Travel Booking Tutorial

Updated: April 25, 2025 4:21 PM

Table of Contents

  1. Travel Booking Tutorial
    1. TIMELINE:
  2. Conference Registration Payment Process
  3. Travel and Accommodations
    1. Step 1: Pre-trip Request (create 24hrs before you want to book)
    2. Step 2: Book hotels, transportation and airfare
    3. Step 3: Registration
    4. Step 4: During travel: pay out of pocket
    5. Step 5: Submit a Travel Expense Report for Reimbursement
    6. Step 6: Any other forms if necessary

TIMELINE:

4+ Weeks before registration deadline, >2 months before travel: contact RA to do conference registration payment 24hrs before booking, >2 weeks before travel: Create pre-travel request Book travel Return from travel Within 60 days from last travel day: Submit Expense Report

Conference Registration Payment Process

To pay for conference registration via check request:

  • The conference organization must first be added as a supplier in PaymentWorks if they are not already in the Rutgers system
    • Ask the lab manager to check if they’re in PaymentWorks or add them
  • Once supplier status is confirmed, obtain an invoice/quote from the conference showing registration fees
  • Have the lab manager submit a check request through RU Marketplace with the invoice attached
  • Timeline: Allow 3-4 weeks for the entire process (supplier setup + check request processing)

Travel and Accommodations

🚨 IMPORTANT: Is your travel being sponsored by/charged to a federal R01 grant? If so, check over these documents, as your restrictions/procedures may differ from general policy:

There are two main steps for paying for travel and accommodations:

Step 1: Pre-trip Request (create 24hrs before you want to book)

  1. Look up the cost of the accommodation, airfare, expected costs, etc. which you expect to use during your travel.

    Take screenshots and/or note down prices, but don’t book yet.

    Tutorial: Booking Airfare and Lodging

    If you want to see what is allowed (when are first-class tickets allowed? How much baggage can I pay for? Etc.) look in this itemized tutorial:

    Tutorial: What is reimbursable?

  2. Create a pre-travel request in Concur

    Tutorial: Create Pre-travel Request

    Include things like flight, lodging, per-diem amounts, transportation needs, business dinners, and other expected costs.

    Again, if you want to figure out exactly what you can include, check here:  Tutorial: What is reimbursable?

    Your pre-travel request may include estimates of what everything will cost in your trip. Though, it is not necessary to have the accurate information in the pre-travel request– you can always submit more/less in the actual expense report. The benefit is that if your expense report submission is within 10% of your approved pre-travel request amount, your reimbursement will be fast-tracked and approved very quickly

  3. Make your bookings 24 hours later (or as soon as John Nguyen Cleary approves it, whichever comes first)

    (He doesn’t need to approve it to make your bookings—if he doesn’t reject within 24 hours, you’re approved to book)

Step 2: Book hotels, transportation and airfare

Airfare, train tickets:

✈️ Note: You CANNOT submit for reimbursement of flights/trains booked outside of Concur. Booking through Concur = Rutgers pays directly, no out of pocket

Lodging:

  • Can be through concur, can also book anywhere and submit for reimbursement
    • Airbnb, hotels outside of concur, splitting rooms/lodging, etc.
    • Just submit for reimbursement after
    • So if you want to share a room with someone else, you can both pay half and then submit for reimbursement
  • Tutorial for booking lodging in Concur

💵 You can also request “cash advances” to cover per diem amounts, instead of paying out of pocket, if you want to Cash Advances Tutorial Cash Advances tutorial video

  • Otherwise, just check the per diem for your city and spend in accordance, then submit for reimbursement after (no receipts or documentation needed)

Step 3: Registration

Step 4: During travel: pay out of pocket

Step 5: Submit a Travel Expense Report for Reimbursement

TUTORIAL: for Creating a Travel Expense Report in Concur

Overview:

  • Click ‘Start a Reportʼ
  • Fill out your expenses, including receipts and information
  • Fill in Holmes Lab purchasing codes: in Box at /Lab_admin/Purchasing_codes
  • If you have a pre-approved request in Concur, and your final expense report that you submit is within 10% of your approved expenses, it will be auto- approved!

Reporting Expenses

After returning from a trip on Rutgers business, travelers who used personal funds for travel-related expenses can request reimbursement by submitting an expense report by clicking Concur Travel and Expense icon, accessible through myRutgers Portal. If you receive an error message, download and complete the Expense Management Access Form from the University Controllers Office Forms Repository page.

Please note with Concur Expense, travel allowance (per diem) is automatically calculated using the IRS per diem rate based on the date and location. The per diem charts are no longer required to claim per diem. As a reminder, per diem does not require receipts although your department may.

Expense reports must include receipts for travel expenses and a complete explanation of the business purpose of the trip to support the use of University funds. The business purpose must clearly state the benefit to the University.

Attach Receipts With Your Expense Report

Travelers must attach original receipts for any travel-related expense in excess of $50. The travel policy defines a receipt as “an original document itemizing the good(s) or service(s) purchased.”

A receipt must provide:

  • a named payee
  • date that confirms payment has been made for a stated purchase
  • proof of payment, i.e. last 4 digits of credit card

If a receipt has someone else’s name on it, the traveler requesting reimbursement must obtain a memo from the person named on the receipt authorizing reimbursement to the traveler. The memo must also indicate that the person named on the receipt (and writing the memo) will not seek reimbursement from the University.

TIMELINE:

  • To be completed ASAP upon return from travel and/or when business expenses are incurred, within 60 days.
  • Can only be submitted after all expenses are incurred
    • So if you’re travelling for a conference and you pay for an Airbnb in advance, you can only submit for reimbursement AFTER the conference is over, even if you’ve paid before the conference

Step 6: Any other forms if necessary

Lost Receipt Certification Form If travelers lose a receipt, they can complete the Lost Receipt Certification Form and electronically attach it to their expense reports. Accessible via RU Marketplace, this form is required for all duplicate or lost receipts, and must be accompanied by proof of payment and the signatures of both the requester and the person approving the expense.

  • Required for any expense for which a receipt/proof of payment cannot be provided.
  • Complete form, have it signed by supervisor, and include as an attachment with Expense Report

Higher Level Approval Form Required for expenses older than 60 days.

  • Per RU policy, expenses older than 60 days require next higher level approval
  • Form must be signed by the employee’s supervisor and the next higher level individual
  • Signed form must be included as an attachment with Expense Report
  • Expenses older than one year are not reimbursable

Other tutorials:

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