Travel FAQs

The Travel Portal is the University's tool for air, hotel, and rental car bookings. The portal comprises of a suite of tools and services that together aim to: ensure the safety of faculty, staff, and students while they travel; deliver exceptional travel-related services; streamline the expense reporting process; and reduce travel costs.

The Portal can be accessed and used by any current University faculty, staff, or student. Employees and students can book travel for companions or guests in the portal.

Airfare for employees and students must be booked through the Portal for business travel. Once inside the Portal, travel can be arranged through the Concur self-booking tool or with the University's travel agency of record. Exceptions for using the Travel Portal may be issued for sponsored travel if the grant guidelines require the use of an alternative travel portal or booking method outside of the University.

Hotel and car rental reservations, although highly recommended to be booked through The University of Miami Travel Portal, may be made through different methods on condition that the appropriate insurance and liabilities are purchased.

Yes. To book, the faculty, staff, or student will need to give you rights as one of their Travel Assistants. By doing so, you will be allowed to act as the traveler within the booking tool and book their travels. All booking information and transactions will then be stored in the traveler's profile. To access a tip-sheet on how to be made a travel assistant, please click here.

Airlines:

Group Travel is defined when 10 or more people are all traveling together and must be booked in the same reservation. This may require additional logistics. In addition to group travel, University hosted events may have unique travel needs. 

In order to assess your group or event airline needs, please fill out the Group/Non-employee Reservation Form and submit to molly.berger@travelinc.com and travel@miami.com

Hotels:

Hotel reservations through Concur are ideal when booking one room at a time. If you need multiple rooms for multiple travelers, it is suggested to book directly through a Travel Incorporated agent at 770-291-5187. Please note: Hotel corporate rates are based on reservations for less than 10 individuals. When booking for groups of 10 or more, this qualifies as a group reservation/room block where employees are responsible for contacting hotels directly to contract prices for groups.

The primary form of payment for individual employee travel arrangements is the University Travel Card. When booking and paying for others, the University of Miami Purchasing card (P-card) should be used.

Yes. University faculty, staff, and students have access to book for non-employees or students by selecting the "booking for a guest" option. Please note, that this option should be used only if the non-employee/student's travel expenses will be covered by the University.

If your current process requires that a none-employee/none-student makes their own travel arrangements, you may proceed with one of the following *options:

1. Individual can call the travel agents directly, and inform the agents that they are booking as GUEST. Traveler must identify a current employee or student to book under. This employee or student must have an active travel profile, and will be identified as the Travel Assistant on the reservation. 
2. You may fill out a Group/Non-employee Reservation Form and submit it to molly.berger@travelinc.com and travel@miami.com. This is ideal for events, individuals who should have access to book for long periods of times, departments who would like to include specific payment methods and policy restrictions.May take up to 48hrs to process.

Booking agent and booking fees are waived for Business Travel by the Department of Travel Management.

Leisure trips will inquire the following fees:

• Call in to book Airfare = $20.00
• Call in to book Car = $0.00
• Call in to book Hotel = $0.00
• Call in After Hours = $19.00
  • Note: after hours fee is an additional fee charged for every phone call made between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. EST.
• Online Air booking = $4.50
• Online Car booking = $0.00
• Online Hotel booking = $0.00
• Call in for technical support = $0.00
• Cancellation of trips= $0.00 unless an additional airline booking is made

Travelers: Travelers have access to their invoices by visiting their travel portal's homepage. Once inside, there is a section titled "My Transaction" your invoice can be found here. Invoices are also located in e-itineraries, which are emailed within 10 minutes of booking.

Travel Arrangers/Assistants: To obtain invoices for bookings made by you, you will need to access the booking's e-itinerary which is emailed to you within 10 minutes of your booking.

Invoices, e-itineraries, and trip information can always be requested through a Travel Incorporated agent.

Please note: the Travel Portal will only provide invoices for flights and train bookings. Hotel and car reservations are charged directly by the vendor, and you would be responsible for coordinating payment and invoices through the vendor.

You may book international travel through the Travel Portal's booking tool, Concur. However, it is recommended that all complex international travel, e.g., more than two connecting flights, be booked by trough a Travel Incorporated Travel Agent who can check for best trip routing, connection times, schedules, and airline rates, as well as provide options and ensure you have proper travel documentation.

The Travel Portal's booking tool, Concur, allows for up to six flights to be booked at a time and only one hotel room and car rental reservation per transaction. Travelers and arrangers have access to trip cloning. This feature allows a travel arranger to easily make multiple reservations for one trip. After the first reservation is made, an option to copy is given without having to repeat every step of the booking process multiple times.

To access a tip-sheet on trip cloning and more options, click here.

