Glossary

This page defines key terms used throughout the Rahal corporate travel platform.

A

Allocation Type

How a budget's funds are distributed among users. There are two types:

• Per User: Each assigned user receives the full budget amount
• Shared Pool: All assigned users share a single pool of funds

Approval

The process where a manager or admin reviews and approves a booking request before it can be completed.

B

Board Basis

The meal plan included with a hotel booking:

Booking Mode

How users can make bookings under a policy:

• Direct Booking: Users book directly without approval
• Request Only: All bookings require approval
• Hybrid: In-policy bookings are direct; out-of-policy require approval

Booking Request

A travel booking that requires approval before completion. Created when:

• Policy requires approval for out-of-policy bookings
• Budget enforcement requires approval when exceeded
• Company uses Request Only booking mode

Budget

A spending limit for travel expenses. Can be assigned to individual users or shared across a group.

Budget Period

A time window (monthly, quarterly, or yearly) during which a budget is tracked and reset.

C

Cabin Class

The service level for a flight:

Company

An organization using Rahal for corporate travel. Each company has its own users, policies, budgets, and settings.

Company Role

A named set of permissions that can be assigned to users within a company. Rahal provides three predefined roles (Member, Manager, Admin) and supports custom roles.

Cost Center

An organizational unit for grouping and tracking travel spending. Used to organize budgets by department, project, or other business units.

D

Delegation

Permission for one user (the delegate) to access another user's (the delegator's) travelers and create bookings on their behalf.

Delegate

The user who receives delegation permissions and can book on behalf of another user.

Delegator

The user who grants delegation permissions, allowing another user to access their travelers.

Document Category

The type of travel document stored in the system:

Duration Tier

A policy rule component that varies budget limits or cabin class based on flight duration. Allows different rules for short, medium, and long flights.

E

Enforcement Mode

How a budget responds when spending exceeds the limit:

L

Lead Traveler

The primary traveler on a booking who receives confirmation emails and serves as the main contact.

O

Order

A completed booking that includes payment information and one or more reservations. Created when a booking is finalized or a booking request is completed.

P

Passport

A travel document stored in the system for a traveler. Each traveler can have multiple passports from different countries.

Permission

A specific capability that can be granted through a company role. Permissions control access to features like viewing users, managing policies, or processing booking requests.

Policy

A set of rules that control what can be booked and at what price. Policies define allowed cabin classes, price limits, star ratings, and what happens when rules are violated.

Policy Action

What happens when a booking matches or violates a policy rule:

Policy Hierarchy

The order in which policies are checked: User policy (if assigned) → Role policy (if assigned) → Company default policy.

Predefined Role

One of the three built-in company roles: Member, Manager, or Admin. These roles cannot be deleted and have fixed role codes.

Primary Passport

The default passport used for bookings when a traveler has multiple passports.

R

Reservation

An individual service (flight or hotel) within an order. An order can contain multiple reservations.

Rollover

The process of carrying unused budget funds from one period to the next. Can be configured as none, partial, or full.

Role Assignment

The association between a user and a company role, which grants the user that role's permissions.

S

Scope (Delegation)

The specific permissions granted in a delegation relationship:

Soft Delete

A deletion method where records are marked as deleted but retained in the database. Used for users, companies, and most entities to preserve history.

T

Traveler

A person who can be included in a booking. Users can create travelers for themselves, family members, or colleagues they book for regularly.

Traveler Type

The age-based category of a traveler:

Transaction (Budget)

A record of budget consumption or adjustment:

U

User

An authenticated person who can log into Rahal. Each user belongs to exactly one company and has exactly one role within that company.

V

Violation

When a booking doesn't meet policy requirements. Violations can trigger warnings, require approval, or block the booking depending on policy configuration.