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Purpose
This article explains how to set up and manage TravelBank’s default travel policy and your own custom travel policies.
Audience
This article is directed toward users with a paid TravelBank travel plan.
Overview
The TravelBank default travel policy allows you to set guidelines for your employees’ business travel, including what travel needs approval, how many days in advance travel bookings need to be reserved, and which employees the guidelines apply to. Custom travel policies allow you to specify different travel policy settings than the settings in the default travel policy.
Note: Travel policies are separate from expense policies.
Access your travel policies
From the TravelBank left navigation menu, select Company Settings > Travel > Travel Policy (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Access the Travel Policy page
From the Travel Policy page you can view or modify the default policy, create a custom travel policy, and set employees to be exempt from a policy by adding them to No Travel Policy.
View or manage the default travel policy
To view or manage the default travel policy, select the arrow to the right of the Default Travel Policy on the Travel Policy page (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Access the Default Travel Policy from the Travel Policy page
The Default Travel Policy consists of a flight policy, hotel policy, car policy, and employees in the policy. To edit the flight, hotel, or car policies, select Edit for each, respectively (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Edit the flight, hotel, or car policies by selecting Edit for each
Edit the flight policy
There are several fields you can edit in the flight policy, as described in the following sections.
Setting a budget for flights
These settings are used to calculate a budget for flight prices based on trip location and dates. Flight bookings will be considered in policy if they are less expensive than the budgeted price. The flight policy will not restrict the traveler from booking a different fare class or a flight with a different number of stops as long as the cost is within the budgeted amount.
Fare Class: The flight budget is based on average prices of the selected fare class.
Economy (Recommended)
Business
First
Stops: The flight budget is based on the average prices of flights with the selected number of stops.
Nonstop (Recommended)
1+ Stops
Booking rules
Advance Booking Requirement: When enabled, travelers must book flights within the selected number of days before departure to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
On: Select number of days
7 Days
14 Days
21 Days
30 Days
Flight Cost Hard Cap: When enabled, travelers must select flights cheaper than the defined cap to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
Hard cap price: Set a dollar amount flight bookings cannot exceed without requiring manager approval
Budget Flexibility: When enabled, travelers are given a percentage or dollar amount of flexibility with their budget to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
Enter amount: Set a percentage or dollar amount
Notifications and approvals
Notifications: Select when managers should be notified about flight bookings. This will not block travelers from booking.
No Notifications
Out of Policy (Recommended)
All Bookings
Approvals: Select when managers should approve flight bookings. Travel will be booked automatically upon approval.
No Approvals
Out of Policy (Recommended)
All Bookings
Once you have made any needed changes to the flight policy fields, select Save before you move on to making changes to the hotel policy fields.
Edit the hotel policy
There are several fields you can edit in the hotel policy, as described in the following sections.
Setting a budget for hotels
These settings are used to calculate a budget for hotel prices based on trip location and dates. Hotel bookings will be considered in policy if they are less expensive than the budgeted price. This will not restrict the traveler from booking a different hotel class or radius as long as the cost is within the budgeted amount.
Hotel Class: The lodging budget is based on average prices of the selected hotel star rating.
Choose a star rating: 1 through 5
Distance From Search Location: The lodging budget is based on average prices of hotels within the selected search radius.
5 Miles
10 Miles (Recommended)
15 Miles
20 Miles
Booking rules
Advance Booking Requirements: When enabled, travelers must book hotels within the selected number of days before departure to be considered in policy.
On (Default): Select number of days
4 Days
7 Days (Recommended)
14 Days
21 Days
Off
Hotel Nightly Rate Hard Cap: When enabled, travelers must select hotels cheaper than the defined cap to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
On: Set a dollar amount hotel bookings cannot exceed
Budget Flexibility: Choose a variance option
Off (Default)
On
Set a percentage
Set a dollar amount
Notifications and approvals
Notifications: Select when managers should be notified about hotel bookings. This will not block travelers from booking.
No notifications
Out of policy
All bookings (Recommended)
Approvals: Select when managers should approve hotel bookings. Travel will be booked automatically upon approval.
