TravelDesk User Manual
easyGDS TravelDesk is a corporate travel booking self-service portal.
Getting Started
Sign in to TravelDesk using SSO or an email address.
Navigate to your organisation’s TravelDesk URL. The sign-in page offers three authentication options:
- Continue with Google — sign in using your Google Workspace account
- Continue with Microsoft — sign in using your Microsoft 365 account
- Email address — enter your corporate email and click Continue to proceed with a password or magic link
Additional SSO Providers can be configured. Contact your easyGDS TravelDesk representative for details
Tip — TravelDesk remembers your last-used sign-in method and highlights it for faster access on return visits.
Navigation Overview
Get oriented with the primary sidebar and where each section lives.
After signing in, the left sidebar provides access to all sections of TravelDesk. Nav item visibility depends on user role and permissions.
| Menu item | Description |
|---|---|
| + New Request | Open the form to create a new corporate travel request. |
| Requests | View and manage your own travel requests. |
| Team Requests | View travel requests submitted by your direct reports (managers). |
| Leisure travel | Personal / non-corporate travel search. Visible only when the leisure module is enabled for your tenant. |
| My Policy | View the travel rules that apply to your grade — flight class, hotel rate caps, carrier rules, and advance-booking notice. |
| Unassigned Bookings | Bookings received from the booking engine that have not yet been matched to a request (admin). |
| Policies | Configure flight class, hotel rate, and carrier policies (admin). |
| Employees | Manage employee profiles and grades (admin). |
| Reports | View travel spend and booking analytics (admin). |
| Settings | Configure system-wide booking and approval settings (admin). |
| My Profile | View and edit your personal travel profile. |
Travel Requests
Submit, track, and manage your travel requests through approval and booking.
3.1 — Viewing your requests
The Requests page lists all travel requests you have submitted. Each row shows the key details at a glance.
Columns
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Request # | Unique identifier (e.g. TR-0012). Click to open the
full request detail. |
| Destination | City and country of the travel request destination. |
| On behalf of | The traveller this request was raised for (if not yourself). |
| Request Date | Date the request was submitted. |
| Departure | Planned travel start date. |
| Status | Current approval / booking status (see below). |
| Total Price | Total booking cost. |
Status values
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending Approval | Awaiting manager or admin sign-off. |
| Pending Booking | No booking has been done for this request. |
| Pending Evaluation | Under policy review. |
| Approved | Fully approved and booked. |
Use the All statuses dropdown to filter the list by a specific status.
Editing a request
A submitted request can be edited while its status is Pending Booking — that is, after approval but before a booking has been attached. Open the request from the list and click Edit to change the reason, destination, travel dates, number of travellers, approval / PO number, or cost center. The traveller (On behalf of) and request number are fixed at submission and cannot be changed.
Once a booking is attached to the request, editing is locked.
3.2 — Creating a new request
Click + New Request in the sidebar or the blue New Request button at the top right to open the request form.
Required fields
The information on the travel request is used for reporting and included in the data feed to the enterprise ERP.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| On behalf of | Select the traveller from the dropdown. Defaults to yourself. This requires another employee having nominated the requester as a travel arranger. |
| Reason for travel | Free-text description of the trip purpose (required). |
| Destination | Search by city name or airport code. |
| Travel dates | Select travel start and end date from the calendar pickers. |
Optional fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Approval / PO # | Internal purchase order or pre-approval reference number. |
| Travelers | Number of travellers (default: 1). |
| Cost Center | Internal cost centre code for accounting allocation. |
Once all required fields are filled in, click Submit Request to send the request for approval. After approval, the system will generate a search link for the travel booking tool.
View travel policy
The View travel policy button at the top right of the form opens a side panel showing the travel rules that apply to your grade — flight class limits, hotel rate caps, carrier rules, and advance-booking notice periods. Use this before submitting to confirm a planned booking will be compliant.
The same view is available at any time from the My Policy sidebar entry.
Travel Policies Admin
Control cabin class, hotel rate caps, and carrier restrictions applied to bookings.
Administrators configure travel policies under the Policies section. Policies control which cabin classes, hotel rates, and airlines are permitted for bookings. The page is divided into four tabs: Flight Class, Hotel Rate Cap, Advance Booking, and Carrier Rules.
4.1 — Flight Class Policy
The Flight Class tab defines the maximum permitted cabin class for each employee grade, split by flight duration.
