Originally Posted by
dzdang
No the per diem rate I quoted does not include lodging. It is only for meals and incidental expenses. Also this is the government rate (my university reimburses people st the government rate. They don’t have their own rates)
The GSA sets US government per diem rates (If I recall OCONUS is actually set by DoD), while international rates are set by Department of State. My employer uses these rates as well. I'm not sure for government employees what is covered under incidentals. I know for my employer there are differences in international and domestic. The organization setting the rate could account for some of the relative differences as well. But yes, I would generally agree that international M&IE rates are way better than domestic ones. Lodging rates also sometimes don't seem to correlate with any sort of reality but that's a different topic...