bimmerfreak0

It's a security card issued for employees and contractors. It's a PIV card. Has my pictuire, name, expiration...etc. It is not a Veterans ID card like if I was a vet and wanted to get treatment at a hospital. I just didn't want to book the room and then realize it wasn't sufficient proof.

https://www.oit.va.gov/programs/piv/

Often1

Toughest enforcement in the US tends to be near military bases, large federal contractors and the like. Government rates are often capacity-controlled and in communities where most hotel staff will have friends and relatives who depend on those rates, they may also be more apt to enforce the rules because lax enforcement deprives the qualified use of an opportunity.

bimmerfreak0

So what you're saying is don't bother trying to use my card in Washington DC unless I have letterhead noting official travel orders?

PHLGovFlyer

IME, not at all. Hotels in DC and the surrounding areas have not asked me for paper documentation of official travel in decades. However, they do tend to ask for government ID and/or Government issued credit card very regularly.

IME there's a lot of variation in terms of how often I'm asked for government ID at check-in and it can be very property dependent. Some hotels ask for it every time while others ask for it rarely, if ever.

bimmerfreak0

Sorry I am asking these possibly inane questions but I sometimes have to travel for work in this position to anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. I have little supervision and am kinda in the boat of just do what you need to do...so i don't get "travel papers" or other crap. And I just send off reimbursement requests so I won't have a gov't CC.

sannmann

orca15

That ID will get you in any Hilton I have ever stayed in, including many many in DC. You are good to go.

orca15

Not so. I travel without travel orders every time. Not everyone who qualifies for the federal government rate works for the federal government, once you read the fine print.

cblaisd

It never occurred to me to try to use a Global Entry card to "verify" government rate! My private pilot's license looks even more "government-y"

I'd also like to point how that a Hawaii State I.D. card look remarkably like a state employee I.D. card to those who don't live in Hawaii

sannmann

exerda

A PIV card is a government employee ID. Its the non-DOD-equivalent of the CAC card. It should be sufficient, although I'm surprised properties haven't started insisting government credit cards be used to pay for the stays.

I have been asked a few times what company I work for when staying under the government contractor rate (which usually tracks the government rate closely, as many contractors will only allow stays up to the per diem). I've been asked what agency a few times as well, but never have had anyone at a Hilton property ask for ID. FWIW, I usually have my contractor PIV cards for a couple of different agencies with me just in case, and this has always been sufficient at Marriotts and other brands which do seem to ask more often for ID.