Domestic business travel

Last updated on 21 December 2023

Before any official travel on behalf of the university, the employee concerned should evaluate whether the journey is absolutely necessary or whether there are online alternatives, and how the trip could be made with as little negative impact on the environment as possible.

The employee makes periodic agreements with his/her supervisor. Specifically, this means that if you travel within the Netherlands, you will be reimbursed for accommodation costs if:

The journey is longer than four hours and is further than one kilometre from the workplace.
You travel by train (2nd class) or other public transport.
You may only use your own vehicle for official travel with permission from your supervisor, and only in cases where, for example, items need to be transported or the use of public transport would be disproportionately time-consuming. You should preferably travel using your personal NS Business Card.

Documents

Regulation Official travel

Reimbursement of accommodation expenses

In the case of domestic official travel, you will be reimbursed for essential and actually incurred costs of accommodation, meals and for minor expenses during the day and evening in cases where a domestic trip lasts longer than four hours and is more than one kilometre away from the workplace.

Please note: The maximum reimbursement per day is equal to the amounts shown in the table for accommodation expenses in the Collective Labour Agreement for central government staff.

Reimbursement of travel costs per 1 January 2022
Small expenses during the day	€5,64	no additional conditions apply
Small expenses in the evening	€16,82	you are entitled to this if you stay overnight on a subsequent mission because of your domestic trip
Accomodation	€115,36	per night
Breakfast	€11,27	this applies if you stayed the night before because of your domestic trip
Lunch	€17,44	this applies to every period from 12:00 to 14:00 that falls within your domestic trip
Dinner	€26,39	this applies to every period from 18:00 to 21:00 that falls within your domestic trip

Claims are to be submitted using the self service claim system. Use the blue button 'Take action now' on this page.

NS-Business Card

New employees can request a card from the HR Service Desk. You can find more information on the page NS-Business Card for employees.
Please note: the NS-Business Card is intended only for domestic business travel and not for commuting or private trips.
Booking a hotel

For overnight stays in hotels, you need to book and submit expense claims yourself using the digital claim procedure.
Please note that reimbursement for essential and actually incurred costs of accommodation, meals and for minor expenses during the day and evening only applies in cases where a domestic trip lasts longer than four hours and is more than one kilometre away from the workplace. Also see the information above under ‘Reimbursement of accommodation expenses.’

Why choose sustainable travel?

We all know that travelling – and particularly air travel – leads to a lot of CO₂emissions. VU Amsterdam accepts its responsibility for people and for the planet by providing value-driven academic education, research and knowledge transfer. Sustainability is one of VU Amsterdam’s priority areas. By choosing different options around travel wherever possible, we want to contribute to reducing CO₂ emissions.

For this reason, we are asking employees who are considering making a trip on behalf of the university to evaluate whether that trip is really necessary, whether there are online alternatives, and how the trip could be made with as little damage to the environment as possible. This applies to both domestic and international travel.

Sustainable business travel

International business travel

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