Short-haul / long-haul threshold
Set the duration at which a flight switches from short-haul to
long-haul rules. The default is 4h 30m.
Duration type
- Flight Duration — scheduled total flight duration
- Door-to-Door Duration — flight time plus ground travel minutes at both ends (not yet available)
Grade matrix (Example)
Each employee grade has separate cabin class limits for short-haul and long-haul flights:
| Grade | Short-haul | Long-haul |
|---|---|---|
| Executive | Economy | Economy |
| Manager | Economy | Business |
| Senior Manager | Economy | Business |
| VP/SVP | Business | First |
Click Edit to modify the matrix and save changes.
Redeye flight exception
Each grade has an optional Redeye flight exception toggle. When enabled, two extra cabin-class fields appear for the grade: Redeye short-haul and Redeye long-haul. Overnight flights then use these allowances instead of the standard short-haul / long-haul values; non-redeye flights continue to follow the standard rule.
Typical use: keep travellers in a lower cabin on day flights but allow a higher cabin (e.g. Business) on overnight long-haul sectors where rest matters.
How a flight is classified as redeye — the booking engine flags each flight leg as redeye or not at the time of search, based on its scheduled departure / arrival times and any date crossing. TravelDesk consumes this classification as-is; there is no separate threshold to configure here.
4.2 — Hotel Rate Cap Policy
The Hotel Rate Cap tab sets maximum permitted nightly hotel rates. Bookings exceeding the applicable cap are flagged as non-compliant.
Default cap
The fallback nightly rate (in MYR) applied to all destinations not covered by a country or city rule.
Country rate cap
Override the default rate for specific countries using the two-letter
ISO country code (e.g. MY for Malaysia, IN for
India).
City rate cap
Override the country or default rate for specific cities. Search by
city name; the system resolves the IATA airport code automatically
(e.g. Mumbai → BOM).
Rule precedence — City cap overrides Country cap, which overrides the Default cap.
Use + Add Country and + Add City to add new entries. Click the trash icon to remove an entry. Save all changes with the Save button.
4.3 — Carrier Rules
The Carrier Rules tab restricts which airlines are permitted on specific routes. More specific rules (city pair) override broader rules (country pair).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Rule type | Select Country Pair or City Pair from the dropdown. |
| Origin / Destination | Country codes (e.g. MY, TH) for country
pair; IATA city codes (e.g. KUL, BKK) for city
pair. Leave both empty to make the rule global —
applied to every route. |
| Allowed Carriers / Denied Carriers | Comma-separated IATA airline codes (e.g. TG, AK or
MH). The field label switches depending on the
Negative rule toggle below. |
| Negative rule | When Off (default), the rule is an allowlist — only the listed carriers are permitted on the route. When On, the rule is a denylist — the listed carriers are blocked and any other carrier is permitted. |
Click + Add Rule to add a new carrier rule. Click the trash icon to remove a rule. Click Save Carrier Rules Policy to apply all changes.
Rule precedence — City Pair overrides Country Pair. Within a route, a negative (denylist) rule blocks the listed carriers regardless of any broader allowlist match.
Settings Admin
Configure system-wide booking behaviour, approvals, and org structure.
The Settings page controls system-wide booking behaviour, approval automation, and organisational structure.
Booking flow
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Auto-Approve Compliant Bookings | When enabled, bookings that pass all policy checks are automatically approved without requiring manager review. |
| Price Threshold | Maximum cost increase percentage allowed before a re-approval is triggered. |
TTL monitoring
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| TTL Warning Window | If a booking time limit is reaching this window, a warning email is sent to the designated manager and admin. |
| Short TTL Auto-Approve | If a booking has fewer than this many hours remaining before it expires, it is automatically approved to prevent the booking from being cancelled. |
Defaults
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Currency | Base currency used across all rate displays, reports, and exports
(e.g. MYR). |
Departments
Manage your company’s departmental hierarchy. Each department can have a Parent department and a designated Manager. Use + Add to create a new department and the edit / delete icons to modify existing ones.
Grades
Define the employee grade levels used for policy evaluation (e.g. Executive, Manager, Senior Manager, VP/SVP). Each grade has a numeric Level used to determine seniority ordering. Use + Add to create grades and the edit / delete icons to manage them.
Corporate supplier settings
Configure preferred supplier identifiers for your GDS and hotel suppliers (expandable section).
Branding
Customise your organisation’s name and login page logo (expandable section).
Click Save Settings to apply all changes on this page.