I have to use government rates for business travel rather than corporate rates. Last week, I had a last minute meeting date change in the DC area. Since rooms in the DC area can be hard to find, especially at a government rate, I immediatly began to panic. When I looked at the hotels near my meeting site on line they all showed that to call the Diamond desk. I thought that I was out of luck and going to have to stay very far away from my meeting site or go through a lot of red-tape to get approved by my Director to stay at a location offering rates above lodging allowance.

I called the Diamond Desk and gave them my lodging allowance. Not only did the Diamond Desk find me a room within my lodging rate allowance near my meeting site, they found me a room that was about $15/night less than my allowance...which in the DC area is unbelievable! I think I got a very helpful Diamond Desk operator.