Originally Posted by
travelinfoo
That rate is supposed to be ONLY for someone traveling on official business. The description is NOT saying having a Federal Gov Id is good enough. It's saying the ACCEPTABLE Fed ID is the CC or the travel orders (see the hyphen?).
Your friend is NOT supposed to use that rate for LEISURE as he is not on official gov business. Not having the proper verification means he is risking getting charged rack rate since he is not eligible for the Fed business rate.
That's not true--90% of the time I use gov rate on leisure travel. I've never had to show official gov orders or a Gov credit card. I even let the hotel know I'm traveling for leisure. There may be a small subset of hotel chains that require only official government travel, but in those cases I always email the staff and they are OK with the leisure travel. Furthermore, Hilton is one of the best hotel chains out there for government leisure travel--they even told me they "love gov leisure travel!" (their words, not mine).
There are obvious differences of opinion here. I say the OP should simply email and confirm that he is OK with traveling in leisure travel. Managers are always willing to help out will bend the rules for you to get your business. Good luck!