Business Travel

Benefits of Using the Contracted Travel Agencies

University’s Contracted Travel Agencies:

  1. Provide one-stop travel shopping that adheres to the University’s travel policy including allowable lodging maximums and preferred travel providers.
  2. Provide University travelers with a 24 hour, worldwide emergency reservation system that assists with protection against airline cancellations, hotel overbooking, and assistance in emergency situations such as illness, security threats, thefts, etc.
  3. Are able to book airline tickets with low cost carriers such as Southwest, Air Tran, Allegiant, and Jet Blue. Reserve your desired flights on-line or with an agent. They will then obtain the best available fare including searching for “web only” fares that may not be visible outside the airline’s web site.
  4. Offer the option to maintain profiles for individual travelers listing the traveler’s preferences for seats, hotel and car rental, corporate discount numbers, frequent travel program numbers, and unused ticket information.
  5. Track unused airline tickets and automatically update traveler profiles with the unused ticket information to be applied on future airline tickets.
  6. Inform travelers of visa, passport and health requirements for international travel and provide application forms or assistance as needed. In emergency situations, assistance will also be provided to obtain a new or renewal passport.
  7. Take every reasonable step to obtain seat assignments on capacity controlled flights and check daily for travelers seating preference.
  8. Are able to establish “User Groups” for departments and/or specific events allowing all airline travel for the department and/or specific event to be charged to a Travel Arrangers T-Card. Confirmations of all air travel booked will be automatically e-mailed to the Travel Arranger.
  9. Negotiate and manage discounted group airfare for 10 or more travelers on the same flight.
  10. Offer training to department units on how to use their online booking tools via webinar, in person training or on-line tutorials.

Last Updated: August 21, 2012