Hotel Policies

In Juno, hotels are selected based on configurable selection “strategies.”

Unlike an employee travel booking tool, where a traveler typically selects from a list of in-policy hotels, Juno intelligently selects the best hotel for your guests based upon your configured strategies.

This prescriptive, guided booking process ensures guests get the best hotel for their visit while optimizing T&E spend.

For any given saved address, Juno can use one of three different hotel selection strategies:

• Default Hotel Policy: Uses your global hotel policy settings (selection process + room policy) to find hotels based on star rating, price limits, preferred chains, refundability, and room types
• Stack Rank: Books hotels from a priority-ordered list, regardless of price or distance
• Best of Preferred: Selects the best hotel from a specific list of approved hotels, optimizing for price or distance to the event location

You can define location-specific strategies that override the default, and if a location-specific strategy fails to find available hotels, the system will automatically fall back to your Default Hotel Policy.

Default Hotel Policy

The Default Hotel Policy defines your global hotel settings that automatically find and book hotels based on configurable criteria. This policy includes both selection process settings (star rating, price limits, preferred chains) and room policy settings (refundability, room types).

Selection Process determines which hotels to consider:

• Searches for hotels within a radius of the event location using coordinates
• Filters results by minimum star rating and maximum price per night
• Can optimize for preferred hotel chains with configurable price and distance buffers
• Serves as the fallback when location-specific strategies don’t find available hotels

Room Policy determines booking preferences:

• Controls when to book non-refundable vs. refundable rooms
• Defines acceptable room type configurations

This unified policy ensures consistent hotel selection and booking preferences across all destinations.

Selection Process Settings

Minimum Star Rating

Set the baseline quality standard for accommodations (1–5 stars).

Considerations:

• Higher ratings typically mean higher costs
• Consider traveler comfort vs. budget constraints
• Different ratings may be appropriate for different regions

Maximum Price Per Night

Set the spending limit for hotel accommodations to control costs.

Configuration:

• Dollar amount - Maximum nightly rate
• Currency - USD, EUR, etc.
• Taxes Included - Whether limit includes taxes/fees

Best Practices:

• Research average rates for key destinations
• Consider seasonal pricing variations
• Account for currency fluctuations

Optimize for Preferred Chains

Enable selection that favors preferred hotel chains while considering price and location.

When Enabled:

• System prioritizes preferred chains
• Uses buffer percentages for price and distance
• Falls back to non-preferred options when needed

When Disabled:

• System selects purely based on price and location
• Ignores brand preferences
• May result in lower costs but less consistent experience

Room Policy Settings

Room policy settings control the type and refundability of rooms that Juno will book. These settings are configured alongside your selection process settings as part of your Default Hotel Policy.

When should Juno book a non-refundable room?

This setting controls when Juno will choose non-refundable hotel rates over refundable ones.

Available Options:

• When cheaper - Juno will book a non-refundable room when it’s cheaper than a refundable room
• Never - Juno will never book a non-refundable room
• When both cheaper and meeting certain conditions - Juno will book a non-refundable room if it’s cheaper and meets specified conditions (requires condition configuration)

Considerations:

• Non-refundable rates can offer cost savings but limit flexibility
• Refundable rates provide booking flexibility but typically cost 10-30% more
• Conditional booking allows for sophisticated rules based on trip characteristics

What room types should we consider when booking?

Define which room configurations Juno should consider when searching for accommodations. This setting helps ensure guests are booked into appropriate room types based on your organization’s preferences.

Stack Rank Strategy

The Stack Rank strategy books hotels from a specific priority-ordered list, selecting the first available hotel in your ranked order regardless of price or distance considerations.

How it works:

• Provide an ordered list of specific hotels for a location
• The system searches for availability among only those hotels
• Books the first available hotel in your specified order
• Respects optional price limits if configured
• Falls back to Default Hotel Policy if no preferred hotels are available

Best for:

• Locations with negotiated corporate rates at specific properties
• Events with recommended or required accommodations
• Destinations where you want guaranteed consistency
• Compliance with client accommodation requirements
• Corporate headquarters with established preferred properties

Configuration Options:

• Hotel list - Ordered list of specific hotels (first = highest priority)
• Price Limit - Optional maximum price per night constraint
• Conditions - Available vs. Available with Price Limit

Best of Preferred Strategy

The Best of Preferred strategy selects the optimal hotel from a curated list of approved hotels, optimizing based on either price or distance to the event location.

How it works:

• Provide a list of approved hotels for a location
• The system searches for availability among only those hotels
• Optimizes selection based on your chosen priority (price or distance)
• Respects price limits if configured
• Falls back to Default Hotel Policy if no preferred hotels are available

Optimization Options:

• Price priority - Selects the lowest-cost option from available preferred hotels
• Distance priority - Selects the closest option from available preferred hotels

Best for:

• Locations with multiple acceptable hotel options
• Balancing cost control with location convenience
• Seasonal rate optimization across approved properties
• Frequent travel destinations where you want controlled flexibility

Configuration Options:

• Priority setting - Optimize for price vs. distance
• Hotel list - Approved hotels eligible for selection
• Price Limit - Optional maximum price per night constraint

Strategy Selection and Fallback

You can define location-specific hotel selection strategies that override your default settings. Here’s how strategy selection works:

Location-specific configuration

• Define a specific strategy (Stack Rank or Best of Preferred) for any location
• Each location can have its own strategy, hotel list, and price limits
• Locations without specific strategies automatically use the Default Hotel Policy

Automatic fallback logic

When a location-specific strategy (Stack Rank or Best of Preferred) fails to find available hotels, the system automatically falls back to your Default Hotel Policy. This ensures travelers can always be accommodated even when preferred options aren’t available.

Fallback scenarios:

• No hotels in your preferred list have availability for the travel dates
• All preferred hotels exceed your configured price limit
• Preferred hotels exist but don’t meet minimum quality standards
• Technical issues prevent searching specific hotel properties

Fallback behavior:

• System seamlessly switches to Default Hotel Policy
• Uses your global hotel policy settings (star rating, price limit, preferred chains, room policy)
• Searches all available hotels in the area, not just your preferred list
• Maintains logging of both the failed preferred strategy and successful fallback selection

Sharing Approval Details

Approvers can share hotel approval request details via email with external stakeholders who need visibility into approval decisions. This is particularly useful for:

• Consulting with travel managers or budget owners on rate exceptions
• Coordinating with executives on premium hotel upgrades or extensions
• Sharing policy violation details with finance or compliance teams
• Getting input from department heads before approving shoulder night requests

When sharing a hotel approval request:

1. Navigate to the hotel approval that needs review
2. Click the Share button
3. Enter the recipient’s email address
4. Optionally add a message providing context about why approval is being requested
5. The recipient receives an email with complete hotel details including property information, room rates, dates, and any policy violations such as shoulder nights or rate overages

The shared email contains all relevant approval information but does not include action buttons, as only designated approvers can approve or reject hotel bookings within the Juno platform.

Related Features

• Custom Fields - Create location or event-based conditional logic
• Policy Selection Rules - Apply different hotel policies based on traveler attributes