Approving Travel
Approving travel is easy and flexible, giving approvers full control over how and when travel requests get reviewed. With customizable approval flows, mobile-friendly access, and even email-based actions, approving travel happens wherever you are.
How to access Expensify Travel
- In New Expensify: Click the green + button in the bottom-left corner of your screen, then select Book travel.
- In Classic Expensify: Click Travel in the left-hand menu, then select Book or manage travel.
Need to enable travel still? Reach out to your Account Manager or Concierge to schedule a travel demo and get it enabled for your account.
Review and approve travel requests
All trip requests that require approval can be found under:
- Trips > Approvals (on both mobile and desktop)
- All users responsible for approving trips will receive an email notification when a trip is awaiting their approval.
Here, approvers can filter by:
- Out of policy approval requests
- Booking type (Air, Hotel, Car, Rail)
- Their own approvals or Organization approvals
- Traveler name
Each trip will display relevant details and action buttons to Approve or Deny, based on whether the travel policy uses soft or hard approval.
Approval actions
Approvers will see the following options for each trip:
- Approve: With hard approval, this confirms the travel booking can proceed. The booking is finalized, and the payment card is charged with the booking receipt automatically added to the traveler’s Expensify account.
- Deny: With soft approval, this rejects the travel booking request. The booking is canceled, and the traveler will be notified.
Approvals can also be done via email. When a trip requires approval, approvers will receive a notification with Approve or Deny buttons directly embedded.
Understanding soft vs. hard approval
- Soft approval: Travel can be booked and processed before the approver reviews it. Approvers are still notified and have 24 hours to deny the booking and cancel it before the fare processes.
- Hard approval: The traveler creates the booking in a pending state. The travel approver has 24 hours to approve the booking request, if the booking is not approved, the travel plans are canceled and no transaction is processed.
These settings are configured within each travel policy under Program > Policies > select a policy > General > Policy group actions tab.
Secondary Approvers
A secondary approver acts as a fallback if the primary approver is unavailable. For example, if a manager is on vacation, a secondary approver ensures there’s no delay in getting trips approved. This is especially important when timely approvals are needed with a hard approval setup.
Set this up under:
- Approvers can set their own secondary approver under User icon > My profile > Configuration > Approval Settings. Click Add Approver to designate a secondary approver who can approve on your behalf. You may add multiple secondary approvers.
- Travel admins can set secondary approvers in a traveler’s profile. Head to Program > Users > Travelers > select traveler > Configuration tab. Click Add approver to search for another travel member to approve on their behalf.
FAQ
Can I approve travel from my phone?
Yes! The approval dashboard is identical on web and mobile. You can also approve or deny directly from email notifications.
What happens if no one approves the trip?
If no action is taken:
- With soft approval, the trip is already booked and proceeds as normal.
- With hard approval, the booking is canceled, and if a refundable fare was booked, a refund will be issued to the payment card.
Can multiple people approve the same request?
Only the designated approver, the employee’s manager, a default approver, or a secondary approver can approve a specific trip. This will depend on your approval method in the travel policy.
How do I get notified when I need to approve?
Approvers receive email notifications and can view pending approvals under Trips > Approvals in the Travel dashboard. You can configure your notification settings in your profile under User icon > My profile > Notifications.
Optionally, admins can manage approver notifications and create custom notifications for travel requests and approvals by heading to Program > Company > Configuration > Email notifications.
