FedRooms ®is the official government- wide, GSA sponsored lodging program. The program is compliant with Federal Travel Regulations and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and available to all federal government and military personnel. The program was created in 2004 and is currently the largest managed hotel program in the world, offering federal travelers rates at or below per diem with over 7,000 hotels to choose from in prime locations.
Additional benefits of the program to the travelers include:
- 4 p.m. or later day-of-arrival cancel policy
- No early departure fees
- No minimum stay requirements
- No reservation deposits
- No add on fees
The FedRooms® program offers benefits to the government and private industry lodging providers. The government is able to negotiate a lower price for federal travelers due to volume of activity throughout the federal government. The hotels benefit by having higher occupancy rates due to the additional federal commitment.
Upon the introduction of the program, there was some initial confusion on the part of some travelers. Many agencies mandate their travelers use an E-travel system with an integrated booking engine for lodging. Around the same time GSA introduced FedRooms® and strongly recommended the program for choosing lodging. Confusion was resolved when travelers were informed that the e-Travel systems were accessing the FedRooms® repository when presenting lodging options to the traveler.
FedRooms® rates are available through your agency’ s online E-Gov Travel booking tool, the website located at FedRooms.com, a travel agent, or simply by calling a participating hotel and requesting the FedRooms® rate. A listing of all participating hotels can be found on the website. Any questions can be answered by contacting the FedRooms® HelpDesk at (800) 225-1741.
By Debra Sams
“The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.