Part of Corporate Travel
Quick answer
Reviewed · 3 min read
A travel request form captures everything needed to approve and book a trip in one pass: who is traveling, why, which budget pays, dates and places, flight and hotel needs, estimated cost and the approver. Use the fields below as an email template, a shared online form or an intake form for your advisor, and drop any field your company doesn’t need.
Researched and maintained by Empyrean Travel · How we research
- Format
- Seven groups of copy-ready fields
- Use it as
- An email template, shared form or advisor intake
- Always required
- Traveler, purpose, billing code, dates and approver
- Pairs with
- Our approval workflow template
The checklist
Tick items off as you go — your progress stays in this browser.
Why use a travel request form?
Because most booking delays come from missing information, not slow booking. A request that arrives as “Can you get Sam to Denver next week?” takes three emails to clarify: which days, which meetings, which budget, who approves. A form collects it all once.
It also creates a record. Finance sees the purpose and billing code before money is spent, managers approve with the cost in front of them, and your advisor books the right trip the first time.
How do you adapt the form for your company?
Start with the full template, then cut. A five-person company might need only traveler, dates, purpose and budget; a firm that rebills clients needs a matter or project code on every request.
- Make required fields truly required: traveler, dates, purpose, billing code and approver
- Add a client, project or grant code if you bill travel back or track funding
- Show the international section only for trips abroad, so domestic requests stay short
- Connect it to your approval rules, so the form makes clear who must sign off
- Rely on stored profiles: seat preferences and loyalty numbers belong in a traveler profile, not on every request
What are the most common travel request mistakes?
A few habits cause most of the back-and-forth between travelers, approvers and whoever books.
- Asking for a specific flight instead of the meeting times that actually matter
- Leaving out flexibility, so the advisor can’t trade an earlier departure for a better fare
- Missing billing codes, which makes rebilling and reporting painful later
- Approval cycles longer than any fare hold, so the quoted price is gone
- Names that don’t match the traveler’s ID, a costly fix once a ticket is issued
What should requests for guests and candidates include?
The same fields, completed by the host. The requester fills in the form on the guest’s behalf, collects the guest’s legal name and ID details securely rather than by open email, and marks the traveler type so finance knows the cost belongs to recruiting, events or a client.
Send the guest only their own itinerary and the host’s contact details, not internal approval notes or budget lines.
How can Empyrean put the form to work?
Send requests to Empyrean in whatever format you already use, whether email, a shared form or a spreadsheet row. With traveler profiles stored once, each request only needs trip details. You get options that fit your policy, holds where the airline allows them while approval happens, and ticketing as soon as you confirm.
Our business flight booking page explains the full process from request to follow-through.
Frequently asked questions
What information should a travel request include?
Does every trip need a formal request form?
Can a fare be held while a travel request waits for approval?
Who should approve travel requests?
Should a travel request include a cost estimate?
Official sources
Rules, fees and schedules change — confirm the latest details at the source before you travel.