If you need to reimburse a visitor or someone unaffiliated with MIT for travel expenses, the first place to start is Concur, MIT’s online expense reporting tool.
Create a guest profile

If your department has a Guest Profile in Concur, MIT’s online travel and expense reporting tool, create the visitor’s expense report there. Unlike employee reimbursements which are direct deposited into an employee’s bank account, all expense reports created in Guest Profiles generate paper checks.

Be sure to use the visitor’s legal name in the guest name field. If your department does not have a guest profile in Concur, ask VPF Travel and Card Services to set one up for you.

Decide where you want to send the check

If you want the check mailed directly to your guest, fill in the guest’s mailing address in the guest address fields. Please note that unlike employee reimbursements that are done via direct deposit, guest reimbursements are processed and mailed by a third party, and not mailed by MIT. 

Some DLCs prefer to have the visitor’s travel expense check sent to their department so they can mail it to their guests with other correspondence, including thank-yous.

For guests from outside the U.S., it is also common to put the check into a package with other materials, to ensure the address is correct (see Step 3 below) and to avoid checks being lost or stolen.

If you want the check mailed to your department, put in MIT’s street address (77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139) and your department’s building and room number in the address field, and write the guest’s name, followed “c/o” and the MIT expense submitter’s name. You can then mail the check along with other correspondence to the guest via FedEx or similar express delivery.

Avoid foreign characters in a visitor’s name or address

While it is important to use appropriate foreign characters (such as é or ñ) in personal correspondence, MIT’s financial systems do not accommodate these characters. When the expense report goes from Concur to SAP for payment, these characters are not recognized and are replaced with question marks. As a result, the visitor’s check may not get delivered or their bank won’t accept the check with an incorrect address. If this happens, you will have to file a new expense report in Concur without foreign characters in the visitor’s name and address. To avoid this extra step and delay, do not use foreign characters when reimbursing a visitor’s travel expenses.

The Details

Create a guest profile

If your department has a Guest Profile in Concur, MIT’s online travel and expense reporting tool, create the visitor’s expense report there. Unlike employee reimbursements which are direct deposited into an employee’s bank account, all expense reports created in Guest Profiles generate paper checks.

Be sure to use the visitor’s legal name in the guest name field. If your department does not have a guest profile in Concur, ask VPF Travel and Card Services to set one up for you.

Decide where you want to send the check

If you want the check mailed directly to your guest, fill in the guest’s mailing address in the guest address fields. Please note that unlike employee reimbursements that are done via direct deposit, guest reimbursements are processed and mailed by a third party, and not mailed by MIT. 

Some DLCs prefer to have the visitor’s travel expense check sent to their department so they can mail it to their guests with other correspondence, including thank-yous.

For guests from outside the U.S., it is also common to put the check into a package with other materials, to ensure the address is correct (see Step 3 below) and to avoid checks being lost or stolen.

If you want the check mailed to your department, put in MIT’s street address (77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139) and your department’s building and room number in the address field, and write the guest’s name, followed “c/o” and the MIT expense submitter’s name. You can then mail the check along with other correspondence to the guest via FedEx or similar express delivery.

Avoid foreign characters in a visitor’s name or address

While it is important to use appropriate foreign characters (such as é or ñ) in personal correspondence, MIT’s financial systems do not accommodate these characters. When the expense report goes from Concur to SAP for payment, these characters are not recognized and are replaced with question marks. As a result, the visitor’s check may not get delivered or their bank won’t accept the check with an incorrect address. If this happens, you will have to file a new expense report in Concur without foreign characters in the visitor’s name and address. To avoid this extra step and delay, do not use foreign characters when reimbursing a visitor’s travel expenses.

Did You Know?

Expenses not directly related to the business purpose of your travel—fitness club fees and movie rentals, for example—will not be reimbursed by MIT.
MIT offers mobile travel-related tools and applications, such as TripLink and the Concur mobile app in the App Center of Concur.
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