GSA's 2009 Lodging Per Diems Show Rate Hikes In Key Markets

The U.S. General Services Administration this month released its lodging per diems for the 2009 fiscal year, showing double-digit increases over 2008 rates in some key business travel markets but much more moderate growth in others, particularly in the spring and summer months.

In setting its lodging per diem rates, GSA uses average daily rate data provided by lodging industry sources. Rate data comes from midprice properties and are based on the business travel week, Monday through Thursday. The fiscal year runs from the beginning of October through the end of September.

New York had the most dramatic increases of the major markets. The lodging per diem increased by 15.8 percent to $360 for the first two months and the final month of the fiscal year, and the rest of the year it increased by an even greater rate. For January through June, the rate was set at $285, up 16.4 percent from 2008, and GSA increased the rate by 17.7 percent to $259 for July and August.

GSA also increased the lodging per diem by double digits in Boston and Washington, D.C., for the first and last month of the fiscal year: Boston was up 16.4 percent to $256, and Washington was up 15.9 percent to $233. The increases for the rest of the year were more moderate in both cities, however, with Boston up 9.1 percent to $203 and Washington up only 4 percent to $209. Similarly, Philadelphia's rate increased by only 4 percent for much of the year to $155, but was up 11.4 percent to $166 for October, November and September.

GSA increased the lodging per diem for Chicago in the 6 percent range for much of the year, and the Los Angeles rate increased by 8.5 percent to $128.

The average rate for the continental United States that GSA uses for most of the country, about 3,000 counties—the CONUS per diem rate—remained the same at $70 a night for lodging.