The Wasatch mountains from my plane as we came into SLC
I don’t travel a ton for work, which is great since I think my wife and 6 kids might kill me if I was gone every week :-), but last week I was gone at a work-conference in Salt Lake City.
(SEE ALSO: Finishing up visiting every county in Utah)
(SEE ALSO: When a hotel can’t get the little things right…)
Work paid for my flights (including a red eye flight where I used these 4 tips to survive!) and hotel. I didn’t get a rental car, but my company’s travel policy does pay for taxis and other transportation from my hotel to the conference. I actually found the policy a bit short-sighted as it made me stay in a hotel out at the airport because it was “cheapest” but didn’t really consider the costs of taxis to / from the conference
Do you travel differently when someone else is paying?
I think that there is already a bit of an ethical dilemma among business travelers, and one that is only exacerbated by the recent changes by Delta and United to give out miles based on the cost of your ticket. I’m not a frequent business traveler personally, so I can’t speak a ton on this, but can only speak from my experience.
The first day of the conference, I had to return my rental car to the airport before going to the conference. When I asked at the front desk of my hotel how much a cab would be, they suggested taking the light rail.
Which is what I did, and it worked out just fine (total cost $2.50).
The second day, I called a cab, and the same trip cost me $23.
Do you travel differently if someone else is paying for it?
I feel no ethical misgivings about taking the cab, but it did make me wonder. I think taking a cab is totally reasonable, but because I’m such a cheapskate (see the budget for our family of 8 here), I wonder if I had been paying my own way, is that what would I have done?
Or instead would I have taken the hotel shuttle to the airport and then the light rail downtown, to save $20?
I didn’t have a 3rd day in town, so I didn’t have to decide, but for the record, on Thursday night I had a friend with a car drop me off at the hotel and Friday night since I was going to the airport I just took the light rail.
What about you?
Have you ever noticed yourself traveling differently when you’re on your own versus if someone else is footing the bill? I’m interested to hear the perspectives of business travelers and other people who travel frequently.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
I think “it depends” is the best response. Time permitting you should always take the lowest cost of reasonable transportation. For example, I have to do red eye flight from CA to DC (IAD) often. My office is downtown dc. I usually try to take the 5a bus directly to work, but sometimes with meetings I need to be in earlier so the $80 cab ride is justifiable.
That’s a good way to think about it. You’re probably right that there’s no hard and fast rule
I don’t always try for the cheapest of anything (especially hotels), but I try to keep it reasonable. I definitely don’t pay a higher rate at a given hotel for the “points package” or whatever. Generally no Hyatts or Hiltons, but no budget end either.
As a weekly traveler for a small non-profit, I firmly follow this policy “I wouldn’t do for work what I wouldn’t do in my “real” life.” I don’t eat at Ruth Chris every night in my “real” life, but I also don’t eat at McDonald’s either, so I think it’s more about finding balance with what you feel comfortable doing. I always wonder if a donor asked to see my expense report for a trip, how would they feel seeing the expenses? I’m sure this smart approach is why my expenses are never questioned 🙂
when someone else is paying for my travel, I would not work as hard to save money. I’m not going to be ridiculous about it, though. I”m not going to charge a phone call to the room, even if it means using my person cell phone. But if I’m exhausted and the only restaurant within a short walk is the hotel restaurant, I’ll be eating there even if it’s more expensive than I would spend with my own money. If you’re traveling, your job probably isn’t paying you by the hour for the effort of saving them money. But if I’m on my own dime, I can value my time at a certain amount. There is a level of trust there, but employers who expect their workers to go to heroic and inconvenient measures to save the company money when traveling are annoying. Of course, if I were working for a non-profit with a mission i believed in, I’d be more motivated to save them money.
That’s a really well-thought out answer! If this was StackOverflow, I’d totally upvote you 😀
Lol at the Stack Overflow comment! I want to also go with ‘it depends’. I started out as frugal as possible. My very first work sent me to Phoenix, on a high $ last minute ticket. I did everything I could to keep the cost down on everything else. Econolodge hotel, no rental car, bus to the office instead. Then I had our accountant basically yell at me, saying, “You do NOT take a bus in Phoenix!” She literally picked me up the next two days, and then was appalled at where I was staying. Needless to say, I have relaxed a bit on how hard I try to save them money. Sometimes convenience wins. Then again, sometimes I inconvenice myself (off the clock) to stay somewhere to fulfill a promo.
Intersting topic. I think since your employer sent you on this trip (for their benefit more than yours), you shouldn’t have to inconvenience yourself the way you would if you were traveling on your own dime. That’s especially true since they did put you in a hotel that made getting around slightly more difficult. If you were traveling on your own dime, you’d probably also choose a hotel with a better location.