Work related travel?

[Aristomommy]

DH used to travel 70% of the time and he had a generous per diem to eat and hotel/ plain tickets were paid for. Now he is starting a new job where per diem is a fixed amount, not as generous and has to cover hotel and food. He can arrange his own hotel and any extra left over is his to keep. I would like to hear how others who has this arrangement make the most of it and possibly save money. Which hotels have the best reward programs for free stays or other rewards? How about ideas to save on food? He can't bring perishable foods from home, and I am not sure if all rooms have a microwave. Thanks for any ideas you may have.

 

[3dog2kidmom]

I like Hilton Honors. If he can stay at the Embassy Suites he will get HH points, and have a kitchen. They have a nice breakfast, and a managers reception. Sometime it's only beer/wine/soda and pretzels, but sometime it is enough to make dinner out of.

If he has lunch meetings or things that have a buffet, he can fill up at lunch and eat cheaply for dinner. If he has a business dinner at a restaurant and will bring a doggie bag back he can have leftovers for another meal.

Things that are easy to throw in a briefcase or suitcase and eat: tuna packets, oatmeal packets, cereal/granola bars, tea bags, cheese & crackers, dried fruit, ramen noodles, campbells soup at hand, single-serve jello puddings or fruit or applesauce, single serve packs of crackers...

Somewhere I saw microwaveable meals that didnt need refrigeration, so if you know he has a micrwave that would be a good option. I'm sure others will have some good ideas.

 

[disneysteve]

Now he is starting a new job where per diem is a fixed amount, not as generous and has to cover hotel and food. He can arrange his own hotel and any extra left over is his to keep.

Sounds like a great deal to me. I'd be looking for the cheapest places around and packing a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.

Seriously, Hilton Honors, Marriott and Holiday Inn all have good rewards programs. Hampton Inn and Embassy Suites (Hilton), Fairfield Inn (Marriott) and Holiday Inn Express all serve nice breakfasts. Of those, either Fairfield or HI Express tend to be the cheapest.

Does he have to pay with a company credit card or can he use his own and get reimbursed? If he can get reimbursed, get the credit card issued by the hotel chain. That really helps rack up reward points. I just upgraded to the Marriott Premier card. It earns 5 points/dollar for Marriott charges, 2 points/dollar for restaurants/rental cars/airlines and 1 point/dollar for everything else. Plus once a year, they give you a free room certificate.

 

[pearlieq]

Hilton Hhonors is a great reward program--very generous. Combined with a Hilton AMEX, he could rack up some great rewards very fast.

I agree with others that Embassy Suites has a nice breakfast. Also, as soon as he gets to Gold level for Hilton (Not hard to do. If you have the AMEX you're automatically bumped up to Silver. Gold only takes a few more stays) he gets free breakfast at all of their properties that have a cafe.

Hilton Garden Inns have microwaves and refrigerators in their rooms.

Other than that, encourage him to pack oatmeal packets (made w/hot water form in-room coffee maker) and meal bars (Clif, South Beach, etc) for breakfast. Lunch can both be fairly inexpensive and still reasonably healthy at several fast-casual palces (Panera, Fresh City, Qdoba, and the like).

I imagine you could find this quite profitable with just a little work and advance planning.

 

[Aristomommy]

Sounds like a great deal to me. I'd be looking for the cheapest places around and packing a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.

Does he have to pay with a company credit card or can he use his own and get reimbursed? .

I would pack a loaf of bread as well, but I know DH needs a hot meal for dinner. I don't want him to feel like he can't have anything, but I know there must be ways to do this frugally.
He gets his per diem direct deposited ahead of time before the trips. But I will make sure he uses a reward type credit card for all reservations. Good tip!!!

 

[ducklite]

I agree, Hilton properties are going to give you the best rewards program. Keep an eye though, because often you can get the Hilton for a couple dollars more than the Hampton, or the Hilton Garden Inn will be a bit more than the Embassy Suites. Keep an eye on parking though--at some properties parking will eat away any savings.

Embassy Suites don't have an actual kitchen, they had a coffee maker, minifridge and microwave. Many Hamptons and Hilton Garden Inns have the same amenities. Generally none of them offer plates or flatware though.

Some Hamptons have seen better days, same with some Embassy Suites these days. In fact we've been pretty disappointed with the last four or five ES's we've stayed at.

Anne

 

[lookingforward]

We just stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn and loved it. It was very clean, new and had free high speed internet access. Our room also came with a free full american breakfast.

