Originally Posted by
lancebanyon
For US government travel if you look at the State Department web page it mentions that the perdiem rates are set as such to 'substantially' cover the cost of lodging and meals. Maybe your employer had a similar policy. When I used to travel on full per diem it was only very rarely that I would ever exceed the State Department rates, but often times I would meet the lodging rate because certain hotels in some countries always seemed to set their rates exactly at the maximum allowed US per diem rate.
Perhaps. Ours was just for meals; hotels were paid directly in advance (by some mysterious transfer), and other out-of-pocket expenses (taxis, laundry...) were reimbursed from receipts. But the meal allowance for Europe would have covered a full cooked breakfast, three course lunch and three course dinner with wine every day.
I love to eat, really, but I can't do that every day, particularly if I'm working.
In practice, the hotel rate included (a full cooked) breakfast so I got 75% of the per diem for lunch and dinner, and I made a tidy profit despite eating at some very nice restaurants in some of Europe's most expensive cities.
I don't really miss making the profit; my main complaint is the effort (and time) in collecting receipts (in handwritten French, Norwegian, Magyar, Japanese, ... - yeah, like anyone's going to check these!) and filing expense reports when I get back. The per diem ("here's your money; have a good trip") system was much easier and quicker.