Hotels on edge while waiting for the GSA to set new per diem rates
Skift Take
Everyone wants the government to cut spending unless it effects them. The GSA should be able to set rates so that government employees are in line with everyone else without grandstanding politicians making a fuss about over spending.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Author: Sarah K. Clarke
A battle is brewing over the price that federal employees pay to stay at U.S. hotels.
It pits one of the nation's biggest hotel customers -- the government -- against a major industry, tourism. The outcome will undoubtedly affect Central Florida, the second-largest U.S. hotel market.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="350"] Pool at the Caribe Royale in Orlando. Photo by Sam Pullara.[/caption]
At issue: the federal "per diem" rate the U.S. government will pay for its employees to stay in a hotel room each night when they travel. The travel industry says that, following a scandal earlier this year over lavish spending at a government convention in Las Vegas, it has gotten wind of a proposal that could cut the per-diem rate by more than 30 percent in major travel markets.
Just the possibility of such a change has trade groups such as the American Hotel & Lodging Association calling on members to rally against any reduction, and it has some hoteliers on edge in Orlando.
"We're certainly concerned about it," said John Murray, director of sales at the Caribe Royale, which has recorded about 35,000 room-nights of gov