E-itineraries are electronic itineraries that are provided to travelers and travel arrangers/assistants when booking a trip on the Travel Portal.

Both the booking tool, Concur, or a Travel Inc. travel agent will send your travel itinerary to the email address listed in your profile immediately after you confirm the trip and once the ticket is issued. Travel arrangers will be copied in itineraries if applicable. Travelers can easily access their e-itineraries inside their Travel Portal.

Travel Incorporated is the University-wide contracted travel agency. Travel Incorporated provides the University with a team travel agents dedicated to providing, 24/7 travel support, travel bookings/arrangements, and assist in managing the University of Miami Travel Portal.

For Travel Incorporated Online Technical Support:

Our online technical support team can assist with any issues or questions regarding the online booking tool.

Contact: Travel Incorporated
Toll Free: 866-738-6444(inside North America)
Direct: 770-291-4108(outside North America)

For Travel Agent Assistance:

Our University of Miami dedicated travel agents can assist with complex bookings, issues with a trip, price matching, or booking group travel. Please note when booking with an agent, an additional fee may apply.

Contact: Travel Incorporated
Toll Free: 888-241-0944(inside North America)
Direct: 770-291-5187(outside North America)
Email: UM@travelinc.com

Employees and students must book air travel through the Travel Portal. Exceptions for using the Travel Portal may be issued for sponsored travel if the grant guidelines require the use of an alternative travel portal or booking method outside of the University and/or if group travel (defined as 10 or more individuals are traveling together and must be booked in the same reservation) is required.

Please click here to see airline discounts and offers. Note: the Travel Portal also houses discounts arranged by Travel Incorporated.

The Travel Portal booking tool does not have the functionality to purchase infant in arms tickets. If this is a for business travel expense, it is suggested to book this ticket type through a Travel Incorporated live agent.

Yes. Flights can be held for a period of 24 hour at a time. Flights can be held on the Travel Portal's booking tool, by selecting "Hold" after the option of "Reserve and Continue." Flights can also be held when booking through a Travel Incorporated agent.

Note: holding multiple reservations for same routing or times or making multiple airline changes is considered an illegal booking practice by the airlines and may result in penalties.

You can book your tickets at our negotiate prices through the Travel Portal and then use your booking record locator number to use your status and points directly through the airline website or app. If you booked and included an airline rewards number, your booking will automatically be shared with the airline and will even be found in your airline app.

Please note: Some University of Miami airline contracts may include upgrades in check-in or seats.

Yes, but limited to your ticket type. After you "Reserve and Continue" with your flight booking, a seat will automatically be selected for you based on your travel preference. You can then change to a seat in the class you reserved, e.g., first class seats for first class fares, premium economy seats for premium economy fares, etc.

Preferential seats can be requested but are not guaranteed and the traveler must have a loyalty number loaded in their profile to request these otherwise, an error will be shown. There is no ability to pay for preferential seats in the system. Some airlines will show paid preferential (marked with a star) and/or preferential seats (marked with a white corner) on the seat map. The system will allow you to request the preferential seats at no additional cost; however, preferential seats will be determined based on your flyer status and are not guaranteed.

Paid preferential seats or upgrades cannot be selected on the booking system (they are only visible for informational purposes only and must be purchased after the booking is made through the airline using your booking reference number). If you booked with a rewards number in the system, your reservation will automatically be shared with the airline and these upgrades can be done on the airline app or website.

Your travel profile includes a section for Frequent Traveler Programs, e.g., frequent flyer numbers or other similar travel rewards programs for car rental and hotels. Reservations and purchases you make through Travel Incorporated/Concur will be linked to the information in your profile. The name on your frequent travel rewards programs must match the name in your Concur profile to get points awarded.

Please refer to the University Travel Reimbursement Policy.

Unused tickets are a credit to an airline that resulted from canceling a changeable, but non-refundable ticket. Unused tickets will be show in the profile of the traveler who's name was in the original ticket and, usually, these tickets cannot be transferred to other travelers. Please contact Travel Management at travel@miami.eduif you would like to inquire if your airline ticket's name can be transferred.

Unless a change-fee waiver was offered by the airline, unused tickets normally will require a fee anywhere between $200-$400 to use. When booking on the Travel Portal, travelers and arrangers will be given the option of using an unused ticket if applicable at the end of an airline reservation. Travel arrangers will need to act as the traveler who's profile has an unused ticket, in order to use an unused ticket.

Unused tickets that were purchased with a University Purchasing card (P-card), Travel card, or were reimbursed by the University should never be used for leisure travel. Unused tickets should only be used for leisure if the original purchase was for a leisure reason in the portal.

