Information on booking business trips

Traveltool KDS

For hotel and rental car bookings with our Traveltool KDS, each traveler must deposit his own credit card!
This can be either the AMEX corporate credit card, or a private credit card.

It serves, for example, as a guarantee when booking hotels and can be claimed if the guest wishes to settle his bill - alternatively, the bill must be paid in cash.
It is also debited if the booking is cancelled with costs or is not used.

Always request an invoice issued to the company for this purpose.
This is also required for the company credit card statements.

To create a profile in the KDS tool, "Travelmanagement@loyaltypartner.com" must create the traveler or arranger (mail through team assistance to this mailbox!).

In addition, the American Express at-your-service team will assist with questions about:

• Onlinebooking-Tool
  (e.g. settings, restrictions and errors in onlinebooking tool)
• Management and support of supplier contracts
  (e.g. update of the hotel or flight program)
• Support for Account Maintenance
  (e.g. Administration of user for GBT Tools und Settings, Escalation to Serviceteam)
• Billing and invoice support
• (e.g. changes in billing as well as payment preferences, invoice copies, invoice correction)

Faster and easier accessibility:

Monday to Friday, 09:00 – 18:00 Uhr under:

de.Travel@amexgbt.com  -> Reservation/Bookings

de.onlinesupport@amexgbt.com -> Online Support

+49-69-38076770 -> GBT Travel Care

Infos von amexgbt on how to use the phone no: 

"To take advantage of caller ID, you must update your GBT Travel Profile with your primary phone number in international format (including country code). 
For example, if your number is 089- 99741 0 and you live in Germany (country code 49), you must enter "4989997410"."

Railhub

For rail travel, each traveler must register himself in the Railhub rail tool:
connectrail for Loyalty Partner

To create a profile in the KDS tool, please refer to the HOW TO: HOW TO Railhub

The Access Code is: Train11

Please note: When entering the basic data during registration, the company unit (PB | LP | LPS | PB AT) must match the e-mail address (@payback.net | @loyaltypartner.com | etc.): 

Accomodation

On business trips in Germany Loyalty Partner employees can overnight for up to 150.00 Euros a night (plus breakfast). A maximum converted sum of EUR 200.00/night plus breakfast is applicable abroad. 

Assistants shall make accommodation reservations or bookings. 
Bookings shall be made with consideration for the special conditions of the company travel agency, or any general agreements which have been concluded.
Hotel-bills are going to be paid later on location.

Please note: For bookings made by the Traveltool KDS every traveler needs to add an own Creditcard – see above.

Air Travel

In case of domestic flights and flights within Europe, economy class or the most favorable tariff variant shall generally be selected.
Business class may also be booked for intercontinental flights.

If allowed by travel planning, restrictive (non-changeable) tickets shall be booked on cost grounds.

In exceptional cases, where there are no seats available in economy class on European flights and the business meeting cannot be postponed, business-class flights may be booked following prior approval by the cost center manager. Assistants shall obtain informal approval from the cost center manager via email.

The Loyalty Partner Group has concluded company agreements with airlines for flexible and restrictive flights. Assistants shall give preference to these airlines when making bookings, with consideration for the price.
Frequent flyer programs (such as Miles & More) shall not influence the choice of airline in any way.

Train Travel

Train travel is not fundamentally preferable to air travel unless the company has provided the employee with a BahnCard.
Both travel options, train or airplane, should be considered according to the specific travel route and travel dates (in terms of time and cost).
Train trips may be booked in first class. The trip shall be booked by the teamassistant by RailHub.

Bahn Card" (German rail card)

Use of the BahnCard shall be checked before the business trip.
Frequent train travelers should use a BahnCard or another country-specific rail customer card..

The BahnCard shall be ordered through the purchasing tool e-Banf and has to be approved by HR and the cost center manager during the ordering process. Before placing the order, the employee must fillt out the signed “BahnCard order form” (Word templates – LP tab) and create an amortization calculation in order for the BahnCard to remain tax-free.

The new process is as follows:

1. preparation of a preliminary calculation by the colleague concerned for the planned rail trips during the validity period of the BahnCard (on the basis of the previous year or as advance planning) - NEW.
Note: this should be prepared anyway in order to obtain the supervisor's approval.
2. filling in the order form - UNCHANGED
3. setting the requisition WITH the above-mentioned attachments (preliminary calculation and order slip) and the supervisor's approval - NEW
4. ordering the BahnCard via Business Travel (de.travel@amexgbt.com) as soon as the requisition is approved - UNCHANGED.

In return, the subsequent amortization statement to Daniela or Renate will be omitted in the future!

And: Regardless of whether the BahnCard will actually pay off in the end or not, this not only eliminates the need to check for possible taxation, but also eliminates the need for possible taxation. Furthermore, both documents are centrally accessible in Navision in case they are needed.

Rental Cars

A rental car can be used if

• train/air travel is not an efficient, functional or cost-effective alternative,
• no company car/fleet vehicle is available,
• public transportation is not a reasonable alternative and/or more than one employee is traveling, and if the cost of the rental car is lower than the total costs for the train/airplane/public transportation.

Taxi Trips

For travel to and from the airport/train station closest to the employee’s home / workplace, public transportation is preferred (e.g. subway, streetcar, bus, etc.).
In exceptional cases taxis may also be used. Taxi expenses will be reimbursed as stated on the receipt.
Please make sure receipts correspond to Tax law regulations, see here:

formal requirements for taxi receipts

In Germany private Transport Services like UBER are excluded from business usage due to tax regulations.

Journeys by private car

Personal cars can be used for business purposes under the following conditions if

• train/air travel is not an efficient, functional or cost-effective alternative,
• no company car/pool car is available,
• public transportation is not a reasonable alternative and/or a rental car is not practical due to the short distance or cost.

The use of a personal car requires prior written approval from the cost center manager, using the corresponding template (“Approval for use of a personal car on business trips” – form provided here:

usage of personal car on business trip

This approval shall be included with the respective travel expense report.

Expenses for journey and parking are reimbursed as stated in the Travel Expenses Guidelines.

For employees of the German companies, comprehensive insurance with a 550-euro deductible (partial cover-age EUR 150.00) is concluded for the use of a personal car (takes place automatically when the car trip is approved ( see above).

Private extension of business trips

Private extension of business trips is possible if the company does not incur any additional costs as a result. The business trip ends with the completion of the business activity. Any additional costs incurred must be borne by the employee. Costs have to be recorded on the basis of supporting documents.

What do I have to consider when entertaining business partners?

If you are entertainig business partners special rules as to invoicing and form apply due to tax regulations.
There is a difference if you are invoiced below or above 250,00 Euro – click hereand you'll receive needful information.

Formal requirements for entertainment receipts