August 5, 2020
There has been a lot of industry buzz regarding Pre-Trip Approval within the travel industry in light of the pandemic.
A Global Business Travel Association survey of 2,167 worldwide member companies fielded in July 2020 month found that 53 percent of travel buyer and procurement professional respondents (who comprised 43 percent of all respondents) had instituted "new rules about pre-trip approval" as a result of the pandemic.
At STM, we have pre-trip approval capabilities available for clients today as an additional precaution with the return to travel. This functionality can be configured to specific goals and expenditure expectations including:
Required for ALL bookings
Specific form of payment (central bill card)
Any dollar amount over lowest price
Advanced Purchase
Domestic/International
Hotel/Car Bookings
Active Pre-Trip Notification STM will work with you to identify your organization’s structure. Based on the structure and internal approval process, STM can support an active approval process that would require the traveler’s manager to approve a trip reservation prior to ticketing or invoicing, utilizing the approval tab in the portal or within Concur. If the trip is then approved, a ticket or invoice will be generated. If the trip is declined for ticketing or invoice, the trip will automatically cancel within STM’s online and offline systems and alert the traveler that the trip has not only been declined for approval, but also canceled.
Passive Pre-Trip Notification STM can also configure passive trip notifications for all reservations booked online or with an agent. In this configuration, the travel manager or administrator will receive a copy of any travel reservation made in compliance or out of compliance at the time of booking. The notification will then serve as an alert where action can be taken, if necessary, with the traveler and the trip can be cancelled.
In utilizing both methods, STM offers reporting that can be sent to a manager or business office, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis that will illustrate compliance. This is a perfect function for you to utilize to gain visibility and control over potential bookings. STM also has the ability to customize approvals based on client need with custom development or travel industry partnerships like Trondent’s Authorizer AI, where many complex approval workflows can be supported at an additional cost.