Since the portal is maximized for business, the use of unused tickets is restricted for leisure when booking through the online booking tool. If you have an unused ticket that was obtained due to a canceled leisure trip, you will need to book it directly through a Travel Incorporated agent, which will inquire an agent fee, or book directly through the airline of the unused ticket.

Travelers with disabilities can book their ticket through the Travel Portal's online booking tool and then contact the airline directly to notify the airline of any disability needs. We recommend booking through a Travel Incorporated agent for an extra fee, to avoid having to contact the airline directly. Each individual airline and aircraft has it's own set of regulations as it pertains to disability and wheelchair needs.

Yes. This number must be entered into your Concur profile when booking airfare so that it is included in future air travel reservations.

There are a number of disability requirements that airlines must be notified of before boarding. These disabilities include the need of service dogs, extra seat needed, wheelchair required, and more. The online booking tool, Concur, does not have the ability to input these needs the first time you book a flight. We recommend booking with a Travel Incorporated agent the first time (agent fee will apply) to get everything entered correctly, and request the agent to hard-code the disability requirements to your profile. If the particular disability need can be hard-coded, the accommodation will be applied the next time you book on Concur. Requests can always be booked through a travel agent.

Group Travel is defined when 10 or more people are all traveling together and must be booked in the same reservation. This may result in steeper discounts than current travel negotiated rates and requires additional logistics. In addition to group travels, University hosted events may have unique travel needs. 

In order to assess your group or event airline needs, please fill out the Group Reservation Form and submit to travel@miami.com.

When booking with an agent, inform them that you need to make sure your flight complys with the Fly America Act. Our agents will be able to provide you the best flight options.

If you are utilizing the travel portal's self-booking tool, look for the shield icon which indicates flights that are compliant under the Fly America Act.

Employees and students should book their car rentals through the Travel Portal.

Continue through the booking tool as if you are just doing an air-only trip. Do not choose a car or hotel while filling in your cities and dates on the main page. Upon reserving your flight, you will be presented with the Travel Details page, where you will have the option to add car, cancel car, and designate the city of pick up.

The University currently receives discounts from multiple care rentals. All discounted rates for business can be secured by booking through the Travel Portal. Negotiated rates may be found on Travel Management's Car Rental Discounts web page.

The University requires all car rentals for the purpose of business travel, be insured. Some University contracted car rental rates may be inclusive of insurance when renting in the United States and Puerto Rico. It is the traveler’s sole responsibility to confirm if rates include the required insurance, if not, travelers must purchase CDW/LDW (collision damage waiver/loss damage waiver) and basic liability insurance. Rental Insurance cannot be purchase through the University Travel Portal or Travel Agent, the traveler must purchase it at the time of pick-up or by contacting the car rental company.

The Traveler is responsible for purchasing insurance for vehicles rented for personal or leisure use. When renting for personal/leisure use the renter assumes responsibility for all loss or damage done to the rental vehicle, up to and included the full value of the rental vehicle, regardless of fault.

Please contact the Department of Risk Management:

Phone: (305) 284-3163
Email:riskmanagement@miami.edu

Any student or employee who wants to drive a rented vehicle for University business purposes, must be approved for driving a vehicle by the University Risk Management department. This is accomplished by completing a Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) form. Risk Management uses this driving record to assess a driver's eligibility.

University of Miami’s Travel Portal estimates include any taxes, out-of-state city surcharges and airport fees that car rental companies charge.

Any hotel, car, or airfare booked through The University of Miami Travel Portal is automatically shared with ISOS. You should only register your trip for the parts that were booked outside The Portal.

What is the role of International SOS?
International SOS provides University of Miami business travelers and expatriates with quality health care and medical and security assistance services worldwide 24 hours a day.

How can International SOS help?
International SOS provides you with assurance that you will be assisted during emergency situations that may arise during travel or international relocation. One phone call connects you to the International SOS network of multilingual specialists for immediate help. International SOS services are designed to help you with medical, personal, travel , security and legal problems when away from home. Call International SOS at any time to speak with a physician or security specialist about simple or critical matters.

How does it work?
Carry the International SOS membership card with you at all times. It includes the telephone numbers of the three major worldwide International SOS Assistance Centers. In the event of an emergency, call one of the emergency phone numbers listed on the card. If you do not have a card, you can print one now.

