Overview:

• Business and First class travel is out of policy. If either of these options are selected, the booker/traveller must include justification for the trip (e.g. from time to time you can obtain competitive deals on certain providers).
• Rail Bookings require same day approval. Key Travel cannot hold the ticket(s) as the availability & prices fluctuate. If a rail booking is not approved on the same day it is highly likely that the availability and price will change causing this to expire. The entire booking will need to be resubmitted in such cases. (Remember to give your approver sufficient time to review your request).
• Eurostar is available on the booking system.
• Booking confirmations for rail travel are only sent to one person with the default being the booker. This restriction is due to how the Key Travel system interacts with trainline. Bookers should change this at the ticket selection stage if the confirmation/ticket needs to go to the traveller directly.
• You can add London underground travel when travelling to London.
• Key Travel will invoice UoM within a week of the booking being confirmed.

General Information applicable to all travel bookings:

• Ensure a clear reason for travel (as well as justification for out of policy bookings when prompted) is included on all travel. This is required for audit purposes.
• Do book at least 14 days in advance to obtain access to more favourable rates.
• Do check the cancellation policies on bookings (displayed in the booking tool).
• Best prices are obtained on restricted rather than open tickets.
• Always take into account approval timelines especially when the deadline for approval is outside of core working hours. The online booking tool is available 24/7 however approvers are restricted by their normal working hours.
• Avoid booking travel on Friday afternoons.
• If you know that your approver is away, check that they have delegated their approval responsibilities to someone else.
• If approval is required urgently do alert your approver before making the booking!
• If you receive a message indicating booking has failed due to a technical reason this is usually as a result of issues with the feeder website e.g. Booking.com or Expedia. It is recommended you contact the Key Travel Offline (Reservations) team if this occurs.
• Types of Billing (applicable to rail/flights/hotels): 
  • Prepaid/Instant: Rail, low cost airlines and ‘prepaid’ hotel rates are invoiced at time of booking.
  • Bill-back:-the majority of hotels bill after completion of stay. Usually within a week, but not controlled by Key Travel.
  • Booking confirmed: for non-low cost airlines booking is completed at a point before the flight. The airline do invoice speedily and reliably on this date.