotel in-room movies or mini-bar purchases
Gym, spa, or personal grooming services
Childcare or pet-sitting services
Parking tickets, traffic violations, or speeding fines
Loss or damage of personal property

Best Practice: Being explicit about what is not covered is just as important as being clear about what is. This prevents misunderstandings and disputes.

Section 5: Safety and Duty of Care

5.1. Traveler Safety The safety and well-being of our employees is our highest priority. By booking all travel through the mandated Routespring platform, the company can provide effective support in the event of an emergency. Our travel risk management program includes traveler tracking and real-time risk alerts.

5.2. Emergency Support For any travel-related emergencies, such as flight cancellations, medical issues, or security concerns, travelers should contact the Routespring 24/7 support line at [Insert TMC Support Number].

How to Use This Template

Find and Replace: Replace "[Company Name]" with your company's name.
Customize Values: Adjust the values in bold (e.g., booking windows, price caps, receipt thresholds) to match your company's budget and culture.
Review with Stakeholders: Share this draft with your finance, HR, and leadership teams to get their feedback and ensure alignment.
Implement and Automate: Once finalized, work with your TMC to build these rules directly into your travel management platform.
Communicate: Announce the new policy to your team and provide clear training.

By implementing a clear and comprehensive travel policy like this one, you create a framework for a travel program that is efficient, cost-effective, and traveler-friendly.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Why is it so important to mandate a single booking tool? Mandating a single tool is the only way to ensure 100% visibility into your travel program. It allows you to enforce policy, capture all spending data, track travelers for safety, and leverage your consolidated data for supplier negotiations. Without this rule, you are operating with blind spots.

2. Should we have different policies for different teams or levels of seniority? Yes, this is a best practice. A modern travel platform can support "tiered" policies. Your executive team might have a more flexible policy than your general employee population. This allows you to tailor the rules to the specific needs of different groups while maintaining central control.

3. What is the best way to determine hotel price caps for different cities? Work with your TMC. They have access to historical and real-time benchmarking data and can tell you the average daily rate (ADR) for business-appropriate hotels in your top travel destinations. Use this data to set realistic caps that will not force your travelers into inconvenient or unsafe lodging.

4. How do we handle "bleisure" travel, where an employee wants to add personal vacation days to a business trip? Your policy should have a specific addendum for this. The standard practice is for the company to pay for the cost of the round-trip flight as it would have been for the business-only portion of the trip. The employee is responsible for any increase in airfare due to the changed dates and for all of their own expenses (hotel, meals) during the leisure portion.

5. How do we get our employees to actually read and follow the policy? Make it easy. A long, legalistic document will be ignored. Create a simple, one-page summary or "quick reference guide" that covers the most important points. Most importantly, automate the policy within your booking tool. When the tool itself guides users toward compliant choices, adherence increases dramatically.