As a government contractor, which hotel rates am I eligible to use?
There are two main types of “government” hotel rates – the official ones at hotels that were vetted by the government and accepted into the official program, and the unofficial ones that any hotel can say they have and make available as they wish, and that may or may not match the actual government per diem.
The unofficial ones are known as “government” or “gov” rates. Some hotels will always offer these rates to contractors, some some do so some of the time, and some never do. Sometimes these rates will match the official government per diem rate and sometimes they will be higher or lower. Do not assume that because it is a “government” rate that it will satisfy per diem requirements or that it will be honored at check-in for government contractors.
The official government rate program is called FedRooms and includes thousands of hotels worldwide that have been vetted by the government for inclusion in the program. To get these rates the traveler must have federally-issued government ID. There is a smaller sub-set of this master group that offers rates to government contractors. These are called FedRates and can be used by government contractors without government-issued ID.
When booking through Travel-On, our agents will always book FedRates for government contractors. If the hotel does not offer a FedRate or if the FedRate is not available, the agent may offer the option of a “gov” rate with the understanding that it may not be honored at check-in.