Book the FedRooms rate using either your E-Gov System, your travel management center (TMC) or online at www.fedrooms.com.  If your agency allows, you may call the hotel directly and request the FedRooms rate.  As of today, there are more than 5,000 hotels covering more than 2,000 cities, which offer the FedRooms rate.  The FedRooms rate may be available to you even if your travel plans are for leisure.  Be sure to select Leisure as the reason when searching for the FedRooms rate.

When you book online using the FedRooms website, you will immediately receive an email confirmation from NoReply@Fedrooms.com.  Therefore, you will want to be sure not to delete the email.

FedRooms distributes a quarterly newsletter.  You may subscribe to this newsletter in order to stay abreast of the latest changes to the FedRooms program.

To learn more about this great program, you can take the free FedRooms 101 training webinar.  If you have any questions about the FedRooms program, a traveler may call them at 1-800-226-1741 or email them at hotels@fedrooms.com.

by Pam Morton

The Joint Federal Travel Regulation (JFTR) requires uniformed service members ordered to a U.S. Installation (as opposed to a geographic location like a town or city) to check for Government quarters availability (e.g. through their Commercial Travel Offices) at the site to which they are temporarily assigned.  The JFTR, par. U1045 applies. Travelers are required to adhere to his directive, but the four military lodging systems are not part of the system service members must use. The four lodging systems that are used by the DOD are:   Air Force Inns at www.dodlodging.net;  the Navy Gateway Inns & Suites at https://www.navy-lodge.com;  Army Lodging at  http://new.armymwr.com/travel/lodging/default.aspx,  and the Marine Corps Temporary Lodging Facilities at http://www.usmc-mccs.org/lodging/index.cfm?sid=rf&smid=1.

The four DOD lodging facilities have been supporting the military community long before programs such as FedRooms, or hotels that offered government rates and for federal travelers.   DOD lodging facilities offer rates that are far below what you will find on any of the other programs, and are a confirmed value for the dollar.  The DOD programs are competitive, and a have a place in the DTS.

By: G. W. McCurtis

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.

Corporate Procurement

The basis of most corporate travel negotiations is a trade-off between incremental market share to the supplier and discounted pricing to the corporation.  When negotiating contracts, corporations must be able to demonstrate their ability to shift market share to a given supplier.

Corporate Program Management

This ability to shift market share depends upon proactive monitoring and management of travel programs.  Key areas that suppliers look to for evidence of effective program management include:

• Supplier management – ensuring suppliers abide by contract requirements and assist the corporation in promoting use of the preferred program.
• Demand management – compelling travelers to use the preferred programs via established tools, policies and processes.
• Consolidated Data – Consolidated company-wide travel data, which includes booked data, credit card data, travel agency data, and supplier data as appropriate.
• Performance Monitoring – Best practice is to establish centralized management of travel programs either by an individual (typically a Corporate Travel Manager) or by a team (Travel Council).  This team communicates the program, trains travelers, and writes policy.  In addition, they determine Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to monitor program usage, establish corrective action plans and drive continuous improvement.
• Policy – The Travel Council sets and enforces travel policy.

I depict high-level corporate travel program components in the following diagram.

Federal Procurement

Now let us review travel in the federal market.  Although the government is not able to provide suppliers with the level of travel data put forth by most corporations, the government is proactive in procuring travel.  The government has preferred programs for all major areas of travel including airfare (CPP), lodging (FedRooms) and car rental (Rental Car Program).  Although rates are not negotiated in the truest sense (an exchange of volume for price discounts), rates are pre-determined and auditable.

Federal Program Management

The government has worked diligently in the recent past to establish and implement comprehensive travel programs.  It is helpful to review government travel with respect to the same categories provided in the corporate market above.  An assessment of the current state of government travel shows:

• Supplier management – GSA conducts audits of the GDS to ensure suppliers are correctly loading negotiated rates.  In addition, GSA staff regularly meet with suppliers to discuss future program enhancements.
• Demand management – Most Federal Agencies have installed and implemented one of three E-Gov Travel Systems.  These systems provide federal agencies the tool and structure needed to guide travelers towards use of preferred travel programs.
• Consolidated Data – Currently the government is unable to consolidate government-wide travel data.  However, GSA has a contract in place to compile data through implementation of the Business Travel Intelligence system, and meaningful results are expected in the near future.
• Performance Monitoring – By current design, there is no centralized body within the Federal government that is responsible for monitoring performance or any overall travel program management.  While GSA serves as a central body for procuring travel, performance to policy and compliance to preferred programs are left to individual federal agencies.  In practice, individual agencies do little to ensure usage of preferred travel programs.  This shortcoming breaks the continuum of procurement and program management.  Because future negotiations are heavily dependent upon historical program usage, this lack of proactive oversight significantly reduces the government’s ability to leverage their travel volume.
• Policy – GSA and DoD establish and set travel policy via the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) respectively.  In addition Standardized Regulations (DSSR) are issued by the Department of State for foreign travel.

