Approving or rejecting a booking request

Before continuing, make sure to review how the approval workflow works first. In this guide you will learn:

• How to review a booking request quickly and consistently 
• How to use the Approval Summary, fare comparisons, and Approval Confidence (Optimise plan) 
• How to approve or reject a request, and what to include in a rejection message

1. The best way to approve booking requests

Every company approves travel a little differently, but most approvers are trying to balance three things:

1. Pricing and value: Is this a sensible option compared to what was available? 
2. Practicality: Do the times, location, and itinerary make sense for the traveler and trip? 
3. Policy and safety: Does it follow the right travel policy and any relevant restrictions?

In TruTrip, your best approvals usually come from two foundations:

1) Your Lowest Logical Fare (LLF) setup

Approval Confidence and fare comparisons are anchored to your Lowest Logical Fare configuration. The system evaluates how far the selected option is from the Lowest Logical Fare and whether key preferences like cabin class and flexibility are aligned. 

If your Lowest Logical Fare logic is not aligned with what you consider acceptable, the comparisons will be less helpful. For example, if low prices should matter for your company, that preference should be represented in what TruTrip considers “logical,” rather than relying on the summary to interpret it. 

2) The correct policy and approval context

For complex bookings (especially multi-traveler), the platform supports selecting the travel policy, approval flow, and invoice profile before the booking is created, so expectations are clear upfront and approvals require less rework later. 

2. How to review a booking request in TruTrip

When a booking is requested for approval, you will receive an email with some approval details. Click to open the link to the approvals page where you can approve or reject the booking.

2.1 Approval request summary and confidence level (Optimise plan only)

At the top you'll find a context-driven AI summary of this booking request including a confidence indicator. This summary is not a static description. It is built from a deep analysis of the booking itself. For each approval, we analyse:

• The Lowest Logical Fare at the moment of booking (trip type, trip duration, sensible options)
• The applicable travel policy
• The best available alternatives relative to that fare
• The option selected by the booker and how it compares to the alternatives in pricing, comfort (luxury) and distance (eg hotels).

The confidence label serves as guidance, and is not an automated decions. Approvers still make the final call.  

What the confidence levels mean: 

• High (Approve confidently): Usually close to the Lowest Logical Fare and aligned with key rules. In most cases this booking is save to approve.
• Medium (Review before approving): Acceptable, but there may be a better option depending on context. It's worth having a look before deciding to approve.
• Low (Needs attention): Often indicates a larger gap vs Lowest Logical Fare or a meaningful alternative exists. This might need more justification for approval.

With the summary & confidence level, you can decide to immediate approve the booking, or go into more detail on the sections below.

2.2 Confirm the booking basics

Before comparing options, do a quick sanity check:

• Who is traveling and who requested the booking?
• Do the dates, route, and itinerary make sense?
• It is the right trip and should be booked at all (avoid duplicates or accidental bookings) 
• Any special considerations: critical meeting, medical needs, visa timing, disruption risk, or duty of care concerns

2.3 Review to the fare comparisons and alternatives

Teview the alternatives section to understand:

• If the Lowest Logical Fare (LLF) was selected
• If the LLF was not selected, which options were avaible? How does the selected option compares in price and key attributes (timing, cabin, flexibility, etc.)?

This is where you decide if the traveler made a reasonable tradeoff, or if they should choose a better option.

2.4: Decide to approve or reject the booking. your outcome

Use this simple decision framework:

• Approve when the booking is policy aligned and the tradeoffs are reasonable 
• Reject when there is a clearly better option or the booking breaks policy, and the traveler should rebook

Always keep in mind that when, rejecting prices of course can changes when they re-book.

Tips for faster and more consistent approvals

1. If you frequently see “Low” confidence for bookings that you would normally accept, review your Lowest Logical Fare rules and policy settings first, since Confidence is anchored to those rules.   
2. Use Confidence as a triage tool: 
   1. High: approve quickly after a basic sanity check 
   2. Medium: inspect alternatives and policy context 
   3. Low: inspect alternatives in detail and consider rejecting unless justified For multi-traveler bookings, ensure the right policy and approval flow were selected before booking, especially if travelers belong to different departments or billing profiles.