When traveling for the University, it is allowable to combine your business trip with personal travel. The University will only pay for the business portion of your trip, and expenses for the personal portion must be excluded on your expense report. You must first obtain approval from your department and then follow the purchasing and documentation guidelines listed here.

Airfare

Airfare for a combined business/personal trip should be purchased through the Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur) or Christopherson Business Travel (CBT). 

  • You'll need a comparison quote obtained prior to or at the time of booking from Concur or CBT to document the cost of the business-only fare. 
  • Compare the cost of the combined trip airfare with the cost of the business-only airfare. If the extended trip results in a higher cost, the cost difference needs to be deducted from your travel expense report. If the amount is not completely covered by any out-of-pocket offsets, you need to reimburse the University prior to submitting your business travel expense report. 
  • To reimburse the University, use the Cash Receipt form to deposit the reimbursement with your campus bursar’s office and retain a copy of the validated cash receipt to attach to the trip expense report. (The Account ChartField to use is 013109 – Company Card Personal Charges.) 
  • Whether you need to reimburse the University or not: Retain a copy of the comparison quote to attach to the trip expense report. 

If you will be traveling with a companion for the personal part of the trip, you can purchase both airfare tickets through CBT. The CBT agent can then book your seats together on the plane. Purchase your ticket using University funds (CU SpeedType) and purchase your companion’s ticket using personal funds (your personal credit card provided to CBT at the time of the purchase). 

Car Rental

We recommend that you book rental cars through the Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur) and use your Travel Card to secure the reservation and pay the bill. You'll need to reimburse the University for rental car use during your personal travel days.

Use your Travel Card to purchase rental car gas for the business days of your trip. Use a personal card for personal travel days. 

Lodging

Use your Travel card to pay for the business portion of your stay. Ensure your rates are for single occupancy. The personal portion of your stay should be paid separately and only with personal funds. Hotels will work with you to split the bill accordingly, even if you are using a single, personal card for payment.  

Meals (Per Diem)

Meal reimbursement is only available for the business portion of the trip.

When you purchase airfare for a combined trip through the Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur)/Christopherson Business Travel (CBT), the entire itinerary will be imported into your expense report to claim per diem. Exclude the personal days of the trip on the itinerary.

Mileage

For business-related mileage, enter your mileage in the Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur). If it's a normal work day, deduct your normal workday commute unless the mileage is incurred at the destination city. 

Parking

You can use your Travel Card to purchase airport parking. You'll need to itemize the expense: Use expense type "Parking" for the amount that is business; use expense Type  "Personal Travel Charge (not reimbursable)" for the amount that is personal.

Use your Travel Card for hotel and other destination parking during the business portion of the trip. Use a personal card for parking during the personal portion of the trip.

Reconcile Expenses

When you reconcile your expenses:

  • Be sure to include a comment on the expense report header to indicate the trip is a combination of business and personal travel – and note which days are personal. 
  • On the expense report, use the expense type "Personal Travel Charge (not reimbursable)" to identify personal expenses. 
  • The Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur) will calculate the amount owed to the University and the amount due to you. If the amount owed to the University exceeds the amount due to you, you will need to reimburse the University before submitting your expense report. To provide evidence of repayment, attach the validated Cash Receipt form from your payment to your expense report and explain the reason for the payment in comments on the report. (The Account ChartField to use is 013109 – Company Card Personal Charges.)