I show the same travel components within the context of government travel in the following diagram.  As shown here, because the government does not proactively monitor program performance, the ability to leverage travel volume in future procurements is limited.

Summary

The federal government has taken great strides in developing a comprehensive travel program.  The government has workable solutions in place for supplier management, demand management, and travel policy.  Although consolidated government-wide travel data is not currently available, GSA does have a contract in place to provide it.  The biggest remaining challenge is centralized management of government-wide travel programs.  While a centralized approach to travel management would require that federal agencies turn over a small amount of control to a central body, the benefits of cost savings and higher traveler satisfaction would far outweigh this perceived loss of control.

Recommendation

I recommend that the federal government establish a government-wide travel program management office within GSA for the specific purpose of managing (monitoring performance, enforcing compliance, revising policy, etc) travel programs across the federal government.  Giving GSA the authority to proactively manage travel on behalf of all federal agencies would mimic corporate best practices in that it would align procurement with program management functions.  Without a centralized body managing government travel, the federal government will never be able to effectively leverage their $15+ Billion in annual travel spend.

by Ted Schuerman

Some travelers mistakenly think that the “Government rate” at hotels is the Government lodging per diem rate.  Yet this “Government rate” is not managed by the Federal Government at all.  The rate that is managed by the Government is called the FedRooms rate.

Hotels that offer the FedRooms rate participate in the Government’s FedRooms program.  What some Government travelers might not realize is that they should give “first consideration…to government lodging agreement programs such as FedRooms” (Federal Travel Regulation §301-11.11).  This passage in the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) was recently updated, since it used to read that Government travelers “must” give first consideration to FedRooms lodging facilities (cf. FTR §301-50.8).  In either case, what “first consideration” means to a particular traveler can vary.  I know many travelers have their hotel brand preferences, and to my knowledge, no consequences or enforcement is exercised against travelers who blatantly ignore the available FedRooms hotels.  Perhaps this is why the FTR was amended to remove the mandate of using FedRooms properties – it was too difficult to enforce.

Many travelers like to stay at a particular hotel chain, for example, which I will call “Hotel Chain A”.  As a general rule, “Hotel Chain A” has chosen not to participate in the FedRooms program.  Evidently this decision has something to do with hotel commissions.  From the data I have read and observed, “Hotel Chain A” is nonetheless a popular choice among Federal Government travelers.  According to the statistics listed in Government Executive magazine dated August 15, 2009 (Top Travel Vendors), “Hotel Chain A’s” properties were the most frequently used brand in Fiscal Year 2008 sales.  Overall, this family of hotels made up 23.2% of the Government market share that fiscal year.  So if Government travelers are going to stay at “Hotel Chain A”, regardless whether or not they are FedRooms hotels, why would “Hotel Chain A” choose to participate in FedRooms and pay the participation fee?

In regards to the FedRooms rate, I was taught that we were guaranteed to get a room at or below per diem when the FedRooms rate was chosen.  In reality, though, there can be a problem getting the correct per diem rate when the FedRooms rate is booked around the start of a new fiscal year.  If the per diem lodging allocation changes from one fiscal year to the next, some hotels’ computer systems are not always updated with the new per diem rate.  So I would recommend that if there is a change in the lodging per diem allocation between fiscal years, verify that the FedRooms rate falls within the lodging per diem amount.

Another regulation that travelers do not know (or blatantly ignore) is that of the mandated use of the Travel Management Service (TMS) to book their lodging accommodations (FTR §301-11.11).  There are exceptions to this rule (FTR §301-50.4; FTR §301-73.102; FTR §301-73.104; FTR §301-50.7), but it’s hard to imagine that most travelers fall under one of the exceptions.  When booking hotel rooms, some travelers choose to book their room directly with the hotel by calling the hotel or going to the hotel’s website.  Yet the FTR clearly states that travelers “must” use the TMS to book lodging (save for an exception).  Again, I think this is an area that is not enforced or followed, and I wonder why the Government keeps this regulation in the FTR when it seems to be a rule that is generally ignored.

