Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

TMC stands for Travel Management Company. Monash's strategic TMCs are HRG Australia and Voyager Travel.

Every traveller requires a profile. Profiles are required by HRG or Voyager to facilitate your personal details to ensure your trip goes smoothly. Your profile should include your cost centre, contact details, travel requirements, air preferences, hotel preferences, membership details, etc. These details are forwarded to all relevant suppliers to ensure you receive the service and benefits specific to you.

HRG or Voyager use a Cost Centre / Reporting Group as a means of classifying travel spend for Monash University and they cannot accept your reservation until you have updated your profile with your cost centre / reporting group. These details are compulsory and are required for reporting purposes only - not for charging.

Confirmation will be sent by e-mail for each booking as will an e ticket itinerary.

Both HRG and Voyager will provide you with the "Best fare of the day" using one of the Monash University endorsed airlines or will book your accommodation as per your requirements.

Voyager will endeavour to match or better a genuine, bookable fare that is available to them. For full details on fare matching, please see: Fare Matching

All Airline travel will normally be charged to your University provided MasterCard. For hotel and car reservations, travellers must provide a credit card to be able to make the booking.

For bookings that have to be charged to a different cost centre to that of the travellers home cost centre, please advise your travel consultant at time of booking. This cannot be changed after ticketing, it must be done at time of initial booking.

HRG and Voyager charge Monash University a fixed rate, transaction fee that depends on the type of service provided.

Charges will be made to your credit card. In some instances the fare and the service fee will be charged separately.

The TMCs do not usually receive payment from you, or pre-pay for hotels. This is normally done at point-of-sale when checking out from the hotel. Note however, that the booking fee that the TMCs charge is charged against any hotel bookings that they make on your behalf. All hotels are booked at a discounted or government rate.

HRG and Voyager do not usually receive payment from you, or pre-pay for car rentals. This is normally done at point-of-sale when picking up the vehicle. Note however, that HRG or Voyager will charge a fee against any car rental bookings that they make on your behalf.

The travel policy called 'Monash University Staff International Travel Policy and Procedures for Australian-based Staff and Postgraduate Research Students' is detailed on the Monash University Policy Bank.

HRG or Voyager will provide you with the "Best fare of the day" for airlines. This means that the fares quoted by our TMCs will be (subject to availability) as cheap as any airfare in the market. (Please note that the fares are subject to a booking fee) The TMCs will book your accommodation and car hire as per your requirements.

Monash University has Travel insurance in place for authorised business travel. You do not need to take out insurance if you are travelling on authorised business travel. However - Travellers must register on the Insurance Services website.

Staff and postgraduate research students are to prepare a travel plan and obtain authorisation/approval for the plan prior to confirming the travel booking. Approved travel plans are to be retained within the faculty or division. Details on requirements for travel plans are explained in the Monash University Staff International Travel Policy and Procedures for Australian-based Staff.

A comprehensive travel plan (as required by the University's Staff International Travel Policy) completed prior to booking will assist in the completion of the Travel Diary.

The Monash University Travel Diary must be completed by end of trip and provided to the nominated Faculty/Directorate International Travel Officer who will make it available to Monash University Corporate Finance along with the expense report.

A proforma for the University Travel Diary is available at :
http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/finance/Finance_Forms.html

Monash University's policy is that it will not pay for any lounge or frequent flyer membership. However favourable rates for Lounge membership have been negotiated and may be accessed by Monash University employees.

Foreign Currency can be ordered if required. However, foreign currency is akin to a cash advance and therefore it cannot be paid for using a University Credit card. Payment is therefore the responsibility of the individual.

Staff can apply for cash advances to cover foreign currency purchases by raising and internal claim form that is forwarded to Accounts Payable for processing.

International Travel- For Monash University staff and postgraduate research students, the choice of travel class is based on balancing cost with a need for staff to be fit and able to work effectively at their destinations. Time available for 'recovery' from travel, especially across a number of time zones is a key factor in the choice. However, under no circumstances is a staff member permitted to use university funds to travel first class. Refer to section 4.4 of the Staff International Travel Policy for specific details about choice of travel class.

Domestic Travel - The permitted class of travel for domestic trips is guided by the same principles that are listed for international travel (refer section 4.4 of the International Travel Policy). As all domestic travel within Australia is covered by flights that are less than 6 hours duration, the exceptional conditions for international travel do not apply. Consequently, all domestic travel should be booked as economy class. However, staff may use accumulated frequent flyer points for upgrade to business class, if required.

