The new travel management application, Vertical Expense, will be used for all public experiments scheduled from August 2026. The travel agency used in association with the new software is Ailleurs Business. SAP Concur and the travel agency Amex GBT will continue to be used for experiments scheduled in July 2026. 

Features of the new Vertical Expense travel management tool include:

• Extended travel content in the online booking options: traditional airline companies plus certain low cost airlines (e.g. EasyJet), more train options including SNCF (Ouigo, Eurostar, TER, TGV), Trenitalia, Renfe, CFF and some Deutsche Bahn lines, with further lines and companies to be implemented before the end of the year.
• Costs associated with local ground transport (e.g. bus, shuttle, tram) between the ESRF or user laboratory and airports or train stations no longer have to be declared in the travel request - these only have to be declared at the reimbursement claim stage on presentation of the associated electronic receipt.
• Simplified reimbursement procedure: reimbursement claims are submitted online via the approved travel request and not later than 30 days after the experiment; an electronic receipt is mandatory for the declaration of an expense, and can be uploaded directly as a PDF document or photo from the mobile app or from your computer (no need for certified copies).
• A 2-step process requiring, firstly, the submission of a travel request for approval by the ESRF, and secondly, the online booking of your tickets.
• Online booking tool options: options that conform to the ESRF travel rules are indicated in green, non-conform options are indicated in red. It will be possible to select a non-conform option, with a mandatory justification, that is then subject either to approval or to an expense cap by the ESRF.
• When a desired travel option is not available: online booking is highly recommended, but users who wish to avail of a non-proposed option should contact the ESRF Travel Office directly to request the booking. Users may also purchase their own tickets but only once the travel request has been approved.
   

Deadlines

As usual, the ESRF will not book or provide reimbursement for travel costs for bookings made less than 14 days (10 working days) before the outgoing (lab to ESRF) travel date, nor for travel costs that have not been previously authorised by the ESRF through an approved travel request.
Travel requests and booking approvals must therefore be finalised before this deadline.
Exceptions to this rule will only be made if the invitation for the experiment was sent less than 6 weeks before the experiment start date.

Principal Investigators of public experiments must ensure submission of the A-form in a timely manner (ideally 6 weeks, latest 4 weeks before the experiment) to ensure the registered reimbursed users have time to make their travel requests and bookings.

Travel requests and online bookings should be submitted before 4pm on a working day to ensure same-day processing. Evening and weekend submissions will result in delays that could see time-limited pre-reservations for bookings expire before they have had time to be approved.
 

Travel Rules Update

The key points to note are:

• Conformity of a travel option is now based on indicative expense caps (and no longer on the most economical fare) that depend on the location of the user’s home laboratory (France, continental Europe, outside Europe). Travel options that are conform will be approved, those that are non-conform will be subject to approval or to a partial reimbursement, assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• ESRF users are expected to demonstrate a responsible use of the public funds from the ESRF member and associate member countries that provide the financial support for eligible ESRF users, combining the most economical and best ecological travel options when purchasing tickets.
• Travel by train is expected for journey times of less than 6h, and may also be selected for longer journeys on the condition that the total cost is less expensive than that of an airplane ticket (including local transfer).

Reference webpage for ESRF Travel (including rules, travel requests, booking and reimbursement, and Vertical Expense user guides): https://www.esrf.fr/Travel

Contact for the ESRF Travel Office
Monday to Friday - 8.00 to 12.00 and 13.00 to 17.00
Email: traveloff@esrf.fr
Phone: +33 (0)4.76.88.24.17

Photo by Andrijana Bozic on Unsplash