Ours is great. We have negotiated deals with good hotels in about 100 cities worldwide and are encouraged to stick to those. They generally are chosen from the top hotels in the city (certainly always 5-star); for example in San Francisco there is a choice of five places including the Clift and the Four Seasons. The list focuses on large hotels and generally doesn't include small chic boutiques. Even given that proviso, it doesn't include all the top hotels in a city, espeically an expensive city - it depends what rates we have been able to negotiate; in Paris for example we have to slum it at Le Bristol (amongst others) and don't get the Ritz or the Crillon.

We are allowed to stay at other places provided they don't exceed the cost of the most expensive of the approved hotels. But our negotiated rates are really hard to beat. The great thing about them is that we are allowed to use them for personal travel. A friend at a rival investment bank with an apparently more generous travel policy is actually rather envious: his bank is a bit less fussy and as a result he can stay almost anywhere he chooses, but the corporate rates are not much better than he can find with a careful web search so they don't gain him much when he's paying for himself.