Houston Per Diem Rates 2027: Texas City Guide

Travel managers, finance teams, and operations leaders planning business trips to Houston need a reliable way to budget hotel stays, administer meal allowances, and manage exceptions before employees travel. For fiscal year (FY) 2027, which runs from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, the GSA Houston rate table sets a $133 nightly lodging maximum and an $80 full-day meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) allowance.

Those figures provide a useful starting point, but effective budgeting also depends on the official work location, hotel taxes, furnished meals, and the rules an employer uses for reimbursement. This guide explains the FY 2027 Houston allowances, what Engine's historical hotel search rates indicate about prices relative to the lodging cap, and how Engine helps businesses manage booking, billing, approvals, and reporting.

Key Takeaways

• Houston FY 2027 rates: The GSA Houston schedule sets a $133 nightly lodging cap and $80 in full-day M&IE. Their $213 sum is a planning reference, not an automatic daily payment. Federal lodging reimbursement is based on eligible actual expenses up to the nightly limit.
• Applicable locality: The Houston nonstandard area covers Harris, Montgomery, and Fort Bend counties. For federal reimbursement, the applicable rate ordinarily follows the location of official work activities rather than the hotel address.
• No seasonal adjustment in the published table: Houston's $133 lodging cap applies in all 12 months of FY 2027.
• Travel-day allowance: Qualifying federal travelers receive $60 in M&IE on each first and last calendar day of a trip, equal to 75% of the $80 full-day amount. Private employers can establish their own policies.
• Hotel-rate availability: According to Engine's per diem study, 62.1% of Houston hotel rates shown in Engine searches for check-ins from October 2025 through September 2026 came in at or below the FY 2027 lodging cap, using the study's stated rate and fee methodology. This describes displayed rates, not completed bookings or guaranteed future availability.
• Lodging taxes: Certain fully taxable hotel stays within the relevant City of Houston and Harris County taxing jurisdictions may face a combined 17% hotel occupancy tax. The rate varies by property jurisdiction, and qualifying federal employees traveling on official business may be exempt.
• Booking controls: Engine Travel Policy Enforcement lets organizations apply location-based nightly rate limits and route out-of-policy reservations through defined exception workflows before booking.

Understanding GSA Per Diem Rates for Houston in 2027

The General Services Administration (GSA) establishes per diem rates for eligible federal employees on official travel within the continental United States. Companies can use these figures as benchmarks for corporate travel policies, but GSA's federal employee reimbursement schedule does not automatically determine reimbursement for private-sector employees or federal contractors. Contracts, company policies, and applicable law govern those arrangements. See the GSA per diem FAQs.

What GSA Per Diem Covers

For qualifying federal travel, the published rate has two components with different reimbursement rules:

• Lodging: Actual eligible hotel charges, supported by a receipt, are reimbursed up to the applicable nightly maximum. Unused lodging allowance is not paid out to the traveler.
• Meals and incidental expenses: A daily allowance covers qualifying meals, related meal taxes and tips, and defined incidental expenses. First and last travel days and certain furnished meals receive special treatment.

The lodging and M&IE figures are separate allowances. Under the federal reimbursement rules, an unused portion of the lodging cap cannot be transferred to M&IE, and an unused portion of M&IE cannot increase the allowable hotel rate.

GSA develops rates for nonstandard areas using lodging market information, including average daily rates from qualifying fire-safe properties. The rate is a federal reimbursement benchmark rather than a requirement that hotels sell rooms at that amount.

Which Counties Use the Houston Rate?

Houston is a designated GSA nonstandard area. Its FY 2027 locality definition includes:

• Harris County: The primary Houston area, including downtown and the Texas Medical Center.
• Montgomery County: Communities including Conroe and parts of The Woodlands.
• Fort Bend County: Communities including Sugar Land and parts of Missouri City.

The federal rate normally follows where the official work is performed. When lodging is unavailable at the work location, a federal agency may authorize the rate for the location where lodging is obtained. Hotel mailing addresses and city names alone are not a substitute for the locality rule.

Houston Rates Throughout FY 2027

The FY 2027 Houston GSA table lists:

• October through December 2026: $133 per night for lodging; $80 M&IE for a qualifying full travel day.
• January through March 2027: $133 per night for lodging; $80 full-day M&IE.
• April through June 2027: $133 per night for lodging; $80 full-day M&IE.
• July through September 2027: $133 per night for lodging; $80 full-day M&IE.

The lodging cap is published before hotel occupancy taxes. Lodging and M&IE treatment may differ under a private employer's policy.

Make work travel less work.

Hotels, flights, cars and meeting spaces in one place, with savings on every booking. Free to use. No contracts. No BS.

