For Cornell business travel, whenever possible, you are strongly encouraged to use the preferred travel booking and payment methods and negotiated contracts and rates to obtain the best value for the institution and comply with Cornell’s travel policies. By using Cornell’s preferred travel agents, you are automatically guaranteed to get Cornell’s negotiated rates.
Concur is the preferred travel booking system for Cornell’s Ithaca-based and Cornell Tech campuses. Concur uses Cornell's preferred travel agent, World Travel Inc. See Travel Agents for details.
Using preferred agents and booking tools to arrange your domestic, international, or group travel will ensure that you receive Cornell's discounted rates for airfare and vehicle rentals and complying with policies and regulations.
For all types of travel, you can use a Travel & Meal Card or personal funds as payment. If you do not have a Travel and Meal Card, your department might have a unit card they can use to make purchases for you. See Payment Methods for details.
Why Use Concur to Book Travel?
While you are not required to use Concur’s travel booking functionality, we encourage you to try it!
Here are just some of the ways booking in Concur makes your work life easier.
- Get streamlined, start-to-finish booking and expense integration and data flow with built-in business rules that help you comply with Cornell’s policies, some sponsor requirements, or state and federal regulations.
- Get 24/7 access to World Travel, Inc. to get lower airfare for your trip, provide phone assistance while you’re traveling, and help you make complex group travel reservations.
- Receive Cornell’s negotiated discounts and preferred vendors automatically.
- Assign travel arrangers to handle your arrangements.
- Rely on the expenses from your Travel & Meal Card flowing into Concur so you can attach your receipts more quickly and create an expense report. See Travel & Meal Card for details.
- Capture receipt images, book travel, manage your itinerary, and receive travel alerts on the go with Concur’s mobile apps (SAP Concur and TripIt). See Using Mobile Apps.
- Link loyalty accounts you have with participating airline, lodging, and car rental companies to allow electronic receipts (e-receipts) to be delivered directly to Concur from participating travel vendors. E-receipts can also be delivered from popular apps like Uber, Starbucks, and more. See Completing Travel Preferences and Connecting Other Mobile Apps for details.
Low-Carbon Travel
To achieve Cornell’s climate neutrality goals, you are expected to consider the environmental impacts of your trip. If you’re attending a meeting, consider attending remotely for the lowest carbon impact (and the lowest cost). Also, where possible, consider traveling by bus, train, or carpool, which emit less carbon than traveling by plane. Purchasing carbon offsets is not permitted under university and sponsor policies.
