KEY MESSAGES

Government travel is incredibly important to the hotel industry, generating thousands of jobs and billions in travel spending that supports communities around the country.

• The hotel and lodging industry works closely with the General Services Administration (GSA) to ensure that lodging per diem rates align with market conditions and also reflect good value for the government.
• Since the government per diem rates are often used as a guide by other organizations in setting their travel standards it is imperative that we strive to ensure fair and reasonable rates are established.
• AHLA will continue advocating with both the GSA and this new group to ensure hotels can best accommodate the needs of government travel.

ISSUE BACKGROUND

Federal per diem rates are established each year by the General Services Administration (GSA) based on actual market data compiled and provided by STR.

AHLA and the hotel industry work with the GSA to underscore the importance of maintaining per diems at sustainable rates.

Additionally, AHLA and the industry remains engaged with Congress on legislation and policies that impact per diems. In particular, in late 2014, the Department of Defense (DoD) instituted a new policy which cuts per diem rates for personnel on long-term travel assignments by 25 percent for stays of over 30 days and by 45 percent for stays over 180 days. This change threatens to hurt all hotels, but particularly those hotels near military institutions.