Clark Paulsen, Division Chief

On-Line Rental Car Reservations

ResX allows travelers to make rental car reservations without first making airline reservations. The system provides a direct link to perform this function, the Car icon.

The system's default car preference is a standard size vehicle with Enterprise Rent A Car ™, the Department's primary rental car company. The system is currently limited to rentals in airport cities.

Below are instructions to guide the traveler through the process of reserving a rental car.

Login to ResX

An employee must have a personal ResX account before ResX can be accessed and used. For instructions on how to request a ResX account, click here.

To begin, open ResX by clicking on the icon in the left margin or by logging in at https://www.resx.com/login/sw_caltrans/.

Enter the following information and then click the GO button.

Employee ID:	Employee ID number (without the 's')
Password:	Personal password

After the traveler logs in a Welcome page will appear. The Welcome page references general Department travel policies, instructions, and refers the traveler to the Caltrans Travel Guide and ResX reference information, click continue to gain access to the Home page.

Rental Car Reservations

To make rental car reservations, click the Car icon on the Home page. The following screen will appear:

From this screen a traveler may:

• Reserve a rental car.
• Make a hotel reservation
• View or edit Trips and Templates.
• Review or change Travel Preferences.
• View the Department's travel policies.

Enter Travel Plans

The traveler should respond to the hypothetical questions "Where do you want to pick-up the car?" and "When do you want the car?" by following these directions:

1. Pick-Up Location: Enter the airport city name or airport code (e.g. Sacramento or SMF)
   
   
2. Pick-up Date: Enter the date (i.e. mm/dd/yy) or click the calendar tool and select the specific date.
   
   
3. Pick-up Time: Using the pull down arrow select the time the vehicle will be picked up.
   
   
4. Drop-off Date: Enter the date the car will be returned.
   
   
5. Drop-off Time: Using the pull down arrow select the time the vehicle will be returned.
   
   
6. Click the Hotel button if you know you will need a hotel room and have not yet done so from another screen.
   
   
7. Itinerary Preference:
   • Suggested Itinerary (default)
   • Custom Build Itinerary
8. Travel Preference:
   1. Car Travel Preferences:
      The default limits the search to a compact size vehicle from Enterprise Rent-A-Car ™, Alamo Rent-A-Car ™, or Budget Rent A Car ™.
      
      Enterprise is Caltrans preferred vendor as the company offers a special rate for rentals made through ResX. Users can change the vehicle type by selecting the preferred car type. Changing the vehicle to a larger vehicle will require the user to justify the request in the Reporting Information screen of the system. This screen will appear later in the reservation process.
      
      
   2. Hotel Travel Preferences:
      You can, at this time, also make your hotel reservations. 
      
      
9. Click SEARCH.

Off-Airport Locations

ResX has the capability of reserving cars at off-airport locations; however, the capability is limited to the city the airport resides.

To use this function, click Off-Airport Location on the Car home page and enter the following information:

1. Location: Enter the city name (e.g. Sacramento).
   
   
2. Click SEARCH.

   The traveler may be asked to verify the city by selecting it from a drag down menu. Click SEARCH to proceed.

3. ResX will provide a list of rental car locations from which the traveler may choose, click on the desired location, and then click SELECT to continue
   
   If ResX does not list a specific rental car location, the user may fax an approved Form FA0008, "Request for Travel Ticket", to Brooke's Travel, Inc. (Brooke's) at (877) 612-6105. Brooke's will reserve the car at the specified rental location and e-mail the itinerary to the traveler.

4. Pick-up Date: Enter the date (i.e. mm/dd/yy) or click the calendar tool and select the specific date.
   
   
5. Pick-up Time: Using the pull down arrow select the time the vehicle will be picked up.
   
   
6. Drop-off Date: Enter the date the car will be returned.
   
   
7. Drop-off Time: Using the pull down arrow select the time the vehicle will be returned.
   
   
8. Click SEARCH.

Car Availability

Based on the traveler's entered travel preferences, ResX will provide a list of available rental cars. Select the preferred reservation and click Reserve.

Reporting Information

All reservation requests require cost coding. It is the user's responsibility to enter correct cost coding information to be used to record travel expenditures. To ensure accurate expenditure reporting, it is critical that accurate information is entered in the following fields:

1. Larger Car Justification: Applicable if a car larger than a standard vehicle was selected.
2. Source District.
3. Source Unit.
4. Charge District.
5. Expenditure Authorization.
6. Respond to "Are you conducting business outside of California?" by selecting NO or YES as appropriate.
   If conducting out-of-state travel, the traveler is required to fax an approved Form FA0257, "Request for Approval of Out-of-State Travel", to the Division of Accounting at (916) 227-8662 when the reservation is made.
7. Sub job (if applicable).
8. Special Designation (if applicable).
9. Purpose of Trip.