 

[marcyinPA]

My DH travels about 2 weeks out of every month. His company gives him a per diem, but his hotel rooms are comped by the hotels, because he is in the video-on-demand business and is there doing work on the hotels. So, no choice, really, of hotels for him (but he DOES have his favorites, so he tends to stay in the same places every time! LOL)

His big thing, depending on what part of his territory he's in, is to stay at the hotels that have free dinner buffets, or manager's happy hours. He also likes to stay at places that have free breakfast. He stays at alot of Residence Inns for this reason, plus he has access to a full kitchen.

When he HAS to buy food, he tends to go to the supermarket instead of a restaurant. Most of the hotels he stays at have fridges and microwaves, so he does alot of bagged salad or salad bar, Lean Cuisine, etc. Sometimes he'll do the Wawa hoagie thing. Very rarely does he eat a meal at a restaurant, and he never does fast food.

HTHS!
Marcy

 

[barkley]

if it's possible have him book airline travel as many hours prior to needing to arrive as possible. i had a co-worker whose dh did this because that way he could always volunteer to be bumped from flights. he made quite a bit of money as well as getting free airline tickets that they used for all of their family travel.

another way to get an almost free dinner-have him ask at the hotel desk if there are any local restauants that have bars that do 'happy hour' buffetts. i've seen these in most cities-and often the food is more than ample for a full meal. in fact we've stayed at several embassy suites and found that their formal bar areas often do great free food offerings to lure guests away from the 'managers reception' freebie drinks/get them to try the on-site restaurants offerings.. you will find locals who go to these because they know for the price of a soda or beer they can have the same great food free that's quite costly in the adjacent restaurant.

 

[my3kids]

Use Priceline for the hotel! Hotels that normall cost $150 can be won for $30 or so.

 

[my3kids]

The idea of a per diem is so foreign to me. When DH travels he stays and eats where he wants and just puts it on his company card. I actually never considered there was any other way for corporate travel!!

But in terms of hotel rewards, I think I've gotten more free nights with Marriott than Hilton. Seems like it takes a long time to build up HH points and it takes a lot of points for a free night. I know I've gotten free nights at Marriotts and I honestly don't remember staying at that many marriotts so the points must add up quickly!

 

[gottaluvdis]

The idea of a per diem is so foreign to me. When DH travels he stays and eats where he wants and just puts it on his company card. I actually never considered there was any other way for corporate travel!!

Our company travel policy is somewhere in between per diem and carte blanche. We have monetary guidelines for airfare and hotels, and the travel planners at our company (I help out with this) need to follow them. All airfare is put on the company card at the lowest possible price (99% of travel is on Southwest). The traveler gets to keep all rapid rewards earned for free trips for themselves. The traveler uses their own credit card for hotel, rental car and food costs, but there is a per day limit on all of these. The cars and hotels are booked by the travel planners with the company policy in mind. The travel planners work closely with the traveler to come up with mutually acceptable flights, hotels and cars. There are allowances made if the person is travelling to a costly city, for example. I could see our company switching to a per diem system however. It would be a lot easier.

DH travels for work, mostly by car, but not very often overnight. His company has continually reduced what they will and will not pay for (not paying for gas, especially with the current prices, is a biggie). DH usually hits the grocery store and makes a salad from the salad bar and eats in his room.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

DH also likes HHonors. We have enough points right now for Disney or Hawaii! He will choose either Embassy for the breakfast, or he also likes Hampton, as he can have a microwave and fridge in the room. Nice for left overs and popcorn. We also belong to Starwood (think Swan/Dolphin points!) so he will choose them too. It is hard when they are gone so much, but the points are a nice bonus.

 

[sk!mom]

Use Priceline for the hotel! Hotels that normall cost $150 can be won for $30 or so.

This would be my suggestion.

I would get a reward card as a back up for those times when I was not successful at a very low bid.

 

[ducklite]

The company I work for wants us to basically keep hotels under $70 per night pre-tax, although I travel mostly to Atlanta for meetings, and stay at the Hampton by the airport which is more than that--but it's difficult to find a decent, safe hotel in Atlanta where I won't need a rental car for less. I usually fly in the evening before, take the shuttle to the hotel. Then take the shuttle back to the airport in the morning and catch MARTA to Buckhead for $1 or so, and from the Buckhead MARTA station the building that my meeting is in is a few blocks walk.

The other option would be a cheaper hotel and a rental car (I won't take MARTA at night--I usually do'nt get to the airport until well after 9:00pm) which would cost a lot more in the long run. Breakfast is free at the hotel, dinner is usually a slice of pizza or Chinese at the airport, so no expensive meals for me.

