Preferred Booking Program

aggie enterprise logo
Aggie Expense wordmark button.
Aggie Logistics wordmark button.
Aggie Print wordmark button.
Aggie Ship wordmark button.

Welcome to the UC Davis Preferred Booking Program which can be used by employees reserving airline tickets for university travel, as well as local hotels. 

What is the Preferred Booking Program?

The Preferred Booking Program features university agreements with multiple airlines and local hotels that offer the vendor's best terms and conditions to university employees and guest travelers.  

Historically, this program was direct billed to a central university account and then the expenses were allocated back to the appropriate departmental chart string(s). That direct billing is being phased out in calendar year 2026. As part of that transition, reservations made with our preferred local hotels are no longer direct billed, as of March 16, 2026.  In the near future, direct billing for airline tickets will also be discontinued. We recommend that employees save their Travel Card information in AggieExpense to expedite reservations for airline tickets and hotels going forward.  

Preferred Booking Program: Main Menu

Participating Hotels

The following hotels are currently part of the Preferred Booking Program. Refer to the instructions in the following section on how to complete the reservation form so that your reservation is properly processed.

Davis Hotels
  • Aggie Inn
  • Best Western - University Lodge
  • Best Western Plus - Palm Court Inn
  • Hilton Garden Inn
  • Hyatt House
  • Hyatt Place (UC Davis campus)
  • Residence Inn
  • University Park Inn & Suites
  • The Vine Inn
Sacramento Hotels
  • Courtyard by Marriott
  • Fort Sutter Hotel
  • Hampton Inn & Suites
  • Home2Suites
  • Hyatt House (K Street)
  • Inn off Capitol Park
  • Residence Inn at Capitol Park
  • Residence Inn Northeast/CalExpo

Preferred Booking Program Hotel Reservation Instructions

The previous process of submitting a PBP Reservation Form ended on March 15, 2026 and is no longer available.

Guest travelers should use their Instant Card, use their own credit card, or the department employee may use their Travel Card, to make the hotel reservation directly with the hotel. 

University Rate Codes

When making the reservation, provide the applicable UC Davis rate code to ensure the correct rate is applied.  The rate code page requires a UCD login ID/Kerberos passphrase and is only viewable by UC Davis staff. Guest travelers do not have access to viewing the rate codes directly on the web page and must obtain the appropriate code from their department before making the reservation.

Reconcile Transactions in AggieExpense

Expenses for Preferred Booking Program purchases made with the Travel Card or Instant Card will import directly into the cardholder's profile in AggieExpense. Travel Card purchases will import into the UC Davis employee's profile; Instant Card expenses will import into the Non-Employee Profile to be reconciled by the Delegate.

The expenses also appear on the AggieExpense Unreconciled Expenses report in Cognos. 

  • These transactions should be reconciled in AggieExpense on an expense report within 60 calendar days of the trip or event end date. Refer to the AggieExpense Unreconciled Expenses report in Cognos for a list of transactions that are unreconciled.
  • Refer to the information further below on this page on what to do if the transactions do not appear in AggieExpense.

Managing Credits for Refunded Transactions

  • When a refund is issued for lodging or airfare booked through the Preferred Booking Program, the credit will automatically upload and display in AggieExpense.
  • Reconcile the credit as you did the original expense. An expense report can be submitted with a negative dollar amount for Preferred Booking Program credits.

Missing Preferred Booking Program Transactions: Non-Employees

  1. Before contacting the Travel Help Desk about missing Preferred Booking Program transactions, you must first confirm that the Non-Employee traveler has the correct traveler ID.
  2. If the traveler ID is not formatted as “N1000####” the first step is to create their profile using the Non-Employee Application.
  3. Confirm the correct Non-Employee AggieExpense traveler ID was used for the reservation.
  4. For local hotels, confirm the traveler ID is correct on both the Preferred Booking Program form and the hotel invoice.
  5. For airfare, confirm the traveler ID is correct on the airfare itinerary.
  6. If the Traveler ID is valid, email the Travel Help Desk:
    1. Subject line = Preferred Booking Program: [Traveler’s Name], [Traveler ID#].
    2. Attach = Airfare Itinerary or Local Hotel Preferred Booking Program form corresponding to the missing transaction.
  7. If the wrong Traveler ID was used, email the Travel Help Desk:
    1. Subject line = Preferred Booking Program: [Traveler’s Name], [Traveler ID#] (Use the correct ID here)
    2. In the email, note the incorrect ID that was used, and the correct ID that should be used. If the expense has not been imported into another (incorrect) profile, the Travel team will import the transaction into the correct traveler’s profile.
    3. Attach = Airfare Itinerary or Local Hotel Preferred Booking Program form corresponding to the missing transaction.

Unreconciled Preferred Booking Program Transactions

June 2025: See the Unreconciled Preferred Booking Program page for information on the Cognos report being discontinued and ad-hoc reports available at this time.

Unreconciled Preferred Booking Program expenses which have not been added to an AggieExpense report for over 1 year are no longer available for reconciliation.

These expenses were already charged to the department account when originally imported. As a reminder, all expenses must be reconciled in AggieExpense within 60 calendar days of the trip or event end date. 

If there is a need to change the chart string for a direct billed expense that is no longer available in AggieExpense due to its age, please complete an Aggie Enterprise Journal Voucher document. Please note: a Journal should only be processed when the transaction is no longer available in AggieExpense. 

For more information about the Journal process, see the instructional guide.