Lodging

Thousands of hotels provide accommodations to DoD travelers worldwide. Accommodations that meet DoD adequacy standards fall into one of three major components:

DoD Lodging: Facilities that are owned/leased and operated by the U.S. Government.
Public-Private Venture (Privatized) Lodging: Government-owned, commercially operated facilities available near or on Military installations.
Commercial Lodging: Facilities owned and operated by commercial entities, typically located off military installations. Includes DoD Preferred lodging and other commercial lodging such as FedRooms, Long Term Lodging, and Emergency Lodging Services.

Integrated Lodging Program

The Integrated Lodging Program (ILP) leverages the DoD's collective purchasing power, enables travelers to use DTS to find trusted lodging providers, and prioritizes traveler duty of care by:

Ensuring travelers are staying in quality lodging facilities that are close to TDY locations; are protected from certain fees; and provided amenities at no additional cost with room rates at least 10% below the established government per diem rates.
Enhancing traveler care and satisfaction; providing greater traveler security; reducing lodging spend per night; and improving program management and data collection.
Ensuring lodging meets adequacy standards; travelers are not required to stay in facilities that do not meet the adequacy standards.

Search Official Integrated Lodging Program Sites

The Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), par. 020303 requires travelers (service members and civilians) on temporary duty at an ILP location to use adequate DoD lodging, Privatized lodging, or DoD Preferred Commercial lodging before other lodging options or reimbursement is limited to the government rate [authentication required, PDF, 33 pages].

When ILP lodging facilities are available at the traveler's destination and in DTS, the system automatically routes travelers to those facilities before displaying other lodging options.

If ILP facilities are available and a traveler chooses to stay in other commercial lodging, reimbursement is limited to the amount the Government would have paid if directed lodging were used.

If DoD Lodging is not available at the location, DTS automatically includes a certificate of non-availability number (CNA) in the authorization and displays either DoD Preferred Commercial lodging or FedRooms followed by other commercial lodging options.

When you use your Government Travel Charge Card (GTCC) for official travel, your hotel stay may be exempt from certain state and local sales tax. Some states require Government travelers to submit a form for this exemption. These forms are unique to each state (and in some cases, each city). Visit GSA's State Tax Forms to find out if the state you're visiting offers tax exemptions and what specific requirements must be met to qualify. You can also watch a video on lodging and taxes [youtube.com] or look through common questions [gsa.gov].

DoD Preferred hotels are required to provide the required tax exempt forms in states where the Federal Government is tax exempt when using the GTCC.

Section 642 of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) made permanent the pilot authority granted in section 914 of the FY15 NDAA, which authorized the Secretary of Defense to institute a government lodging program. That authority allows the Secretary of Defense to require both DoD civilian employees and service members to stay in DoD, Privatized, or DoD Preferred commercial lodging while on official travel.