What do I need to do to use the program?
In order to utilize any of the medical or travel services listed under Membership Benefits, contact any Assistance Center from anywhere in the world by calling directly, calling collect or calling the toll-free number.
To ensure a prompt response when calling, you should be prepared to provide the following:

• Your name, location, age, gender and nationality
• Your International SOS membership number: 11BCAS786599 (use this code to access the University of Miami International SOS web site when using the web site)
• The telephone number from which you are calling (in case you are disconnected)
• Your relationship to the University of Miami employee (if the person calling is not the employee)
• Name, location and telephone number of the hospital, clinic or treating doctor (when applicable)

What if I have pre-trip questions about my travel destination?
In addition to calling the Assistance Center for any pre-trip questions you may have, you can access our Country Guides by selecting a country from the dropdown menu on the left navigation pane. These comprehensive guides provide both medical, security and general travel advice, such as information on the standard of health care, how to pay for medical care, the availability of medications, safety of the blood supply, embassy/visa information, dialing code information, cultural etiquette and financial and voltage/plug information.

Do I need to activate my membership?
No, your membership is already active. Simply carry the card in your wallet at all times while traveling. Whenever you need service, contact one of the emergency phone numbers listed on the back of the card. You do not need to report specific trip dates to International SOS each time you travel.

What are Email Alerts?
You have the option to sign up for Medical and/or Security Email Alerts. Medical alerts are issued when there is an unusual health risk that, in the opinion of International SOS medical professionals, may negatively impact travelers or expatriates visiting a specific country or region. Security alerts are issued when the team of security professionals from International SOS has identified a security risk in a specific country or region.

What do I do if my card is lost or stolen?
You can print the card now.

What if I need a doctor?
The International SOS Worldwide Assistance Centers are listed on the back of your card. Call the International SOS Assistance Center that is nearest to you for a referral to a doctor who speaks your language.

What if I need a lawyer while overseas?
Call the nearest International SOS Worldwide Assistance Center for legal referrals.

What if I need prescription medication?
We can help if you require a prescription that a local physician cannot obtain, or you need to replace lost, stolen or depleted medication. International SOS will, when permissible by local law, send the medication you need.

What if I am hospitalized?
Call the nearest International SOS Worldwide Assistance Center. International SOS will immediately take steps to evaluate the care you are receiving and determine what actions must be taken to ensure your safe and speedy recovery.

What if local medical facilities are not adequate?
If you are hospitalized in an area where adequate medical facilities are not available, International SOS will obtain approval from University of Miami’s Health and Medical Services to evacuate you to a medical facility capable of providing the required care. A physician supervises evacuations, and when necessary, a medical specialist or nurse will accompany you during the evacuation. An air ambulance will be used when required.

What happens when I am released from the hospital and still need help?
When your condition is stabilized and International SOS has determined that it is medically advisable to bring you home or to a facility near your permanent residence, International SOS will again obtain approval from University of Miami and arrange the repatriation under medical supervision.

Will International SOS pay my medical bills?
After approval from University of Miami, International SOS will guarantee and pay all costs associated with your medical care. International SOS will also medically monitor and evaluate your condition and ongoing medical expenses during your hospitalization.

What should I do if I am concerned about my security or in the event of a security emergency?
Contact us and a security specialist will assist you for both urgent and non-urgent situations.

What is security evacuation assistance and coordination?
We will assist you in the event of threatening situations such as civil and political unrest, insurrections, revolution and similar situations by providing information, guidance and resources in the event personal safety and security can no longer be assured.

How do I access up-to-the-minute information about security alerts, warnings and the latest situations?
You can visit Travel Security Online.

In the event of death...
International SOS will render all assistance possible to obtain clearances and arrange transportation for the return of mortal remains.

Hotel reservations should be booked through the Travel Portal.

Hotel reservations through Concur are ideal when booking one room at a time. If you need multiple rooms for multiple travelers, it is suggested to book directly through a Travel Incorporated agent at 770-291-5187. Please note: Hotel corporate rates are based on reservations for less than 10 individuals. When booking for groups of 10 or more, this qualifies as a group reservation/room block where employees are responsible for contacting hotels directly to contract prices for groups.

Conference hotel room rates must be booked directly through the conference organization to take advantage of the discount and rooms reserved by that conference's housing bureau reserved room blocks.

Continue through the booking tool as if you are just doing an air-only trip. Do not choose a car or hotel while filling in your cities and dates on the main page. Upon reserving your flight, you will be presented with the Travel Details page, where you will have the option to add hotel and cancel hotel.

When traveling for UM business, the Travel Portal includes pre-negotiated and discounted rates when booking.Negotiated rates can be found in our Hotel Discounts listing.

Yes.

University parents, alumni, UHealth patients, and individuals traveling to conduct business with the University can take advantage of our South Florida hotel discounts. Booking instructions can be found on our Hotel Discounts listing.

University employees can book AirBNB's for stays three (3) days and greater. Please refer to the University of Miami Travel Reimbursement policy for more information. Exceptions may be made through Risk Management.