What is the new approval flow feature?
Approval flow allows employees to send travel orders — such as flights, hotels, or rail — to a designated person for approval before the booking is confirmed.
Here’s how it provides oversight and confidence:
Flexible review: Orders can be sent to managers, travel coordinators, or finance teams for approval.
Customizable notifications: Decide whether bookings need approval or just a notification.
Instant booking: Once an order is approved, the service can be booked immediately.
This creates a seamless process where companies maintain control over budgets and stay within travel policy.
What are the approval flow benefits?
The feature gives your company greater control over travel spending and ensures all bookings comply with your travel policy, saving time and money.
Key benefits:
Bookings align with company policy before confirmation, preventing unexpected expenses.
Leadership gains real-time visibility into travel activity, helping to control budgets.
Teams save time by preventing mistakes and avoiding rebookings outside the platform.
This makes your business travel process more efficient and easier to manage.
Why is the approval flow better than manual approvals?
Manual approvals via email, chat, or spreadsheets can be slow, decentralized, and prone to mistakes. The approval flow solves these problems by creating a single, centralized system for all travel requests.
Key advantages include:
Full transparency: Provides a clear workflow with a complete decision history.
Greater speed: Reduces manual checks and back-and-forth emails.
Clear communication: Employees always receive reasons for declined requests.
This helps teams stay aligned and confident that every booking follows company policy.
Can I customize the approval flow settings?
Yes, approval flow is highly flexible and can be adapted to your company’s specific rules and preferences.
You can configure settings in several ways:
Require approvals only for trips that are exceptions to the travel policy, such as those exceeding budget or class limits.
Make approvals mandatory for all bookings, even those within policy.
Use notification-only alerts to keep managers informed without blocking employees from booking.
This flexibility enables every company to choose the setup that works best for its process.
What are the approval types?
There are two types of approval:
Request: The request is sent to the approver via email and shown in the “Approval” section. Until approved, the booking cannot be completed.
Notification: The booking can be completed without restriction, but the approver is notified via email and in the “Approval” section.
How do approvers receive notifications?
Approvers receive notifications via email, and all requests or alerts also appear in the “Approval” section on the platform.
Can travel managers bypass approvals?
Yes. Users with the “Travel Manager” role can either bypass approvals or send bookings into the approval flow, depending on restrictions set in the employee directory.
How does it work for Self-bookers?
Self-bookers must indicate reasons for policy violations (if any) when submitting a booking.
They can add optional comments or attachments — all information is visible to the approver.
Bookings under approval are displayed with the status “Approval pending”.
After successful approval, the status changes to “Approved”, but the self-booker must finalize the booking.
If the fare expires or the price changes, the self-booker can search for a new fare, resend for approval, or proceed if the new price is within the allowed price deviation.
Can employees request additional services?
Yes, with the additional services setting:
If enabled, self-bookers can request extra services (e.g., meals, baggage) without additional approval, as costs are confirmed later by support.
If disabled, self-bookers cannot request paid services, but can still contact support for information.
What happens if the price changes after a booking is approved?
Approval flow is designed to handle real-world scenarios where travel prices fluctuate.
Here’s how it manages changes:
Companies can set a specific tolerance amount for fare increases.
If the new fare stays within the tolerance, the employee can book without requesting re-approval.
Note: If the original fare expires, the system will not automatically allow booking another fare at a similar price — the request must be resent.
This practical feature avoids delays and helps employees complete bookings without unnecessary interruptions.
What are approval schemes and how do they work?
Approval flow settings are managed through “Approval schemes”
You can add schemes in “Settings” → “Approval schemes” → “+Add”
Each scheme defines which services are covered (flights, hotels, trains, or all services).
Schemes can include up to five approval steps, with one or multiple approvers.
Approval can be sequential (approvers decide one after another) or parallel (approvers decide at the same time).
If “Approval required from all” is enabled, all approvers must approve before the booking can proceed.
Note: Schemes are linked to travel policies. If a policy is not assigned, the scheme will not work.
How to assign schemes?
Schemes can be assigned to an employee in their employee card in the directory.
Policies and schemes can also be applied at the group level.