First class travel is generally not available to any Monash University staff. Business class airfares are available to the Monash University Senior Management Group as listed on the Executive Services web page.

Booking Airfares

Monash has endorsed carrier agreements with Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Blue. The TMCs will book you on these carriers as a preference but will choose other airlines if it meets the best fare of the day policy. In booking a fare the consultant will choose the "most logical, or suitable fare" giving regard to the need for comfort, convenience, connection times and cost.
Domestic airfares should be booked using the best fare of the day policy. The Voyager online booking tool Serko allows access to substantially discounted fares that are only available to university travellers and are cheaper than those fares on the Virgin Blue website.

Yes. HRG and Voyager, through their comprehensive booking system, have access to a wide range of fare types including some Internet fares.
When booking via the  Voyager self-booking tool <Serko>you will have the advantage of seeing all fare types (including Monash negotiated fares) in the same screen to simplify comparison. If an Internet fare is not available at the required time of travel you will also see the full range of discounted fares available to Monash from Qantas and Virgin Blue.

No - it is required that all airline bookings are directed through the TMCs so that the University can capture traveller movements into Flightlock. 

For international trips it strongly recommended that you do not book Internet fares. The reasons are -

• Internet fares are generally instant purchase with no refunds
• It is difficult to change bookings you have done yourself direct on the Internet.
• Changes, where possible, attract large change fees
• You do not get any advice on visas and travel permits that you would otherwise get from experienced travel consultants if you booked via a TMC .

We cannot obtain reports on airline use if booked outside of the TMCs – therefore affecting our negotiating power for future discounted fares

Monash University's agreements with Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Blue offer substantially discounted rates for Monash University. It is important to note that the discounts offered are not on ALL fares.

No. The Travel Office is not a TMC and does not have access to the systems that the TMCs have. You will have to contact one of the strategic providers (Voyager or HRG ) to book your travel.

You can book accommodation via either the TMCs (as first preference) or GDM.

Global Destination Management ( GDM ) are a travel consolidator that specialise in securing competitive hotel rates for a number of universities.

GDM negotiate rates with specific hotels, in a range of locations, rather than having a global agreement with a hotel chain. The rates that have been negotiated are not available through the more traditional Global Distribution System that is normally accessed by travel agencies. As a consequence, there is no "middle man" fee and this leads to better rates.

Yes they can. Please request your consultant to look at the GDM offerings when you are booking your travel.

HRG or Voyager do not usually receive payment from you, or pre-pay for hotels. This is normally done at point-of-sale when checking out from the hotel. Note however, that the fee that HRG or Voyager levy is charged against any hotel bookings that they make on your behalf. All hotels are booked at a discounted (nett) rate.

GDM require you to nominate a credit card when completing the online booking. GDM then charge the card a service fee of $5 per nigh per room.

GDM has specific deals with hotels and not hotel chains. Consequently, they do not have a full cover for all locations. If GDM does not have a hotel that suits, please book via one of the TMCs.

This can be a problem and will need prior authorisation to be sent to the hotel giving them authority to charge to another cardholder's credit card. Please provide information to the TMC that makes the hotel booking. The TMC will then alert the hotel of the situation.

Yes. Click here to make an online booking with endorsed supplier Avis

Yes they can and they have the Monash negotiated rates with Avis loaded into their systems. Please request your consultant to book an Avis vehicle at the Monash University rates when you are booking your travel through the TMCs. Note that HRG and Voyager will charge their usual fee on top of the Avis rate.

This is done at point of sale when picking up the vehicle. Note however, that the management fee that the TMCs levy is charged against any car rental bookings that they make on your behalf. 

Yes, special leisure rates are available for all Monash employees.Click here to access the Monash leisure rates through Avis

No. There is no need to pay an additional fee to reduce the excess on car hire. Monash has travel insurance to cover all staff and post grad. students who rent vehicles under the Monash-Avis agreement.

Under the Monash-Avis agreement, the card holder does not need to pick up the vehicle in person.

The card holder who will be paying for the rental needs to provide an Avis Wizard Number when making a booking for another Monash employee. This ensures that a credit card does not need to be presented when picking up the car.

In order to obtain an Avis Wizard Number please click here to download New Avis Wizard Number Request Form (38kb, PDF).