GSA Increases Per Diem Rate

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced the new FY2023 per diem rates for government travel in the Continental United States (CONUS). GSA increased the standard CONUS per diem rate and has set all Non-Standard Area (NSA) rates at or above the FY2022 rates. These rates are available at the GSA website now.

We are extremely grateful to the GSA for working with AHLA and recognizing the lingering, and disparate, impact that the pandemic has had on hotels across the country and the importance of a flexible approach to setting per diem rates for FY23. Without this novel action, hotels across the country faced depressed, pandemic-era rates for federal travelers.

The FY2023 CONUS per diem rate is $157:

• $98 lodging (increased from $96)

• $59 meals (unchanged)

Setting a rate floor and allowing increases where appropriate was sound policy and critical to reinvigorating government travel as well as the hotel industry’s continued recovery.

Government travel is an integral part of the hotel industry, supporting tens of thousands of jobs, and billions in travel spending that benefits communities across the country. The federal per diem rates are also often used as a guide by other corporations and businesses in setting their own travel standards.

Federal per diem rates, used by government travelers to obtain hotel rooms at a standard discount, are established each year based on actual market data compiled and provided by Smith Travel Research.

South Carolina has four destinations that are classified as non-standard areas (NSAs). The designation means the regions—frequently traveled by government employees—will get unique per diem rates rather than being lumped together with the rest of the county. The reimbursement levels are determined by the average daily industry rate. See the below graphs of the NSAs in South Carolina.