A corporate travel policy is the document a company's travelers book against, and it is useful in proportion to the numbers in it. A business travel policy that says 'reasonable' is read differently by every traveler and argued about after every trip; one that says a fare cap, a nightly cap, a daily allowance, a lead time and the estimated cost above which a named approver signs is read the same way by everyone and needs no argument. This page sets out the clauses corporate travel policies need, what the caps do, and how the free travel policy worksheet on this site drafts one from the figures the company already applies.
The ten clauses
Scope (who the policy covers and what counts as business travel), booking (lead time, where to book, preferred suppliers), caps (fare, lodging, daily allowance), approval (the threshold and who signs above and below it), duty of care (check-ins, advisories, emergency contacts), exceptions (how to ask and who decides), expenses (a pointer to the claims process, which is a different document), safety and conduct, insurance reference, and the review date. Business travel policies that cover those in a paragraph each are complete and get read.
The caps are the policy
The fare cap, the nightly cap and the daily allowance are what make travel policies enforceable. Many small companies borrow the federal standard rates the GSA publishes for lodging and for meals and incidentals as their caps; the choice is the company's and the policy states it. The travel policy worksheet takes the caps and returns the two-night trip ceiling they imply, which is the figure the approver compares a request with, and the headroom between that ceiling and the approval threshold, which says whether the threshold is set right.
Approval is a threshold and two names
Under the threshold the traveler's manager approves; over it a named senior approver signs. A corporate travel policy that names the approver by role rather than by person survives staff changes. The request that goes to the approver carries a figure (the free travel request form computes it per traveler), and Perdiemo Pro keeps the approved request with the approver's name and date as the first entry on the trip.
What the policy points at and does not contain
The expenses clause points to the claims process and stops: how a traveler is reimbursed is the finance process and a different document. The insurance clause names what cover the company holds and stops: it is not the policy wording. The duty of care clause names the check-ins and the contacts and points to the travel risk management policy for the destinations classed as elevated risk. Corporate travel policies that try to contain all of that become manuals, and manuals are not read.
Questions people ask about corporate travel policy
What should a corporate travel policy include?
Scope, booking rules with a lead time, the fare and lodging caps and the daily allowance, the approval threshold and who signs, duty of care, exceptions, a pointer to the expenses process and a review date.
Is a business travel policy the same as a travel and expense policy?
No. The travel policy governs what may be booked and approved before the trip; the expense policy governs the claim after it. Keep them separate so each stays short.
Where do the cap figures come from?
From the company. The federal standard rates the GSA publishes are a common starting point for the nightly cap and the allowance; the policy states whichever figures you choose.