What is a business travel request form? (with free template)

02 Nov 2021 · 5 MIN READ

A business travel request form is a document employees can use to request approval for business travel. It outlines travel details, seeks authorization, and ensures compliance with your company's travel policies.

Many organizations are guilty of using application forms to try and coordinate business travel and keep record of travel spending. Typically, when preparing for corporate trips, employees fill in this request form with their details and intended journey.

After management approves the request, the company stores the form for future reference—the process is cumbersome and in dire need of an update.

There is a smoother way of approving corporate travel—a business travel request form. Here, we lay out the process and how-to’s for using travel request forms, and share a free template for a more efficient way to approve your corporate trips.

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What details appear on a travel request form?

Travel request forms are designed to give managers an overview of the intended business trip from both a cost and a strategic point of view. The form fields that typically appear on a travel request form include travel information such as:

Employee name and contact information
The business purpose of the trip
Destination and travel details
Departure date and return dates
Predicted travel costs which are broken down by category. For example, airfares, other transportation, accommodation, and meal allowances.
Notes of any visa requirements for international travel
Any relevant comments from the employee's manager or additional information deemed relevant

Why use a request form for business travel?

Until now, travel request forms have been a useful method for collating all the information needed to approve business trips. Rather than employees sending emails with various attachments, managers can read one document and approve or reject a business travelers' plans.

While manually sending a business travel request form works, they aren’t the most efficient method for either employees or managers. Instead, more companies are turning towards travel management software like Perk to streamline travel processes, seek approval, and book transport.

Who works on a travel request form?

Typically, working through a travel request form requires three different employees at three distinct stages. The people involved include the employee intending to travel, a direct manager, and a senior manager or travel manager . While using forms for corporate travel approval is a more time-consuming approach, companies can speed up the process between stakeholders.

For example, apps like Google Docs can help staff tag relevant parties and automatically send notifications when action is required.

Let’s explore what each team member’s role is in working on a travel request form.

The traveling employee fills out the form

When an employee has cause to make a business trip, they need to start the approval process by filling out a travel request form. Once the form has been received, managers will analyze the request and either approve or reject the suggested itinerary.

If a form is approved, employees are ready to start booking and organizing their travel plans. If the request is rejected, the employee must make the changes outlined by their manager before submitting it again. It’s easier for the manager if the employee only flags the relevant changes, that way they won’t need to read the entire request form again.

The first level of approval: the direct manager

Usually, the first level of approval is conducted by the employee's direct line manager. At this stage, the manager checks the request form to ensure the employee information is correct and the estimated expenses are reasonable.

If the manager finds fault with any details, such as the purpose of travel or the suggested pricing for the trip, they will reject the request and include comments for improvement. If a request form is rejected, it doesn’t mean it can’t be resubmitted!

The second level of approval: the senior manager or travel manager

The next step of the approval process is often conducted by a more senior staff member—typically a department head, C-level worker, or a travel manager. This largely depends on team size and business maturity.

The request form goes through the same process, checking for any mistakes and ensuring the trip has a significant business purpose and ROI—which doesn’t always need to be financially oriented.

If the trip request is approved, the employee has the green light to start booking their travel arrangements and scheduling their business-related meetings.

At this point, administration teams will archive the travel authorization request form. However, management can still reject the request and ask employees to make further modifications at any time.

Is micromanaging your employees’ travel plans causing unnecessary overhead? Here’s how GetYourGuide gave business travelers more flexibility and autonomy with the help of Perk .

Try Perk, a more efficient solution to juggling employee travel request forms

While travel request forms have proved helpful in the past, technology now offers more efficient solutions. With an online travel booking tool like Perk , organizations can simplify their business travel processes—request forms included.

Thanks to Perk’s extensive inventory, businesses can access competitive rates on airfares, train tickets, accommodation, and rental cars. When it comes to confirming travel arrangements and spending—something that travel request forms are designed to do—Perk removes the need for approvals with integrated travel policies. Businesses can set travel parameters based on their corporate travel policies, budget, and more.

From there, powerful AI organizes search results to offer travelers fully compliant suggestions and automatically approve these itineraries when booking. In addition, the system can flag any business trips that fall beyond the scope of the corporate travel policy for extra checks from management.

Plus, they can help organizations save additional time and money by helping finance teams generate travel expense reports at the click of a button !

Sit back and save on business travel today.