Travel Reservation Portal
1. Overview
The system will work similar to a typical travel reservation system that you current use and is expected to bring financial savings to the college, streamline the end- user experience and provide internal reporting insights partnering with Corporate Travel Management (CTM).
2. Benefits
The quality control system ensures whether you book online or over the phone, continuous automated checks will be made to alert you of the best fare. Fares are available in real time. Corporate discounts will show on the screen and will be applied prior to your purchase automatically.
While online sites cannot provide benchmarking, Corporate Travel Management (CTM) uses a benchmarking tool for negotiating with suppliers to find the best contract savings that fits your needs and the needs of your company.
Customizable control tools allow your company to set and manage policies, promote preferred suppliers, pre-approve and track purchasing activities. This eliminates the need for spending to be at your discretion.
Our unused ticket tracking technology will automatically track and manage all unused airline tickets and reuse them when they are available. You will be notified if unused tickets are waiting to be used.
One call does it all. When you need help with either a technical site question or a travel concern, call Corporate Travel Management (CTM) to speak with an employee-owner travel counselor that can assist with all aspects of your concern.
3. Making a travel reservation
A. Initial setup
We have already uploaded a bare bones travel profile of each of the users on the system based on the current clerical, administration and faculty employees. Please complete the following one time steps to complete your profile and start using the system.
Initial Set Up On Concur
Please fill out the following form requesting sign-up for the Concur Reservation Portal.
Once set up on Concur you would use the below link to log in and make travel reservations:
https://www.concursolutions.com/
B. Customer service contact information
Telephone: 877-892-9678
For groups of 6 people or more: 800-810-2695
C. Concur travel reservation quick reference guide
4. FAQ
In addition to the training we had collected questions from the campus community and have created a Q&A document to address these inquiries.
General questions
How do I make reservation for guests?
You will use the "Book a Guest" option when you get to Concur Trip Search page.
What if I am taking my spouse with me on a business trip and want to book our reservations together on the system and reimburse the college?
You can book your spouse in the system as a guest and pay for their reservation using your personal credit/debit card. Concur Travel allows multiple payment methods to be included in your profile.
If we prefer to fly on a better route/schedule than the least expensive route, can we pay for it on our own to make up the difference?
The built in system parameters are based on reasonability of the least expensive option to avoid undue hardship to the traveler. Everyone is directed to use the system, and if you select an option above the lowest fare you will need to enter a reason for choosing that option for internal reporting purposes.
Are the same reservations less expensive in the system?
Fares would be expected to be the lowest fare based on route/room type/or car size at the moment of time of the booking based on CTM's extensive travel network.
Will selections approved by policy if they are the cheapest?
The fare policy in place is based on the lowest fare/room type/or car size. You can still go ahead and book the selected fare option where it's above the lowest cost option but you will need to enter a reason for choosing that option for reporting purposes.
Are we required to use this system? What if we can secure a better rate or location on our own?
Everyone is directed to use this system for individual and small group circumstances as a first step. If you determine that alternative options provide a better rate (with similar conditions), please contact the Director of Purchasing, 309-794-7499, for further direction. For large group travels, please reach out to the Director of Purchasing.
How secure is the system since we are entering personal information?
Concur has extensive privacy and security compliance that will be provided on our website in the near future.
Can I use this system to book public transportation?
This system cannot be used for public transit bookings.
Can you add multiple company locations if traveling to more than one place on a trip?
You can book multi segment bookings on the Home Search page for Air travel reservations under search option "Multi City".
When we bring in candidates for interviews we require them to make the bookings on their end and reimburse them. Will we need to make those bookings on this system?
No, you will continue to follow the current practice of requesting the candidate to make the bookings and reimburse them.
Group reservations
What if I am booking for a large group?
CTM does have a group travel counselor who can assist you with booking flight reservations for a group of 6 or more. Call 800-810-2695 or 510-422-5710, or email augustana@ctptravelservice.com. For groups of fewer than 6 travelers, contact augustana@ctptravelservice.com or call 877-892-9678.
Are we booking electronically or writing all the group details down for a CTM travel agent to make the booking?
Travel reservations can be booked either through Concur Travel by logging in to https://www.concursolutions.com or by contacting a travel counselor as noted above.
At times international study trips are packaged to include all incurred costs. Do we use the system specifically for travel?
