Can I stop my corporate client's staff from booking flights and hotels that are more expensive than their company allows?

Yes, in most cases you can, as long as the rules are agreed with that client and set up on their account before their staff start booking. A corporate travel setup normally lets you record what each company allows, such as economy cabin only on shorter flights, a limit on what they will pay per night for a hotel in a given city, or an airline and hotel chain their staff should use where there is a choice. When an employee logs in and searches, what they pick is checked against those rules.

You usually have a choice about how strict it is. The system can hide or block anything outside the rules, or it can let the employee carry on but mark the booking as outside policy, ask them for a reason and send it to their manager to approve. Most companies prefer the softer version, because a hard block causes phone calls to your office when someone genuinely needs a later flight or the only hotel near the meeting is a dearer one.

Be honest with your client about what the rules can read. The check depends on what information the supplier or API sends back with each result, and that is not the same everywhere. Cabin class, airline and total fare are usually reliable, while things like fare conditions, room type or hotel grading can be missing or described differently by different suppliers. The rules also only apply to what their staff book through your portal, so trips booked direct with an airline or over the phone will not be covered unless your team enters them.

Ask each corporate client for their travel policy in plain words, decide together which rules are hard stops and which are only warnings, then check with us which of those can actually be read from the suppliers you are connected to before you promise it.