Your Travel Claim is important to us!

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Per NAVADMIN 286/21 use of GTCC is mandatory for PCS travel as well as TDY.  Guests can use their GTCC and expect 100% reimbursement.  One item to note:

Our property manager's payment provider requires a flat surcharge of $4.95 per transaction and a percentage fee of 2.99%.  

For example, if you used your GTCC to pay for your stay, 1 week at a time, that would be 7 days x $107 per night = $749.  The transaction would create a flat $4.95 fee and an additional charge of $22.40 from the 2.99% fee.  

Guests rightfully ask if they will be reimbursed for these surcharges.  The answer is YES!

The Joint Travel Regulations authorizes travelers to be reimbursed for merchant surcharges on credit card usage up to 4% per transaction.  (see JTR table 2-24, page 2-49). 

In the example above, the total fee for the transaction is $4.95+$22.40=$27.35  

$27.35/$749 = 3.7%  which is under the allowable limit of 4%. 

See JTR table 2-24 and a sample receipt below in the photos section.

Per the Joint Travel Regulations, government travelers on official travel must use adequate and available Government Quarters (NGIS, Navy Lodge). If these are not available, then the traveler must obtain a "Certificate of Non-availability" (CNA) which authorizes the traveler to stay out in town at the Commercial Per Diem rate ($107 in Dahlgren).   If you stay at a commercial lodging without a CNA, the government is still obligated to reimburse you but only at the cost the government would have paid if you stayed in government quarters ($87 per day at the NGIS in Dahlgren). See JTR Table 2-14 below.

In 2016 the DoD started a program called the Integrated Lodging Pilot Program, which designates selected commercial lodging establishments as the "preferred" alternatives when no Government Quarters are available.  If you attempt to reserve a room at NGIS in Dahlgren and they tell you that no rooms are available, they may give you an "Open" CNA which allows you to lodge anywhere at the commercial rate ($107).  If you receive a "Closed" CNA, that means the CNA document directs you to seek lodging at a specific place (i.e. Holiday Inn).

If you are issued a "Closed" CNA directing you to a particular lodging you do not wish to stay at (example: you have had bad experiences with a particular franchise lodging), you can ask the NGIS personnel for an open CNA.  Most times they will issue it.   If you are issued a Closed CNA directing you to a specific lodging, and you choose not to stay there, then you will still be reimbursed, but only at the rate which the government would have paid, had you stayed at that specified lodging.  Example: You are issued a "Closed" CNA directing you to lodge at the Holiday Inn, but you do not wish to lodge there.  The "Closed CNA" will have a contracted lodging rate on the form, for example $84 per night.  

Haze Gray Lodging will match that $84 per night, which ensures you will be fully reimbursed. See the picture below, table 3-1 which is an excerpt from the Integrated Logistics Program Guide.

If you are unable to procure a CNA but still wish to lodge with us, we will lower your rate to $86 per night to ensure will be fully reimbursed. The current NGIS lodging rate is $87 per night in Dahlgren.  Our rate allows you to accurately claim that your decision to lodge with us saves the government money and at the same time you will be reimbursed per the JTR, see table 2-14 below.

Our rates are the current government per diem rates for Dahlgren VA ($107 per night).  Should you receive a closed CNA and wish to stay with us, we will work with you to ensure your nightly rate meets the reimbursable threshold IAW the Joint Travel Regulations.  Since opening in 2019, not a single guest (40+ guests) has had any reimbursement issues. You are our shipmates and if your travel claim isn't right, then we have failed you, and we won't let that happen!