Right now, we're actual expenses within reason, but there've been rumblings about switching to a flat per diem for meals and incidentals as a way of reducing accounting costs for processing expense reports.

I cannot abide by the GSA per diem for lodging. At one of my recent client sites, for example, the government rate at the Homewood Suites is $89 and the GSA limit is $74. I'd end up having to eat the difference every time. And many properties won't extend the GSA rate to contractors.

The GSA domestic per diem for meals, however, I think is reasonable as a total, but I don't like their breakdown by meal. $39-$49 for most of my client sites, $64 when I visit our headquarters each month, is fine with me. I'd rather have one nice meal, however, than three mediocre ones.