Originally Posted by skye1
I also work for a government agency (state)...I find that often both with airlines and hotels, sale fares and web fares are better than what the gov't rates are.
I rarely travel on business anymore 'tho, since our state gov't has really, really, really clapped down on out-of-state travel.
Yeah, airline prices were generally better, but the nice thing about the govie fares is that I could play around with the schedule a lot without a penalty. It was nice that if I felt like sleeping in on the last day, I could just call the airline the night before and ask for a later flight. Refundable/changeable tickets are cheaper on our contract at least.
Hotels generally gave me better government rates than they're best available. Granted, my experience is limited to Hilton chains, but I've been quite pleased with their hotels.