No notifications
Out of policy (Recommended)
All bookings
Once you have made any needed changes to the hotel policy fields, select Save before you move on to making changes to the car policy fields.
Edit the car policy
You can edit the following fields in the car policy.
Booking rules
Advance Booking Requirements: When this option is enabled, employees are required to reserve the car in advance, following the timeframe specified in the policy.
Off (Default)
On: Select number of days
7 Days
14 Days (Recommended)
21 Days
30 Days
Car Cost Hard Cap: When enabled, travelers must select a car cheaper than the defined cap to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
Hard cap price: Set a dollar amount car bookings cannot exceed without requiring manager approval
Budget Flexibility: When enabled, travelers are given a percentage or dollar amount flexibility with their budget to be considered in policy.
Off (Default)
On
Set a percentage
Set a dollar amount
Preferences
Preferred Car Rental: Select your preferred car rental company for corporate travel.
Preferred Car Type: Select your preferred car type for corporate travel.
If an employee selects a car rental other than the preferred car rental or type, the selection will require approval from the employee’s manager.
Notifications and approvals
Notifications: Select when managers should approve car bookings. This will not block travelers from booking.
No notifications (Default)
Out of policy
All bookings (Recommended)
Approvals: Select when managers should approve car bookings. Travel will be booked automatically upon approval.
No notifications (Default)
Out of policy
All bookings (Recommended)
Employees in policy
All employees are included in the default travel policy unless you have added them to No Travel Policy or a custom travel policy.
You can add an employee to No Travel Policy, as described in the subsequent section of this article, or you can add them to a custom travel policy, as described in the Create a custom travel policy section.
You can also edit which travel policy an employee is in through the Employee Directory.
Add employee to No Travel Policy
To add an employee to No Travel Policy, take the following steps:
From the Travel Policy page (Company Settings > Travel > Travel Policy), select the arrow to the right of No Travel Policy (Figure 4). This brings up an Edit Policy page.
Figure 4. Access No Travel Policy from the Travel Policy page
In the Policy Settings > Employees in Policy section, select Edit (Figure 5). This opens a list of your organization’s employees.
Figure 5. Edit Policy page, Edit button in Employees in Policy section
To select an employee to be included in No Travel Policy, check the box to the right of their name (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Edit Policy page, Employees in Policy section, Select employees checkboxes to the right of employees list
When you’ve finished making changes, select Save.
Edit an employee’s travel policy through the Employee Directory
To edit an employee’s travel policy through the Employee Directory, take the steps described in our article on adding and editing employees. Specifically, you can adjust the Travel Policy field in the employee’s profile.
Create a custom travel policy
Custom travel policies allow you to specify different travel policy settings than the settings in the default travel policy. For instance, you could create a travel policy specifically for executives who travel more frequently than other employees. For those executives, you could allow them to book closer to the travel date or to have more variability in their travel budget than employees in the default policy, who may not travel as frequently.
To create a custom travel policy, take the following steps:
From the TravelBank left navigation menu, go to Company Settings > Travel > Travel Policy.
Select Add Policy at the top-right of the page. This brings up a Create New Policy page.
Add a policy name in the Add Policy Name field at the top of the page and select Save.
Set your custom travel policy settings as described in the View or manage the default travel policy section of this article, selecting Continue rather than Save after making changes to each section. Custom policies also have the Employees in Policy section directly within the Edit Policy page, unlike the default travel policy, which has a separate page for employees in policy.
When you’re finished making changes to the policy, select Finish at the bottom of the page.
Delete a custom travel policy
To delete a custom travel policy, open the policy and select Delete at the bottom of the page (Figure 7). This brings up a confirmation dialog. Select Delete Policy to confirm the deletion.
Figure 7. Custom travel policy Edit Policy page, Delete Policy button
Need help?
If you need help, contact the TravelBank support team:
Email support@travelbank.com.
From the website or mobile app: Open the left navigation menu and select Chat with us.
Publish date: May 25, 2021
Last update: April 22, 2025