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 + 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.
How to review and approve travel requests
All trip requests that require approval can be found under:
- Trips > Approvals (on both mobile and desktop)
- All members 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.
How approval actions work
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.
How to understand 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.
How to approve a Pre-Booking Approval request
When a travel policy uses Pre-Booking Approval, the traveler must receive approval before the booking can proceed. Unlike hard approval, no booking or payment is made until the approver acts. Pre-Booking Approval is available for Air, Hotel, and Car bookings.
Here is how the approval process works:
- The traveler submits a pre-booking approval request during checkout by clicking Request approval.
- The approver receives an email notification with the trip details, including the origin, destination, and travel dates.
- The approver reviews the request under Trips > Approvals or directly from the email notification.
- The approver clicks Approve or Deny.
The approver has 24 hours to respond to the request. If the request is not approved within 24 hours, it expires and no booking is made.
What to expect after approving a Pre-Booking Approval request
After the approver approves a pre-booking request:
- Both the approver and the traveler receive an email notification confirming the approval.
- The traveler has 24 hours to return to the trip in Expensify Travel and finalize the booking by completing the checkout process.
- Once the traveler confirms the booking, the payment card is charged and the receipt is automatically added to the traveler’s Expensify account.
If the traveler does not finalize the booking within 24 hours, the approval expires and no booking is made. The traveler would need to submit a new approval request.
Pre-Booking Approval includes a price buffer for approved bookings to account for minor fare changes between approval and final booking.
How to set up 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 is no delay in getting trips approved. This is especially important when timely approvals are needed with hard approval or Pre-Booking Approval.
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.
- With Pre-Booking Approval, the request expires after 24 hours and no booking is made.
Can multiple people approve the same request?
Only the designated approver, the member’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.