Join freeBook a demo

Houston Meals and Incidental Expenses (M&IE) Breakdown

Houston's FY 2027 M&IE rate is $80 for qualifying federal travel.

Calculating the $80 M&IE Allowance

The GSA meal breakdown allocates the full-day allowance as follows:

• Breakfast: $20
• Lunch: $22
• Dinner: $33
• Incidentals: $5
• Total full-day M&IE: $80

These amounts are particularly relevant when a government-furnished meal or a meal included in a government-paid registration must be deducted from a federal traveler's allowance. The meal amounts are allocation figures, not individual daily spending limits that federal travelers must exhaust.

Under the federal furnished-meal rules, complimentary hotel breakfasts and meals provided by a common carrier generally do not reduce M&IE. An ordinary business or client meal does not automatically trigger the federal government-furnished-meal deduction. A private employer may define its own furnished-meal adjustments.

First and Last Travel Day Calculations

For qualifying multiday federal travel, the first and last calendar days use 75% of the destination's M&IE allowance, irrespective of departure or arrival time. Houston's published amounts are:

• First calendar day: $60
• Each intervening qualifying full day: $80
• Last calendar day: $60

For example, a qualifying four-calendar-day Houston business trip with three hotel nights and no meals requiring deduction produces:

• Day 1: $60
• Day 2: $80
• Day 3: $80
• Day 4: $60
• Total M&IE: $280

The $280 total is calculated as $60 + $80 + $80 + $60. It is an illustrative trip calculation, not an additional published GSA allowance. It excludes lodging, hotel taxes, airfare, and other separately eligible costs. Furnished meals and special travel circumstances can change an actual federal claim.

What the $5 Incidental Allowance Covers

GSA defines incidentals primarily as qualifying fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, hotel staff, and staff aboard ships. The $5 category is part of M&IE rather than an additional daily payment.

According to IRS Publication 463, incidental expenses do not include laundry, cleaning, telephone calls, transportation between lodging or the workplace and meal locations, lodging taxes, or the cost of mailing travel vouchers. Those expenses may have separate policy or tax treatment, but they are not items within the defined $5 M&IE incidental component.

Navigating Houston Lodging Per Diem and Hotel Costs

Houston's nightly $133 lodging maximum is a useful benchmark for business travel near downtown offices, the Texas Medical Center, the Energy Corridor, and George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) and William P. Hobby (HOU) airports. Actual availability depends on the travel dates, property, location, and room conditions.

Lodging Caps, Mandatory Fees, and Hotel Taxes

The GSA Houston lodging cap is $133 per night before lodging taxes. A lodging budget should separately track the room charge, mandatory lodging-related fees, and applicable occupancy taxes. Engine's per diem methodology compares nightly room prices plus fees paid at the hotel, such as resort fees, against the GSA lodging cap, excluding taxes.

For federal CONUS travel, allowable lodging taxes actually paid are generally reimbursable as a separate expense to the extent they relate to reimbursable lodging costs. An itemized hotel folio helps distinguish these amounts. See the GSA lodging guidance.

The Texas Comptroller's hotel-tax FAQ provides an example for properties subject to all of the following levies:

• Texas state hotel tax: 6%
• City of Houston hotel tax: 7%
• Harris County hotel tax: 2%
• Harris County-Houston Sports Authority tax: 2%
• Combined rate in that example: 17%

For an illustrative, fully taxable hotel room priced at $133 before tax, the arithmetic is:

• Occupancy tax: $133 x 17% = $22.61
• Room and occupancy-tax subtotal: $133 + $22.61 = $155.61

These are calculated examples, not GSA reimbursement amounts or a universal Houston-area hotel-tax rate. Properties outside the relevant taxing jurisdictions may face different local taxes. The Texas Comptroller also identifies an exemption from state and local hotel occupancy taxes for qualifying U.S. government employees traveling on official business. Third-party federal contractors do not receive that exemption merely because they work on a federal contract. The Comptroller's exemption guidance explains the distinction.

What Engine's Houston Hotel Rate Study Shows

Engine's per diem study analyzed hotel rates displayed in Engine searches for check-ins between October 2025 and September 2026, comparing them with the FY 2027 lodging cap. The Houston results were:

• All reported hotel classes: 62.1% of displayed rates were at or below the $133 cap.
• 2-star hotels: 98.5% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 2.5-star hotels: 84.9% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 3-star hotels: 63.9% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 3.5-star hotels: 52.1% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 4-star hotels: 20.1% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 4.5-star hotels: 4.4% of displayed rates were within the cap.
• 5-star hotels: 0.1% of displayed rates were within the cap.

