Per Diem Travelers Save Time and Money with CLC

It’s impossible to travel without encountering expenses. Lodging, fuel, and meals are necessary costs on the road, and these payments can add up quickly for individual travelers. When companies send their employees on business trips, they have a few options for covering these expenses: provide a payment method or solution for the traveler, have the traveler use their own form of payment and pay them back later, or cover these expenses with per diem payments. 

What is per diem?

Per diem, or “per day,” pay is an allowance given by employers to travelers for lodging, food, and other travel-related expenses. The fixed amount of reimbursement that traveling employees are paid while traveling per day is set by the General Services Administration (GSA), and varies based on destination within the United States.

Employers can choose to provide their travelers per diem before a trip, or give them per diem after.

Advantages of per diem

• Minimize reimbursement hassles: When companies use a per diem expense option, they take away the hassle of paying travelers back later for each of their purchases. This can be a simpler alternative to reimbursing employees using detailed expense records and bookkeeping.
  
• Control costs: Companies can streamline business payments and expense reports when they limit employee spending that requires reimbursement, then save time and money that is usually spent reviewing invoices and processing payments.
• Empower travelers: With per diem, travelers don’t have to bear the costs of using their own spending money for travel-related expenses.
• Added income for travelers: When travelers can find ways to save on their travel costs, they can view the excess per diem allowance as added income.

Disadvantages:

• Lack of visibility: Per diem gives travelers the ability to book lodging at their own discretion. Employers have duty of care to their employees, or the moral responsibility and legal obligation to protect their health, safety, and security. When travelers can book outside of standard booking solutions, it becomes more difficult for companies to provide safety measures to their employees when they’re on the road.
  
• Traveler time it takes to book lodging: It takes time out of employees’ schedules to find and book lodging. Many employees may lack experience with workforce lodging booking, which may cause them to overpay for hotels.
• Increase risk of non-compliant bookings: If travel policy compliance is not directly enforced while booking, it’s more likely that employees will book outside of policy on things like hotel proximity to work location. Booking outside of standard booking solutions could also increase the risk of credit card fraud.

Manage expenses with CLC Lodging - make your per diem go further

CLC Lodging offers comprehensive expense management solutions to streamline business payments and control travel expenses

Here are a few ways CLC members save time and money while making lodging reservations:

Hotel rate savings: Our members saved $420 million in lodging costs last year by leveraging our industry-leading purchasing power. CLC members gain access to pre-negotiated and discounted rates at more than 45,000 hotels across North America.

• Special Book Online Rate: Select CLC hotel partners offer even larger discounts off lowest published rates when members book online. Participating hotels offering added online booking discounts will appear in the search results with a red “Special Book Online Rate.”
• No pre-payments required for CLC Network hotels: CLC Network hotels eliminate the need for setting up direct billing and handle the hotel payment process for you. Cards associated with your account are charged after the stay, and transactions are consolidated for you, so you don’t have to sort through credit card transactions. Network hotels also come with flexible cancellation policies and 24 length of stay benefits.
• 4 ways to book: CLC Lodging offers four ways to search and book hotels: online, through our mobile app, directly with the hotel, or by calling CLC. And now, in addition to hotels, members can book flights and rent cars!

Free sign-up for per diem travelers

Join the per diem travelers that use CLC Lodging to save time and money on travel.