HomeHelpCorporate PortalChoosing a Booking Method: GDS Portal vs Consultant Assisted

Choosing a Booking Method: GDS Portal vs Consultant Assisted

Step 2 of the travel request wizard and what happens after approval for each booking method.

Org UserOrg AdminSuper AdminLast reviewed 25 Sept 2026

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Follow a request through its approval chain, and approve or reject requests from the Approvals inbox.

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Setting Up Approval Chains

Step 2 of the travel-request wizard asks how the trip should be arranged after approval. The choice is stored on the request and decides whether you book the trip yourself in the GDS portal or a travel consultant does it for you.

The Two Options

  • GDS Booking Portal (selected by default) — self-service search and booking of flights, hotels, and car rental once the request is approved.
  • Consultant Assistance — a consultant makes the arrangements. Selecting it reveals Special Instructions for Consultant, where you can note preferred airlines, seating, hotel chains, and anything else.

What Happens with Consultant Assistance

Nothing reaches the consultant booking queue while the request waits for approval. When the last approver in your chain approves it, the request is placed in the queue, once. The entry carries your destination, dates, estimated budget, consultant notes, any uploaded documents, and a line for each requirement you ticked (flight, accommodation, car), without prices. A consultant claims the entry, which opens a chat thread you can reach from Bookings, and quotes and confirms the trip for you.

Important: A consultant-assisted request reaches the consultants only after its final approval, so a request that is rejected, sent back or withdrawn never reaches them. The final approval is refused while the request names no traveller; the approver sends it back for you to add who is travelling.

What Happens with the GDS Portal

Nothing is sent to a consultant. Once the request is approved, open it (or find it in Requests > All Requests) and click Book Now to open the GDS Booking Portal. The portal:

  1. Picks up your approved GDS-portal request and shows a green banner with its number, destination, dates, budget, and remaining budget.
  2. Pre-fills the flight and hotel searches with the origin, destination, and dates from the request.
  3. Lets you search flights, hotels, and cars, and add them to the booking cart. The cart keeps a running total against the approved budget.
  4. Blocks Proceed to Checkout when the cart total exceeds the approved budget, showing "Total exceeds approved budget".
  5. Sends you to Checkout, where you complete traveller details and confirm.

You can also save the cart as a named draft from the portal and come back to it later on the same browser.

Tip: Pick consultant assistance for complex itineraries, group travel, or anything that needs negotiation, and the GDS portal for straightforward point-to-point trips you are happy to book yourself.

Changing Your Mind

While a request is still a draft or pending approval you can reopen it with Edit Request and change the booking method on step 2. After approval the method is fixed — ask a consultant directly, or submit a fresh request with the other method.