Under the study's definition, 2.5-star was the highest Houston hotel class covered by the cap, meaning at least 70% of the rates shown in that class and every lower class fell within the limit. The data describe rates shown in searches, not what travelers ultimately paid, the proportion of bookings that complied, or the availability of a particular room on future dates.

The study included nightly room prices and fees paid at the hotel, excluded taxes, and applied the FY 2027 cap to rates displayed for the earlier check-in period. That historical comparison can help travel managers set expectations, while actual booking decisions should use the available rate for the intended dates and room.

Finding Houston Accommodations Within Policy

The location of the meeting or work assignment should guide the hotel search. Practical comparisons include:

• Downtown Houston: Assess dates for conventions, client meetings, and other major events, using the company lodging cap and any defined exception workflow.
• Texas Medical Center: Compare hotels near the destination against commute time, cancellation rules, and total stay cost.
• Energy Corridor: Include convenient business hotels and evaluate transportation needs alongside the nightly room rate.
• Airport areas: Consider IAH and HOU properties when flight schedules, arrival times, and meeting locations make them useful.
• The Woodlands and Sugar Land: Compare eligible suburban properties by total travel cost and proximity to official work activities rather than assuming a lower nightly rate.

Advance planning, comparison of equivalent room types, and attention to parking, mandatory fees, and cancellation conditions help produce a more reliable budget. Included breakfast may also reduce personal meal spending, even though complimentary hotel breakfast ordinarily does not reduce federal M&IE.

Engine Hotel Booking gives business travelers and bookers a way to compare available hotel options, including pre-negotiated rates, within a travel program that can apply company policy during selection and checkout.

IRS Travel Reimbursement and Tax Considerations

The GSA schedule, the IRS rules for accountable reimbursement plans, and the IRS's optional special per diem substantiation methods serve different purposes. Using a published GSA rate in a private company's policy does not automatically establish that every payment is tax-free or deductible. For the 2026 to 2027 period, the IRS published Notice 2026-60, which addresses separate special per diem substantiation methods, including the high-low method.

Accountable Plans and Nonaccountable Plans

Under the IRS accountable-plan rules, qualifying employee reimbursements generally remain outside taxable wages when the arrangement meets all three conditions:

• Business connection: The expense arises from qualifying business duties.
• Adequate substantiation: The employee supplies the required expense, travel, and business-purpose records within a reasonable period.
• Return of excess: Any excess advance or reimbursement is returned within a reasonable period when required.

Payments under a nonaccountable plan, or amounts failing applicable accountable-plan requirements, generally are treated as taxable wages subject to the relevant withholding and employment taxes. These rules apply separately from the question of whether a hotel charge fits a company's internal nightly limit.

Per Diem Deductions for Self-Employed Travelers

For eligible self-employed travelers, IRS Publication 463 distinguishes actual lodging expenses from the optional standard meal allowance:

• Lodging: The allowable deduction is based on substantiated actual business lodging expenses. There is no optional flat self-employed lodging deduction equal to GSA's nightly cap.
• Meals: An eligible traveler may use the federal standard meal allowance instead of separately proving each meal amount, while retaining records of the time, place, and business purpose of travel.
• Deduction limit: Business meals are generally subject to a 50% deduction limitation, with statutory exceptions.
• Travel eligibility: Tax-home, sleep-or-rest, and temporary-assignment rules govern whether a trip qualifies as business travel away from home. An assignment expected to last more than one year may affect the analysis.
• Home office considerations: A qualifying home office can be relevant to an individual's tax-home determination, depending on the facts.

A federal employee reimbursement amount, a private company allowance, and an individual income-tax deduction are distinct concepts.

Documentation for Houston Per Diem Claims

An organized travel record connects the published rate, the booking, and the reimbursed amount. The IRS recordkeeping guidance and GSA receipt guidance support records such as:

• Lodging: An itemized hotel folio identifying the property, dates, nightly room amounts, taxes, fees, and any relevant business purpose.
• M&IE: Travel dates, destination and work location, business purpose, first and last travel days, and furnished-meal adjustments where applicable.
• Transportation: Airfare confirmations and eligible ground transportation receipts, with the dates, amounts, and business purpose.
• Mileage: A log of qualifying business miles, dates, destination or route, and purpose when mileage is claimed.
• Approvals: Documentation of authorized exceptions and applicable company reimbursement decisions.

For federal temporary-duty travel, GSA generally requires lodging receipts and receipts for other authorized expenses exceeding $75, subject to applicable exceptions. Private-employer document requirements may differ.

