How to create Business Travel Request Form (+Free Template)

If your employees travel frequently for work, then a business travel request form is an absolute necessity for your company. Before going on a business trip, employees must fill the form with their travel details and intended journey and seek approval on the same. They can also include an estimated travel budget of the trip in the business travel request form. This will give you as well as finance managers an idea about the business trip as well the travel expenses.

However, the entire process of submitting the travel request forms and their approval does not have to be manual. Today, there are several other ways to streamline the corporate travel and expenses submission and travel approval process.

Here is an infographic that will give you a glimpse of what business travel request form is, and its importance.

Read the blog in detail to learn about travel request forms and a more efficient process of corporate travel approval. Also, we will share with you a customizable business travel request form that you can share with your employees. Read on!

What is a Business Travel Request Form?

Travel request forms are filled by employees who are traveling for business purposes. It gives the management an overview of their business trip with respect to expenses and strategy. It typically has the following fields or sections:

1. Employee details – The information of the employee such as her name, contact number, department, etc. 
2. Purpose of the business trip – The employees should write about the purpose of the business trip such as conference, event, client meeting, etc. and how the company will benefit from it
3. Travel dates – The dates when the employee will be traveling i.e. the departure and the return dates
4. Destination details – The details of the destination i.e. domestic or international and name of the city, hotel, etc. 
5. Estimated travel costs – The estimated cost of the entire trip. The expenses can be broken down into categories such as transportation, meals, accommodation, and miscellaneous expenses. To know what can or cannot be claimed as business travel expenses, read here.
6. Any other requirements, especially in the case of international travel – If traveling internationally, you may want to share your visa details with the company
7. Name of all authorized persons and space for their signatures – Name, designation, and departments of all the people from whom you seek authorization while traveling. It can be your immediate manager, finance manager, travel manager, etc. It also has to include the employee’s signature and date

Importance of Business Travel Request Form

The business travel request form ensures that travel within a company is: 

1. Feasible: Sometimes, resources in a company can be limited. Travel request forms give a clear idea to the finance managers on the overall travel expenses and create a budget for the same. It helps in maintaining the finances of the company.
2. Authorized: All the travel expenses must be authorized by the management for proper use of resources and funds in a company. The management should be aware of all the expenses being incurred on travel and accordingly plan budgets and funds. Also, it helps prevent any situation of employees making out-of-budget bookings.  
3. Organized: All business trips must be documented with the appropriate paperwork for invoicing and accounting purposes. Also, the business travel request forms can be stored for future reference so that there is no confusion or clutter regarding trips or expenses.
4. Properly managed: Since the employees add all the details about the trip, from accommodations to transport, there will no last-minute chaos regarding the travel or expenses. This also helps in faster reimbursements as it meets one of the accountable reimbursement plan criteria of all expenses being business-related. 

Automate & Streamline Corporate Travel Approvals with ITILITE

A business travel request form needs to be submitted, reviewed, approved, or rejected on time. If you want a paperless office and well-organized records of all your employees, the best way to manage the travel and expense approvals process is by automating it. Automation helps in saving time and increases efficiency. The travel request can be raised via an automated system and can be approved or declined instantly. Plus, the finance teams save money by preventing any out-of-policy expenses.

You can also set some essential features for the travel request form to be automatically approved. For example, the conditions can be:

1. If the estimated travel cost is less than the maximum travel cost allowed 
2. If the advance asked by an employee is less than what is permissible 

If both the conditions are met, the business travel request form can be approved automatically and sent to finance managers for providing the trip advance.  

ITILITE is a business travel management platform that enables you to automate all your travel and expense processes seamlessly. Get a free product demo today to experience all its features.

Free Business Travel Request Form Template 

Having a neat business travel request form with clearly demarcated sections with trip and expense details can make the process submission as well as approval easier. Here is a customizable business travel request form template that you can share with your employees. They can add or remove fields as per their requirements.