Trip Authorizer

The traveler must select a trip authorizer to approve the trip request. The traveler may scroll through the trip authorizer list to find and select the correct individual. The list of trip authorizers is sorted by first name. If the traveler's supervisor is not on the list, contact Katie Kennedy at (916) 227-8652 or email her at katie_kennedy@dot.ca.gov.

Once the trip authorizer is selected, click the CONTINUE button.

Itinerary Submitted to Supervisor for Approval

If the traveler needs to modify the itinerary to include an airline or hotel reservation, he or she may click the Air or Hotel icons just above the rental car information. Additional information regarding airline and hotel reservations is available in Airline Reservations and Hotel Reservations.

ResX will send an e-mail to the selected trip authorizer requesting approval of the traveler's trip request. A copy of the e-mail is sent to the traveler. The e-mail generated by ResX has an e-mail address of system.email. The e-mail will be sent to the e-mail addresses listed in the traveler's and the trip authorizer's profiles.

The e-mail the trip authorizer receives notifies him or her that a trip has been requested, summarizes the traveler's itinerary, and provides links to either approve or deny the request. When the trip authorizer responds to the trip request, a second e-mail will be sent to both the traveler and the trip authorizer indicating that the trip was approved or denied.

Please Note: All requests submitted through ResX have to be approved or canceled by 4:45 p.m. the same business day.  Caltrans travel counselors at Brooke's are available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. It is the traveling employee's (or their travel planner's) responsibility to ensure requests are either approved or canceled the same business day.

Approved Trip

If the trip request is approved, the Department's travel agency, Brooke's, finalizes the request and e-mails the traveler the final trip itinerary.

Denied Trip

If the trip request is denied, a denial does not cancel an itinerary. The traveler must logon to ResX and cancel the request.

Change or Cancel Reservations

Travelers may be required to either change or cancel reservations due to changing circumstances. All changes or cancellations must be made either on-line through ResX or by contacting Brooke's. Caltrans' travel counselors at Brooke's are available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday. Employees must not make changes directly with the airlines.

• How do I change a reservation if I have not received the final itinerary?
  
  To change/cancel a reservation before the finalized itinerary is issued by Brooke's,
  • Logon to ResX
  • Select Trip List
  • Select View to modify the request
• How do I cancel a reservation if I have not received the final itinerary?
  
  Prior to receiving the final itinerary from Brooke's:
  • Logon to ResX
  • Select Trip List
  • Select Cancel Reservation beside the appropriate trip under "Pending Trips"

Once an itinerary has been issued, all cancellations will need to be made through Brooke's either by email: CaltransTravelHelp@statetravel.net or phone at (916) 612-6105 or (877) 612-6105 or by fax at (916) 442-3716 to make changes to your reservations. Caltrans travel counselors at Brooke's are available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

Commercial Vehicle Reservations Required In Emergencies

An after-hour and weekend service is available for use in emergency situations only. Employees who incur these fees may be liable to reimburse the Department for the difference in service fee if the last minute travel arrangements are a result of the failure to plan in advance.

• For emergency/weekend service request:
  Fax an approved Request for Travel Ticket, Form FA0008 to Brooke's at (916) 442-3716 then call Brooke's at (877) 612-6105 for assistance/follow-up. The next working day an approved "Request for Travel Ticket" form, FA0008, must be faxed to the Travel Policy Section at (916) 227-8662. An explanation detailing why the reservation was not requested during regular business hours must be included.
• Supervisor unavailable for approval during emergency/weekend travel request
  If you are unable to have a supervisor approve your commercial vehicle request via email or through fax, you will need to provide the travel agency with a personal credit card number and the cost for the rental car will be billed to it. You will be reimbursed for the travel cost via the Travel Expense Claim process (also requiring supervisory approval).

Designating a Travel Planner

The Travel Planners category allows the account holder to view and designate travel planners authorized to make travel arrangements on his or her behalf. When designating a travel planner, the account holder must designate an individual who has an established ResX account. For more information on Travel Planners click here.

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This page last updated: 3 February, 2010 7:32 AM