Corporate Travel Policy

8 Treasury and Trade Solutions Personal Travel Extension The ability to coordinate planned business trips with short personal extensions is a growing perk of business travel. Overall, approximately 2.2 million bleisure trips took place in 2017. That’s about 10% of all business trips 4 . Organizations should clearly define what is acceptable for personal elements of a trip that can be claimed on an expense report. The majority of organizations that permit bleisure trip extensions require travelers to identify and pay for personal elements of the trip themselves, including any difference in airfare if the bleisure extension costs more than returning during the business week. As part of an organization’s duty of care for the safety of their travelers, the policy should also speak to whether a traveler receives full duty of care and insurance coverage while on the leisure part of their trip. Spouse/Partner Travel Typically spouse or partner travel is non-reimbursable. Some organizations do allow the booking of spouse and partner travel via their TMC, but rarely do they allow using the organization’s online booking tool. Organizations sometimes include an option to pay for spouse or partner travel with prior approval, for example for travel to a company event or where the attendance is deemed to be a benefit to the organization. Ultimately, companies must consult with their own internal experts in procurement and finance to determine whether to allow companions to travel with employees or use corporate resources, as doing so could imply that the companion has similar benefits to employees, such as itinerary changes, travel insurance, afterhours access to booking agents, and evacuations during emergencies. 4 Jet, Johnny. “Are Bleisure Trips Becoming More Common? This Study Says Yes,” Forbes , October 25, 2018, https://bit.ly/2PNQG1C.