Travel
Travel
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Travel Office strives to provide efficient and cost-effective travel services for University staff, faculty, students and other individuals traveling on behalf of the institution. This is accomplished by facilitating travelers with the contracted services for travel agencies, airfares and car rentals, while ensuring compliance with University, UT System, State and Federal travel regulations. In addition the Travel Office serves as a resource, providing training and assistance to all travelers in both domestic and international travel processes.
***Effective November 19, 2024, Governor's Executive Order No. GA-48 imposes travel restrictions on the following regions: China, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), Macau, Russia, and Venezuela.
https://www.utrgv.edu/commitment/info/protocols/index.htm#travel
International Travel Assistance
Resources
COVID19
- https://www.utrgv.edu/coronavirus/travel/index.htm
- https://www.utrgv.edu/coronavirus/updates/2021-04-16/index.htm
- https://www.utrgv.edu/coronavirus/
03/11/2020: How to Cancel an Itinerary
03/12/2020: FAQ due to Coronavirus Travel Cancellations
UTRGV employees are required to book Hotel expenses through the online booking tool iTravel+, unless any exceptions as per HOP Policy ADM-10-602 apply, once approval by the traveler’s direct supervisor, is granted. Approval by the Cost Center/Project Manager of the project that will incur the cost of the trip is also required in the Expense Report.
Employees will be required to pay for lodging expenses out of pocket or using the One Card, itemized lodging receipts must be in the traveler’s name in order for the traveler to be reimbursed and must be itemized in the Expense Report within Concur iTravel+.
Hotel expenses should not exceed the stated GSA allowance for the destination or conference hotel rates.
Lodging expenses should be publicly available commercial lodging establishments only. Airbnb, VRBO or any other homestay lodging services are not allowed because of the limited insurance provided by the property owner, lack of itemized billing.
Airfare should be arranged through the online Concur booking tool iTravel+. So that the University’s central billing account or individual’s university issued credit card is used for the prepayment of airfare. This is the method for booking airfare for business travel. The mandatory form of payment for all airline fares is the state-issued University credit cards.
Coach class is required for all travel.
Airline ancillary fees and charges that are not required for the completion of business travel will not be reimbursed. These fees include, but are not limited to, seating preferences and early check-in.
The baggage fee for the first checked bag is reimbursable. Fees for additional bags or oversized/overweight bags will not be reimbursed without a valid documented business purpose. Any additional baggage fees will need to have pre-approval by the Cost Center/Project manager.
Any ticket change, either before or during travel, should be arranged through the contracted travel agency. Fees associated with ticket changes are not reimbursable unless the ticket change is required as part of the traveler’s job duties. Early release from conferences or a traveler’s desire to return home early are not acceptable reasons for incurring a University paid fee.
Southwest Airlines - A-List Preferred Status Promotion
UT Rio Grande Valley traveler, enroll between 4/3/and 5/5/2023 to get promotional A-List Preferred status on Southwest Airlines for 90 days! To extend your A-List Preferred status for 12 months, book and fly two roundtrips or four one-way segments within your 90 day promotional period. Benefits of A-List Preferred include:
- Priority boarding for you and everyone on your reservation
- 100% earning bonus on qualifying flights
- Same-day change and same-day standby ability
- Priority and Express Lane Access
- Free Inflight WiFi
Visit the link below to learn more and enroll using your associated UT email address.
Approved Car Rental Companies
- Avis (PO in iShop)
- Budget (Expense Report in iTravel+)
- Enterprise (Expense Report in iTravel+)
- Hertz (Expense Report in iTravel+)
- National (Expense Report in iTravel+)
Approved Charter Bus Companies
- Journey Charter and Tours (Exp 8/3/2024)
- Valley Transit/Greyhound (Exp 12/31/2024)
- Red Charter Buses (Exp 4/8/2025)
- All Valley Charters (Exp 7/09/2025)
- Escamilla (Exp 02/25/2025)
- Discovery Charter (Exp 02/23/2025)
- Holiday Motor Coach (Exp 04/16/2025)
- Beline Tours (Exp 09/01/2025)
GSA Mileage Reimbursement Rates
- January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021 - $0.56 cents per mile
- January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022 - $0.585 cents per mile
- July 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022 - $0.625 cents per mile
- January 1, 2023 to December 21, 2023 - $0.655 cents per mile
- January 1, 2024 to December 21, 2024 - $0.67 cents per mile
Note: These rates do not apply to In Valley Mileage and/or Intercampus Mileage as the rate for these is $0.23 cents per mile. Intercity mileage is not allowed per UTRGV Mileage Guidelines
Meals
- Domestic and Foreign Meal Allowances are determined by GSA based on Travel Destination
- Travelers are eligible for 75 percent (75%) of the total per diem rate on the first and last day of travel if travel is multiple days
- Travelers are eligible for 75 percent (75%) of the total per diem rate on same day travel longer than 12 hours
- Travelers are ineligible for meals on same day travel shorter than 12 hours
- If a meal is provided by the conference or host, there should be no reimbursement requested for that meal.
- Receipts are not required unless they will be paid from a grant that requires receipts.
Conference Regisrations
- Travelers may register for conferences through the conference website utilizing a personal credit card or their individual University OneCard
- A University Cardholer may pay for the Conference Registrations of a department employee on their University One Card as this is considered a Departmental Operating Expense. All other travel expenes must be paid for by the traveler.
- Expense will be reimbursed until after the conference has taken place. If payment of discounted or “early bird conference registrations fees, to attend a conference or training seminar, may be treated as an allowable expense and may be pre-paid through One Card or out of pocket reimbursable expenses by providing adequate receipts. To reimburse the traveler for an advanced discounted payment for a conference or training
registration fee prior to the trip date, the traveler must have an approved Travel Request that includes all trip expenses in iTravel+. - If an employee is not able to attend a conference for which registration was paid in advance, the first step is to attempt to obtain a refund from the conference organizers. If that is not possible, reimbursement to the employee will only be made in the case of a documented emergency and with the approval of the Cost Center/Project Manager who approved the initial travel.
Travel and One Card Office must be notified at travel@utrgv.edu of request for Group Travel 21 days prior to trip. Departments will be required to fill out the following form and provide any necessary documentation such as lodging, airfare, car rental, charter bus or other quotes or agreements.