Per Diem

I usually book a room for no more than $110 per night, unless I'm in Indy or Chicago. It doesn't hurt to have AAA either to get a bit extra knocked off.

I spend about $15-25 per day on food, but I usually spend less, or I get so busy that I only eat lunch or dinner. I don't eat breakfast, just give me my coffee.

Our current mileage rate is .32 per mile, which they reimburse.

 

I could get by on $30 a day for meals, perhaps doing the comp continental breakfast and then getting a decent dinner. But $55 for a hotel . . . uh uh . . . couldn't do that.

 

i think sharing the room is as big or bigger than the $55.

 

Our paper has gone through a lot of financial-related shit recently. Thank God nobody has thought about giving us some kind of screwed-up per diem.

We operate on the "be reasonable" principle as well. I do my best to stay in the cheapest Marriott property available Usually, I can get something for under $100. No, we don't have to share rooms.

There are no limits on meals, but, again, I don't abuse the system. I eat the free continental breakfast when available. I'm not going to eat at the $100-a-plate steakhouse. Most of my meals are at the level of a Chili's or an Applebee's. Sometimes I'll even eat fast food for under $8. Very, very rarely will I eat I meal that costs more than $40. If I do, I'll make up for it somewhere else on the trip.

 

We're on the "reasonable" spectrum, too. Have to share hotel rooms when the columnist comes, which has to be hell on him — I snore like a sawmill.

I try to stay around $5-10 for lunch and no more than $20 for dinner. I usually either don't eat breakfast or I eat the hotel's free one, so there's that.

By using the Marriott VIP rate I can usually find a very nice hotel for a pretty reasonable rate. Example: In a Major American City two weekends ago, I spent $89 of the company's money for a 4-star joint right downtown in the major entertainment/party district. Swank.

 

Do we work together?

 

This generally is how we are expected to stay under the $30 a day for meals, by eating complimentary breakfast.

In Texas, you can always find hotels for less than $55. For some reason they have the cheapest Motel6's in the history of man. I stayed at one on I-20 recently for a whopping $29.95 a night.

 

I want the Marriott VIP rate!

 

There are some days where I don't spend a dime on food... Maybe the hotel has a free breakfast and I eat the other meals in the press box...

There are other times where I may hit a steakhouse for dinner... Since I don't do it often, my paper has never said a word...

 

At my shop, we need to average around $50 a day. There are times when I'll ball out and tuck into an $80 steak, and then the next day eat sandwiches for $20. As long as it averages out...

 

Never had an $80 steak. What do those taste like?

 

Please do not use the term "per diem."

Please say "the amount of money an organization allows an individual to spend per day to cover travel and subsistence expenses." It's plain English, and not that fancy schmancy Latin "per diem."

(ducking)