Engine's Per Diem Expense Report Template includes FY 2027 rate lookups, first and last day calculations, furnished-meal deductions, and lodging claim fields. Its Business Travel Expense Report Template covers other eligible business travel expenses.

Houston Travel Policy Enforcement and Cost Control

A practical per diem program connects the relevant location rate with booking-stage rules, approvals, and expense documentation. That approach is particularly valuable for companies coordinating recurring trips for conferences, client meetings, sales teams, and multiple departments.

Setting Houston Per Diem Policy Rules

A Houston-focused travel policy should define:

• Rate geography: Use the actual work location, relevant county, and the organization's chosen reimbursement framework. For programs adopting the federal Houston allowance, the reference is $133 nightly lodging and $80 full-day M&IE for FY 2027.
• Lodging basis: Identify the treatment of room costs, mandatory fees, occupancy taxes, and charges outside the lodging allowance.
• Travel days and meals: State when the 75% first and last day calculation applies and which furnished meals lead to deductions.
• Advance booking: Set reasonable lead-time expectations for planned travel and provide a process for urgent business needs.
• Exceptions: Specify which managers can authorize an over-cap hotel and how an approved exception is recorded.
• Expense records: Define the required folios, travel logs, approvals, reporting deadlines, and payment categories.

Engine's Per Diem Policy Template provides a FY 2027 structure for these elements, and its Corporate Travel Policy Template supports broader booking and approval requirements.

Strategies for Managing Houston Trip Costs

Managing total travel spending involves more than comparing the base nightly room rate. Useful practices include:

• Compare trip totals: Evaluate equivalent room categories with mandatory charges, taxes, parking, and commuting requirements shown separately.
• Consider long stays: Review weekly and extended-stay hotel terms for assignments requiring recurring or consecutive nights.
• Assess location value: A property near the work site may reduce ground transportation costs and employee travel time.
• Evaluate bundled amenities: Included breakfast, parking, and other relevant amenities can influence the total expense.
• Use eligible loyalty benefits: Where company policy permits, consider available rewards and loyalty terms for qualifying bookings.
• Plan event travel: Houston conferences and large city events can affect available hotel offers without changing the published GSA locality rate.

Tracking Policy Compliance Across Teams

For finance teams, Engine Travel Reporting and Analytics organizes booking and billing data captured in Engine. With company-defined fields, reports can be reviewed by department, project, team, traveler, or cost center.

Relevant measures include average nightly rate, spending by business unit, approved policy exceptions, and negotiated-rate savings shown in platform reporting. Comparing these measures with the company's $133 Houston FY 2027 benchmark, where adopted, provides a consistent basis for travel budget reviews.

Flexible Booking and Traveler Support for Houston Trips

Meetings, conferences, and project schedules may change after a hotel is reserved. Houston travel programs can prepare by documenting cancellation terms, approval responsibilities, and alternate accommodations before employees depart.

Planning for Events and Weather

Business travel can overlap with major city events, including the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, scheduled for March 2 through March 21, 2027. Such events can influence hotel availability and quoted prices, but do not automatically change the published federal lodging maximum.

Houston's Gulf Coast location also makes severe-weather planning relevant. NOAA's hurricane guidance identifies the Atlantic hurricane season as June 1 through November 30. Travel policies can specify who coordinates itinerary changes, which rate conditions govern modifications, and how employees receive support when plans shift.

Handling Changed Reservations

Before committing a reservation, the booking workflow can identify the hotel's cancellation deadline, change conditions, and payment or credit treatment. For eligible bookings, Engine offers optional protection through Flex for Hotels and its FlexPro subscription, detailed below.

Live Assistance for Business Travelers

Engine's 24/7 live support assists business travelers with booking questions, itinerary changes, and travel disruptions. Engine's support model includes Eva, its AI assistant, with escalation to live agents through phone, chat, and email. For group hotel programs, the Engine Groups team coordinates requests and property communication as part of the managed room-block process.

How Engine Helps Manage Houston Per Diem Travel

Engine is a modern travel management platform for organizations managing hotels, flights, rental cars, group travel, and related spend. For Houston travel programs, its relevant mechanisms combine hotel search, pre-booking rules, exception approvals, centralized billing, reporting, and FY 2027 reimbursement templates.

Engine's standard booking platform and Engine Groups service are free to use: No platform fees, no membership fees, no agent-assist fees, no contracts, no minimum spend. Engine's pricing information explains the platform model. Hotel booking charges and supplier reservation terms apply, while Flex and FlexPro are separate paid protection options.

