The U.S. General Services Administration, or GSA, offers a range of travel programs. Those that come under its GSA Lodging service include Specialized Conference Facilities (See related Schedules sidebar) and its FedRooms, which has a new groups and meetings component.
For individual federal travelers, FedRooms is managed by GSA and operated by Carlson Wagonlit Travel/Sato Travel. It provides rates at or below per diem at more than 13,000 hotels (and more than 140 hotel brands) in 3,300 cities worldwide.
Launched in 2004, it is the official government-wide program for federal and military travelers. All FedRooms hotels offer rates that are at or below per diem. Participating U.S. hotels are ADA-compliant, fire-safe and FEMA-certified.
A new extension program is FedRooms Groups and Meetings, a free venue site selection and electronic RFP service with a similar number of hotels and cities to FedRooms. Following a 2011 soft opening, in May last year Cvent—the online event management and site selection company—announced it had been selected as the program’s technology provider.
At www.FedRooms.gov, government meeting planners can click on the “groups and meetings” icon to submit meeting requirements for government groups of 10 or more people. Requirements are sent to FedRooms-participating properties in an eRFP. The planner then receives from FedRooms comprehensive, side-by-side comparison reports of the venue responses for use in making site-selection decisions.
Meetings using this group and meetings tool save an average of 5 percent below per diem, according to a FedRooms brochure.
FedRooms is just one of a number of programs offered by GSA Lodging. Among others are Long Term Lodging and Emergency Lodging Services.
GSA also operates the City Pair Program (CPP), providing discounted airfares between more than 6,500 cities without cancellation or change fees. Agencies can use the E-Gov Travel Service (ETS), an online travel reservation, voucher and reimbursement service.
The Society of Government Meeting Professionals (SGMP) offers the Online Suppliers Guide (at www.sgmp.org) to help in government meeting planning. It has 26 categories of service listings ranging from contract meeting planners to hospitality development services. Of the more than 2,000 listings, about half are hotels and resorts.
