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AH & LA Urges GSA to Keep Current Methodology for Calculating
Per Diem Rates for Government Travel
Requesting that Members Contact Congress to Prevent Possible Per Diem Rate Reduction
|
News for the Hospitality Executive |
| June 28, 2012 - The
General Services Administration (GSA) is seeking to reduce travel costs
by
changing the way it calculates per diem rates (GSA sets hotel per diem
rates
for the federal government). Smith Travel Research (STR) provides GSA with room rate data from hotels throughout the United States. GSA determines hotel average daily rates (ADR) by including rates from hotels in the “mid-price range.” Those rates are gathered from independent, midscale, upscale, upper upscale properties. GSA omits rates from economy and luxury hotels from the data as it considers them outside the mid-price range (too low and too high, respectively). After determining ADR for locations throughout the US, GSA then reduces those rates by 5% and establishes per diem rates at that discounted level. GSA may include only lower hotel rates in the mid-price range when calculating ADR. If GSA does so, it will be intentionally reducing room rates rather than reflecting average room rates. We need you to contact your members of Congress today and urge them to prevent GSA from artificially reducing per diem rates. Click here to visit our grassroots website, hotelLOBBY at http://www.ahla.com/hotellobby/. You can quickly send your legislators a short message with a prewritten letter than can be customized asking that they oppose per diem rate manipulation. Please contact the GSA office for your state In addition, to contacting members of Congress, hoteliers should contact their local GSA offices. GSA is divided into regions that are led by politically-appointed regional administrators and they are very strong voices within the agency. Those regional administrators are from the areas their regions cover and are extremely sensitive to issues impacting those within their regions. When those regional administrators are contacted about certain issues, they communicate those concerns internally. GSA headquarters needs to hear from every regional administrator that there is strong opposition to this proposed change in per diem methodology. Points to make when speaking with local GSA offices:
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Robert Zarnetske, Regional Administrator (617) 565-5860 [email protected] New York, New Jersey Denise Pease, Regional Administrator (212) 264-2600 [email protected] Delaware, Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland (except Montgomery and Prince George's counties) and Virginia (except the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties) Sara Manzano-Diaz, Regional Administrator (215) 446-4900 [email protected] Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee Shyam Reddy, Regional Administrator (404) 331-3200 [email protected] Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin Ann Kalayil, Regional Administrator (312) 353-5395 [email protected] Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas Jason Klumb, Regional Administrator (816) 926-7201 [email protected] Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico J.D. Salinas, III, Regional Administrator (817) 978-2321 [email protected] Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming Susan Damour, Regional Administrator (303) 236-7329 [email protected] Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada Ruth Cox, Regional Administrator (415) 522-3001 [email protected] Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington George Northcroft, Regional Administrator (253) 931-7100 [email protected] Washington, DC, Maryland (Montgomery and Prince George's counties), and Virginia (the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties) Julia Hudson, Regional Administrator (202) 708-9100 [email protected]  About the AH&LAServing the hospitality industry for a century, AH&LA is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom-line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members. |
| Contact: Kathryn Potter [email protected] |