The government has implemented an excellent hotel program providing great benefits to its agencies while lowering cost to provide the best services to its travelers.
Hotels have contracted with the government per diem rates, different types of properties, special amenities and charge cards, special negotiation rates and specialized lodging programs.
The travelers have access to great hotels, meeting their needs and beyond. In addition to the great hotel services and amenities the travelers are provided with a convenient payment charge card and/or direct billing to their federal agency. This helps eliminate out of pocket payment. This is a great advantage as many other public or private companies fail to provide these services to its employees. For example, I worked for a public company and we were encouraged to pay for our own hotel expenses with a 2-3 month reimbursement time period. This indeed, was a burden to many employees and caused many inconveniences.
One of the many incentives the government has established with hotels is the Emergency Lodging Services Program agreement, in which employees will be accommodated for protection in case of an emergency and/or disaster. This program helped over 750,000 federal employees during the catastrophic Katrina event.
The government traveler can easily book hotels, receive special amenities, and incentives.
I’ve struggled in the past with hotel accommodations working for certain companies, and certainly the special accommodations were not offered. Therefore, in my case, it seems the government provides effective and reliable accommodations to its employees with many incentives.
by Ana Ferrara