used to work at a company where we could do $15 for breakfast, $30 for lunch, and $50 for dinner. we'd go out to a bar at night, first guy would tell the waitress "let me know when I hit $50" ...



then the 2nd, 3rd, whatever guy would repeat the process.

later, we had an option of doing per diem. some cities were "high" and some were "low" ... different dollar amount per day depending on NYC versus backwoods arkansas, whatever... guys would stay at the homewood suites, go to the grocery store on day 1, come home with a bunch of money in their pocket, eating for the week on 1 day's worth of per diem spent at the grocery store.

book your own flights issue, seen that one both ways... worst case is booked by the company, save a penny no mater what the cost to you in terms of extra connections, long connections, overnight flights... great way to get rid of employees.

regarding receipts, it's nice when you're working with a company credit card. often, there's a way to drag those transactions right into an on-line expense reporting system, and expense payments for those transactions go right back to the card company. when filed and approved on time, things are paid before the bill comes due and you have very little of your own money "out there" waiting to come home.

not exactly related to your question, but favorite trick from my heavy travel days... marriott had a double points/double nights deal when you paid with visa. so I stayed there, and paid with my HILTON visa. gotta love that fast track to marriott platinuim, and earning hilton points on the payment card as well as marriott points on the stay itself!