Years ago I had the best job as far as per diem's went. I worked on the road crew of a bunch of bands. You would jockey for the best tours to be on--which weren't always the biggest bands. On show days you got hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus a snack after the show (bus food) and on a "good tour" you did "three on, one off" so worked on average five days a week. All transportation and hotels were covered, unless you wanted to take a cab or rent a car on your day off. We got $210 cash--not reported as income--per diem per week that had to cover meals on dark days and any personal expenses--it was pretty easy to end up with well over $150 of your PD money tax free in your pocket at the end of each week.

Add in the perks like free entry into concerts and clubs (with free drinks) on your nights off, free CD's from label people, free clothes fron sponsers and the tour merchandise, free laundry service, the bus was always stocked with soda, milk, coffee, tea, snacks, cereal, fruit, beer, wine, and liquor, etc. by the promoters, it wasn't a bad deal. Not to mention that because I was usually the only female on the tour, they always gave me all the flowers that the chicks gave to the guys in the bands...

Anne

 

[CarolA]

Well, I read this thread.

A few thoughts. Unless this "per diem" is generous then the hotel suggestions are going to eat up ALL your per diem. The Hilton, Embassy Suites??? Folks you are looking at averaging over $100 a night there. Places that do this method tend to assume you are staying at the $50 a night hotels as a general rule.

I also find Marriott rewards better then Hilton. Look at the Low end on all the chains, Hampton, Fairfield etc.

My dad traveled like this and he tended to stay a locally owned "no name" hotels. Yes, there are no "rewards" but the prediem covered his costs....

 

[dizagain]

My DH fortunately has a company cc and can stay in nice places, take clients out, golf, etc... Luckily he doesn't travel too much right now which I like!

We have found that the Marriott Rewards are the best for us. It seems there is either a Fairfield Inn or a Courtyard EVERYWHERE we need to find one when we use our points. We've had less luck finding other chain hotels exactly where we need them when we need them. We also seem to earn free rooms the fastest.

Good luck - sounds like you might end up with some perks!

 

[disneyfreakk]

Well, I read this thread.

A few thoughts. Unless this "per diem" is generous then the hotel suggestions are going to eat up ALL your per diem. The Hilton, Embassy Suites??? Folks you are looking at averaging over $100 a night there. Places that do this method tend to assume you are staying at the $50 a night hotels as a general rule.

I also find Marriott rewards better then Hilton. Look at the Low end on all the chains, Hampton, Fairfield etc.

My dad traveled like this and he tended to stay a locally owned "no name" hotels. Yes, there are no "rewards" but the prediem covered his costs....

this is exactly what I was thinking! lol.

Per diem amount depends on where you live. Have your DH check out La Quinta www.lq.com . This is where my DH and I always stay when we travel on buisness. We always ask for the corprate rate which is usually 49.99 - 65.00 a night. They have continental breakfast in the mornings and you can request a microwave and refrigerator ( usually at no cost if you stay there alot ). They offer SAMS (samsclub), AAA, AARP, and military discounts, as well as having a rewards program that adds up quickly.

 

[jeepgirl30]

I travel for work and while my company pays its my budget. I'm the event planner so it does impact me.

I have recently been staying and recommending Hampton Inns. They are reasonable and offer breakfast and some even have happy hour with snacks, beer and wine.

I do like the starwood properties for the rewards but they do tend to be higher rates.

Does he travel to one area more than others? If so check that area and find which hotel chains offer the best rate. Also a lot of hotels will work with someone coming in often.

 

[NotUrsula]

The best strategy depends hugely on the sort of places he will be going. Central cities? Suburban office parks? Small college towns? Highway intersections in the middle of nowhere? The presence or absence of a car makes a difference, too.

Previous posters have omitted the two largest chains that will be found in/around small towns: Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn, etc.), and Best Westerns. These are franchise chains, which means that the quality will vary *widely* from one property to the next (esp. w/ BW); some will be really lovely, and some will be dives. He should be careful when booking these, you don't want him staying in an unsafe place just to save money, though men will usually not be as concerned with restricting themselves to places with interior corridors only. If he will be staying near highways, some low-price chains that I like are Hawthorn (owned by Hyatt), Wingate, Microtel, and Country Inns, all of which have FS programs, and all of which offer breakfast and hi-speed internet (though not often wifi, so he should carry a network cable.)

Priceline for hotels and cars is a very good strategy for saving the cash up front, esp. in and around major cities, but it won't earn you any points. Priceline and Hotwire are also non-refundable, which can be against policy for many companies.

If he can schedule his own trips, Mondays and Fridays can be best for road trips, because you can get weekend rates on hotels, but they can cost you more in airfares. Flying will be normally be cheapest on Tues, Wed, and Sat., and to a lesser extent, Thurs. He should try to avoid flying on Monday, Friday, and Sunday pm.