After using my agency’s cumbersome ETS online booking engine, it is easy to understand why travelers choose to contact a hotel directly to make their lodging reservations.  Sometimes it is difficult to find a particular hotel in the online booking engine, and it takes additional work to get accurate room rate information.  It is very frustrating when I am trying to find a hotel within per diem, and our online booking engine will not reflect the correct room rates.  One screen in the online ETS will show a hotel with rooms at per diem, but when the hotel is selected, the next screen will show the actual hotel rates (usually above per diem).

Another step which is better to manage directly with the hotel is the cancellation process.  If a traveler cancels his reservation directly with the hotel, this can save the agency the extra expense of service fees sometimes charged by the ETS’s Travel Management Center (TMC).

In addition, our online ETS does not always have updated FedRooms information.  I have seen some hotel properties listed as “out of policy” (i.e. not FedRooms hotels), but they still offer a FedRooms rate.  Why would they appear out of policy if they offer a FedRooms rate?

Another problem with booking a hotel through the online ETS is that any hotel can be added to the online booking engine.  If there are problems in terms of hotel safety or quality, these hotels can still show up in the booking engine.  I have even seen a non-FEMA safe hotel show up in the online ETS search.  I would have thought that any non-FEMA approved hotels would be blocked from the ETS search engine, but perhaps this is a GDS error.  Needless to say, there are a number of reasons why travelers would rather skip using the online booking engine to manage their hotel reservations.

Unfortunately, I also had a bad experience when using the Fedrooms.com website.  The site clearly stated that I must call the hotel directly to cancel the rooms, even though the initial reservations were booked online.  When I tried to cancel my reservations as instructed by the FedRooms.com website, the hotel had no record of my booking.  My credit card was charged for the rooms, even though I attempted to cancel the reservations in a timely manner.  Thankfully, FedRooms customer service was able to help me get a refund for my charges, but nonetheless, all of the hassle in attempting to cancel my reservations seemed unnecessary.  If we want Government travelers to use the online ETS or FedRooms.com to book hotels, we need to make sure that the booking and cancellation process runs smoothly.  Sadly, I cannot recommend either our ETS’ online booking engine or Fedrooms.com as user-friendly websites to book hotels.  Overall, I wish that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) would remove the mandate to use the ETS to book lodging accommodations.

This fiscal year, I have noticed another challenge in regards to booking a hotel for Government travel.  Many urban locations, such as New York City and Washington, DC, have had their lodging per diem allocations lowered in Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11).  In FY09, the highest lodging per diem amount in Washington, DC was $233 per night.  This fiscal year, the maximum lodging per diem allowance (at the height of the season) only reaches $211 per night.  Similarly, in FY09, the Manhattan lodging per diem allocation during peak season reached $360 per night.  Yet in FY11, the highest lodging per diem allowance only reaches $295 per night.  The lowering of the per diem lodging allocation was probably caused by lower hotel rates prevalent in a hurting economy.  When GSA based their per diem analysis during an unusually lower-priced hotel year, it seems to have skewed the hotel rates for the upcoming fiscal year.  Thankfully, there was recently a re-evaluation of per diem rates, and certain locations (like Manhattan) had their lodging per diem allocations increased.

Unfortunately, the Washington, DC area did not receive a per diem rate adjustment.  This fiscal year, it has sometimes been difficult to find available hotels in Washington, DC within the per diem rate.  I don’t blame the hotels, since they obviously want to make a profit, and offering a large number of rooms at the FedRooms rate may constitute a loss.  I’m afraid that if the lodging per diem rate becomes too low, though, many hotels will choose not to participate in the FedRooms program or may not offer any rooms within per diem at all.

With the wealth of lodging booking options available to Government travelers, it behooves the Government to make regulation-compliant hotel booking as user-friendly as possible.  In addition, if GSA  wants to write regulations regarding the booking of hotel rooms, there needs to be better enforcement of these mandates.

By K.J. Martin

*NB: The above post is my own personal opinion and does not reflect the opinion of my agency or of the Federal Government.*

For federal government travelers, there are significant differences between the FedRooms rate and “government” rates. The FedRooms rate is the only rate offered under the government-wide and government-sponsored hotel program and is a GSA sponsored hotel program. The “government” rates are rates that have not been negotiated on behalf of the federal government.

The FedRooms program guarantees:

§ Rates at or below per diem
§ 4:00 pm or later cancellation the day of arrival with no penalties
§ FEMA compliancy
§ Acceptance of government credit cards and other forms of payment
§ No hidden cost or penalties attached to the rate
§ No charge for early check-out

The unmanaged “government” rates do not provide these guarantees.

