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The Defense Department yesterday launched an integrated lodging program pilot designed to provide quality government and commercial lodging, with greater safety and security and better services at reduced rates.
Dane Swenson, the lodging program’s project manager, discussed the elements of the pilot program.
“There’s really four pieces that we need to get right,” said Swenson who is also the chief of travel transformation for the Defense Travel Management Office. “One is the policy, the other is the program. The third piece is the strategic sourcing, and the last part is the [information technology] interface, which is the Defense Travel System.”
Procedural Changes
“What we’re doing is giving the traveler a single interface,” he explained. “Basically, what will happen then is that you’ll be able to go eventually to one place -- the Defense Travel System -- to book all your lodging.” Previously, he said, the traveler had to guide themselves through the process.
When filing the travel voucher, everything from room rates to the traveler’s government travel card information will already be embedded in the system, Swenson said.
Travelers “will be able to book safe, secure rooms,” he said.
Travelers, however, should not contact their Commercial Travel Office to book government lodging, officials said. Travelers can, however, contact their CTO for assistance with booking commercial lodging, they added.
Pilot Program’s Inception
The pilot program was created to ensure “duty of care,” and to comply with Office of Management and Budget directives regarding efficiency.
“Duty of care,” Swenson explained, “is taking care of our travelers while they’re traveling, making sure they can … get good accommodations. We know where they are, they can contact [us], they can go online.”
The other component -- efficiencies -- is no less important, he said.
“There have been a lot of efficiency initiatives,” Swenson said. “One was driven by OMB … Memo 12-12, and it basically came out and [directed] federal agencies look at reducing your travel by 30 percent.”
Additionally, he said, OMB Memo 13-02 suggested looking at strategic sourcing so the commercial side of lodging is primed to do lifecycle strategic sourcing to get better rates, amenities, and safety and security features built into what is offered to DoD travelers.
Several Pilot Sites
Currently, Swenson said, certain components such as preferred commercial lodging are already available in the Defense Travel System at seven initial pilot sites:
-- Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina
-- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
-- Select Norfolk, Virginia-based installations
-- Naval Support Activity Saratoga Springs, New York
-- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Washington
-- MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida
-- Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California
“Then we’re going to do a soft launch through all the different DoD lodging programs,” he said.
As of the pilot launch date, Air Force Inns will be active, and Navy Gateway Inns and Suites and Army lodging are expected to be active within the next week followed by Navy Lodge.
“The last piece will be the Marine transient program,” he said.
Travelers’ Protection, Convenience
These changes are about quality, protection and convenience for the traveler, Swenson said.
“We’re looking at the quality of the property for the traveler,” Swenson said, “and making sure that they meet all of the standards.” In addition, for “…traveler safety and security… we’re making sure that the properties are well lit, interior opening rooms, etc.”
Additionally, he said, financial protections are being looked at to ensure travelers are protected from paying extra fees and that sort of thing.
“And the last part is the convenience,” Swenson said. “The whole thing [with] convenience online, but with that, that the travelers are getting a set of amenities.”
Citing information from surveys where travelers were asked what amenities they would like to see, Swenson said the program will include properties with free internet and parking “100 percent of the time.”
DTS ‘Workhorse’
During this pilot program, Swenson said, “DTS is the workhorse” and will perform many of the tasks travelers previously had to do themselves, such as reservations.
“It goes out to these global distribution systems,” he said, “and pulls in all of the reservation information. For the government lodging it goes to multiple service systems to bring back the lodging information.”
Swenson said that DTS guides the traveler through the process, while keeping them from making mistakes. There are pre-audits and pop-up menus, he said, so travelers can make a reservation at the right location and comply with government travel policies and business rules.
More Information
Travelers will not always be directed to government lodging before DoD preferred commercial lodging and “the simple answer for travelers is you have to check first where your orders say you are going,” Swenson said.
If you are traveling to a government installation at a pilot site, “you’re supposed check the government lodging first,” he said. If government lodging is not available, or when TDY to a pilot site metro area, travelers are directed to book preferred commercial lodging before booking other lodging options. “It depends what your [approving official] put on your orders.”
Program Use, Feedback
DoD says that travelers benefit from the program pilot because of the choices and protections it offers, Swenson said.
“I think it’s a win for them,” he said. “It’s not just efficiencies. We’re looking at balancing taking care of our service members and our civilians with the efficiencies in the department.”
Swenson encouraged travelers to use the DTMO’s customer service survey to provide feedback.
“We’d encourage them to give us the feedback,” he said, “because this is a pilot, and we already have a list of enhancements of what we’re looking at, as we move forward we expand the pilot.”
Swenson added, “We want to incrementally improve the program and to take care of our people because we think we really have a duty of care responsibility to all of our travelers.”
(Follow Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone Marshall on Twitter: @MarshallDoDNews)
Story by Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr., DoD News, Defense Media Activity
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 07.03.2025 09:56 |
| Story ID: | 503778 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 0 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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