In situations in which trips are combined in a package, it is permissible to use the group option instead of the system.
To book complicated travel for many students in addition to the faculty, should we call the CTM agent instead of trying to book this on Concur ourselves?
Yes, speak with a CTM travel counselor at 800-810-2695 for complicated itineraries. Also, if you are booking travel for 6 individuals or more, call 800-810-2695 or 510-422-5710, or email augustana@ctptravelservice.com.
Large group bookings can sometimes present unique travel situations, please contact the Director of Purchasing, 309-794-7499 for questions.
Hotel reservations
Most of the hotels I book are special prices through the conference/organization, which would not appear in your matrix and partially paid by a roommate who is faculty at another institution. Am I going to have to go through this site and then call and have the hotel change everything?
Where the hotel rate is not part of the conference rate, the traveler is required to check the system hotel rate and pick the lowest rate option. If the outcome of splitting the room is cheaper than the system option then you are not required to use the system.
How do we reserve conference hotel at the conference rate?
If the conference rate includes hotel accommodation then you will book the reservation directly with the conference. Where the hotel rate is not part of the conference rate, the traveler is required to check the system hotel rate and pick the lowest rate option.
I typically travel with a small group and we all stay at the same hotel. Will these hotels be available on the website?
Any hotel you use should show in the system. If you are not finding the hotel in the system you can call into the Online Support and they can request that it get added to Concur. This can be done within 24 hours. If specific sites cannot be added and alternative option is the lowest cost option then that option can be used for the booking.
When selecting a hotel, can you add multiple locations so you have a hotel near all the places you will be traveling to in a specific area?
There are different ways to search for hotels to select a hotel in area that works best for you. The search options include search by Airport, Address, Augustana College Location and Reference Point/Zip Code.
Air Reservations
Some people have member statuses on an airline that allows them to choose better seats for no extra charge. Does the system know this when booking and choosing seats?
After completing your booking on system, individuals with airline special member status will need to access their booking on the airline's website to confirm preferred seats for no additional fees.
Some airlines have a 24 hour no penalty purchase policy. You can purchase and guarantee the fare but cancel it within 24 hours without paying any penalty. Does the system allow this kind of booking?
Yes, the travel reservation can be canceled within 24 hours of the booking to meet the void requirements that most airlines have in place.
If we can still pick a particular airline, then what's the advantage of this service to save on costs?
Users are directed to use the lowest cost flight to save costs. We will be leveraging over 80 years of extensive travel relationships of CTM to minimize travel costs. Also, CTM manages our travel bookings and so can track college travelers in real time to provide up-to-date security news, track unused airline tickets and notify if unused tickets are waiting to be used, assist with technical site questions or travel concerns, benchmark savings to negotiate with vendors etc.
What's the expected delay between "requesting" and "ticketing"?
The process of ticketing is fairly quick and completed within minutes.
How do we add in additional costs with airlines such as Spirit since every cost is an "add-on" in comparison with United and American?
In regards to Spirit Airlines, any options you add on after the booking is made in the system would be made on the Spirit Airlines website or at the airport. Any reasonable costs relating to the travel reservation will be allowed as per college's travel policy.
Would the college keep frequent flyer miles for all travel paid for by the college?
The Concur Travel profile page is where the travel membership numbers are entered and will be appended when booking with those specific vendors so the travelers can accrue mileage/points. The college does have corporate memberships with United Airlines, Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines that helps the college earn additional points whenever the traveler chooses one of these airlines.
Car rental reservations
So where there is a reason for the need for a car size that's outside company policy, a negative report about our spending is submitted to the college?
The policy in place is based on the lowest fare and car size. If you select a different option you are required to enter a reason code for selecting your option. This is required for reporting purposes.
Is the default address set to pre-populate the Augustana address locations for car rentals?
Yes, the campus Rock Island address and Lombard office address in Chicago can be picked from the location drop down menu for company locations under the portal profile page.
Can we use the system to book charter buses?
No, charter buses would be handled as per the current college travel policy for the moment.
Will we be able to select a pick up location through the system?
Our recommendation is to reserve cars/vans through Facilities when reserving from Rock Island. If this is not an option, you can make the rental through the system and select the pickup location. As a side note, the user will need to complete the college driver safety training before picking up the car.
5. Concur security and privacy overview
Your privacy and data security is important to us. See link to Concur's extensive security and privacy overview below.