As the above information deals with federal government travelers on official business, what some travelers may not know is that FedRooms can also be used for leisure travel. Because federal travelers requested it, FedRooms has made it easier than ever to access the FedRooms rate for leisure travel. FedRooms rates for leisure travel must be booked directly from FedRooms by phone, through the Fedrooms website, or by contacting the hotel directly and asking for the FedRooms rate. An eGov travel system cannot be used to book leisure travel.

by Susan Garrett

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.

For the convenience of travelers, FedRooms offers a website which offers helpful information.  There’s a convenient search page for travelers to easily find a FedRooms hotel.  This site also offers an overview of the FedRooms program, a traveler newsletter, a screen where travelers may sign-up to receive special offers and updates, and an opportunity for travelers to provide feedback.

Federal Government employees (military and civilian) can always use the FedRooms rate when on official travel but can also use the reduced rates for leisure travel at select FedRooms properties.

The FedRooms program offers more than 4,100 hotels in more than 1,400 cities around the world which is an increase from 636 hotels in 2004.  They also offer a help desk to answer program-related questions.

It is important for the government traveler to realize that the FedRooms rate and ‘Government’ rate are not the same.  The ‘Government’ rates may have hidden fees and cancellation policies that add up to a larger bill at checkout and 15 percent of ‘Government’ rates are over per diem.  The FedRooms rate can be accessed through other avenues, such as the E Gov Travel system we currently use in our office.

by Cindy Moore

Disclaimer: The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.  Use of this equipment is consistent with the agency’s policy governing limited personal use.

Once the data does become available, the government will not be left without challenges. The most significant remaining challenge is that the roles and responsibilities of travel manager must evolve accordingly. Currently the primary role of federal travel managers is to ensure travelers understand and comply with policy, which are two necessary and important roles. A third, and somewhat overlooked role, is to modify traveler behavior to minimize costs.

An example is the FedRooms program, which currently is not a mandatory program. Although not mandatory, travelers could save the federal government money if they booked hotels using the FedRooms program. However, program usage is only 2% demonstrating that the goal of saving money is tertiary. Some might argue that saving money is the job of the procurement folks. I would argue the opposite, in that it is the travel managers who provide the procurement officials with the “ammunition” (traveler volume, spend, and compliance results) needed to effectively leverage the governments significant purchasing power.

By Ted Schuerman

In 2004 the General Services Administration (GSA) partnered with Carlson Wagonlit’s Hotel Solutions Group to redesign the government’s lodging program. The program has undergone several significant changes–one of the most obvious is the transition from the legacy program’s name, Federal Premier Lodging Program (FPLP), to the new program name, FedRooms. Additionally, the number of participating properties in the FedRooms program has increased from just over 600 in 2004 to more than 5,000 hotels in more than 1,600 cities around the world.

FedRooms takes the guesswork out of booking hotels. Travelers and document preparers can be confident that the rooms they are booking through the program are compliant with government policy. FedRooms offers travelers benefits such as:

• Rates are at or below per diem
• Reservations can be cancelled up until 4 p.m. on the day of arrival without a penalty
• No hidden costs or penalties are attached to the rate
• No fees for early checkout
• 66% of the FedRooms properties offer last room availability

Our E Travel System makes it easy to book a FedRooms property by setting the default lodging search tab to display all available FedRooms properties. In addition, all hotel properties are marked with the FedRooms logo on the hotel information page, and the FedRooms rate is highlighted on the search results page.

The implementation of E GOV Travel and GSA’s new lodging program, FedRooms, has greatly improved the process for booking lodging that is incompliance with government per diem rates and travel regulations.

by Carole Byrd

Disclaimer: The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.  Use of this equipment is consistent with the agency’s policy governing limited personal use.

To be considered fire-safe, lodging facilities must have:

• hard-wired, single-station smoke detectors in each guestroom in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standard 72; and
• an automatic sprinkler system, with a sprinkler head in each guest room in compliance with NFPA standards 13 or 13R. Properties three stories or lower in height are exempt from the sprinkler requirement.

Over 400 Americans died in hotel fires in the 1970s and 1980s.  Later investigations revealed that if smoke detectors or sprinklers had been in place, the loss of lives would have been none or greatly reduced.

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is tasked with maintaining and publishing the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 National Master List of all establishments that meet the fire-safe requirements.

Lodging facilities must register with USFA and get their state’s approval that they are fire-safe in order to be added to the Master List.  A benefit to being added to this list is participation in the government’s travel business.

To find out if an establishment is fire-safe, review the list at www.usfa.dhs.gov/applications/hotel.

The use of FedRooms, a government wide lodging program, ensures that all participating facilities meet the fire-safe requirements.  There are over 6,000 properties on the current listing of FedRooms’ preferred hotels at http://www.gsa.gov/fedrooms.

By Pam Enlow

The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.