I'm a federal employee, so I get the government rate. I've noticed a couple of interesting things about this:
1. Many hotels initially set their government rate above the federal per diem rate, which I gather from your post is because they are just giving a 10% - 15% reduction from the BAR. Often this is still higher than the per diem, which sucks for me because I would end up paying the difference. However, in keeping with what you have said about negotiating, I have found that if I call the hotel and explain that I can/will only make a reservation at the per diem rate, the hotel will give it to me. That probably wouldn't work in New York or San Francisco, and it certainly won't work for luxury hotels, but Marriotts, Hyatts, Hiltons, etc usually accommodate me.
2. Several hotels only will allow me to use the government rate for personal travel as well as official travel. For personal travel, though, I just take the offered discount and do not try to force them down to the federal per diem.
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I'm a federal employee, so I get the government rate. I've noticed a couple of interesting things about this:
1. Many hotels initially set their government rate above the federal per diem rate, which I gather from your post is because they are just giving a 10% - 15% reduction from the BAR. Often this is still higher than the per diem, which sucks for me because I would end up paying the difference. However, in keeping with what you have said about negotiating, I have found that if I call the hotel and explain that I can/will only make a reservation at the per diem rate, the hotel will give it to me. That probably wouldn't work in New York or San Francisco, and it certainly won't work for luxury hotels, but Marriotts, Hyatts, Hiltons, etc usually accommodate me.
2. Several hotels only will allow me to use the government rate for personal travel as well as official travel. For personal travel, though, I just take the offered discount and do not try to force them down to the federal per diem.