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Travel

Policies and procedures

The UW Travel Office maintains detailed and up-to-date policies and procedures related to travel for UW business by UW employees and guests of the University.

Travel-related expenses must never be charged to a UW ProCard.
Complete a Travel Approval Form (pdf) and route it for approval in advance of any travel-related costs or travel outside the State of Washington.

This form should also be used when you plan to purchase an airfare or train fare upgrade costing over $75, and to seek approval of hotel rates that are above the allowable lodging per diem rates for the hotel location. You must provide documentation justifying any exception to the UW lodging per diem policy (i.e. for official conference hotels where the room rate exceeds the UW per diem, you must provide documentation that the conference organizers named the hotel as an official conference hotel).

Booking & paying for your travel

Central Travel Account (CTA): flights and guest lodging

Kim Dinh administers and authorizes use of the Provost Central Travel Account (CTA) for authorized Executive Office and organization unit administrative staff to purchase airline tickets for UW employees or lodging for guests of the UW. (Note: All purchases must conform to UW Central Travel Account guidelines and lodging for UW employees cannot be charged to the Provost CTA.)

Administrative staff given access to use the Provost CTA must forward all receipts and itineraries to Executive Office Shared Services at eoss@uw.edu once the transaction is completed (do not wait for the end of the month). For each transaction, a business purpose must be provided that answers the following questions: WHO is the purchase for; WHAT was purchased; WHERE (from which vendor) was the purchase made; WHEN was the purchase made; and WHY was the purchase made.

Travel Agency

The Executive Office Shared Services recommends working with Tangerine Travel to obtain good state-contracted rates and excellent customer service.

Tangerine Travel

Website: Tangerine Travel
Phone: 800-678-8202 or 425-822-2333
Regina Morris: regina@tangerinetravel.com
Sue Buchman-Wiita: sue@tangerinetravel.com

If airfare or guest lodging is to be charged to the Provost CTA, Executive Office Shared Services will need to give the travel agent authorization to charge the CTA (in these cases, please tell the agent to contact EOSS for CTA billing authorization).

Lodging and meals per diem

Lodging and meals expenses incurred by UW employees in travel status as well as guests of the University must adhere to UW-approved per diem rates.

Reporting your foreign travel

Email travelregistry@uw.edu with your travel itinerary prior to embarking on your trip. (This can be as simple as forwarding on your flight confirmation and other travel details along with your employee information.)

This is critical to the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) ability to manage the health and safety of UW employees and students traveling abroad. Visit OGA’s International Travel Registry site for more detailed information.

While traveling

Do not make purchases on your ProCard. Use your UW Travel Card (if you were provided with one) or your personal card. Keep your itemized receipts.

Requesting reimbursement after travelling

Converting foreign currency

The UW Travel Office recommends the OANDA FX Converter for calculating exchange rates.

Reimbursement

  • Complete and submit a Travel Reimbursement Form with scans of receipts attached.
  • If a required receipt was not obtained or is missing for a purchase over $75, the cardholder must complete a Perjury Statement (pdf) for that purchase and submit it with the other receipts (receipts for purchases less than $75 are not required but preferred whenever possible).