Engine Hotel Booking: Pre-Negotiated Rates and Business Reservations

Engine Hotel Booking enables employees and authorized bookers to search available properties, compare room options, and reserve lodging under company travel rules. Pre-negotiated rates and relevant cancellation details support comparisons for Houston client meetings, conferences, sales trips, and team offsites. Eligible hotel reservations can earn hotel loyalty points, and eligible flight reservations can earn airline loyalty points, subject to the applicable program rules.

Engine Travel Policy Enforcement: Location-Based Nightly Limits

Engine Travel Policy Enforcement supports flat or tiered nightly hotel limits, rules by destination, and policy assignments for individuals, all members, or selected departments. A Houston-focused policy can set the $133 FY 2027 lodging benchmark for appropriate travelers and locations.

According to the Engine travel policy guide, administrators can configure limits for the room rate or enable a broader total-cost rule that includes taxes and fees. This lets the organization align its booking control with the particular spending measure stated in its corporate policy, while reimbursement records separately account for eligible taxes and applicable federal rules.

Engine Approvals: Out-of-Policy Booking Decisions

Engine supports three documented enforcement modes: Not Allowed, Allowed with Reason, and Allowed with Approval. These options let companies block an out-of-policy booking, let a traveler proceed after recording a reason, or require a manager or administrator to approve and book the exception.

Engine Approvals sends eligible exception requests to configured administrators or department managers, with email or text notifications. An approver can approve and book the reservation at the price available when the decision is made, helping finance teams retain the decision context for later review.

Engine DirectBill: Consolidated Billing and Expense Exports

Engine DirectBill extends a line of credit to approved company accounts. Engine pays the hotels, and the customer receives one consolidated invoice after stays. Billing is organized by statement period, so a stay crossing two periods can appear on separate statements. All applications are subject to credit approval.

Its relevant business travel features include:

• Itemized company statements connected to reservations and booking details.
• Hotel folios and billing records that support allocation of eligible charges.
• CSV and PDF exports for finance reconciliation and reporting.
• Regular statement cycles supporting centralized payment administration.

DirectBill lets organizations organize covered booking charges centrally while continuing to handle meal allowances, mileage, and other employee reimbursement categories under their expense policies.

Engine Incidentals Coverage: Hotel Check-In Support

With Engine's Incidentals Coverage add-on, travelers skip credit card authorization forms at check-in for eligible covered hotel stays. The add-on works with qualifying DirectBill arrangements and supports centralized handling of covered hotel incidental charges.

For employees attending Houston meetings or working across multiple properties, this provides a coordinated check-in and billing experience under the company's established coverage settings.

Engine Travel Reporting and Analytics: Nightly Rates and Cost Codes

Engine Travel Reporting and Analytics gives administrators visibility into platform-recorded booking and spending activity. Company-defined fields can connect reservations with departments, projects, teams, job numbers, general ledger codes, and cost centers.

Finance teams can use these views to evaluate Houston room rates against internal policy, review booking exceptions, and organize travel expenses by the business activity they support. Downloadable information also supports accounting and budget reviews.

Engine Groups: Room Blocks for Nine or More Rooms

Engine Groups supports hotel room blocks for nine or more rooms, including conferences, corporate offsites, company events, and large travel programs. Its dedicated team coordinates sourcing and hotel proposals, while RFP and Contract Management supports supplier negotiations and agreement coordination.

Engine's Rooming List Management supports guest assignments and hotel delivery. Group program terms, including deposits, cancellation rules, and attrition obligations, are established in the applicable hotel agreement. Engine Groups is included in the free-to-use service model described above.

Engine Spaces: Meeting and Event Venue Discovery

Engine Spaces helps organizers identify Houston meeting rooms and event venues alongside their hotel planning. Teams can compare venue details and submit an inquiry, after which the venue provider and organizer coordinate booking and payment under the venue's terms.

For conferences, workshops, and company offsites, Engine Spaces makes venue discovery part of the broader travel planning process.

Engine FlexPro: Company Hotel Cancellation Coverage

Engine FlexPro is a paid company subscription for eligible individual hotel bookings, including qualifying nonrefundable rates. Covered reservations made after enrollment and used during an active subscription can be canceled under the program's terms until noon at the hotel's local time on the scheduled check-in day.

Engine's FlexPro pricing lists $299 per month or $2,999 per year. For eligible cancellations outside the hotel's standard refund conditions, the default refund is Engine Travel Credit valid for one calendar year from issuance, as explained in Engine's travel credit FAQ and subject to Engine's program terms. The subscription offers a defined company-level mechanism for handling changes to individual hotel reservations.

Engine Flex: Hotel and Flight Booking Protection

Engine Flex provides separate paid per-booking options for qualifying hotel and flight reservations.

• Flex for Hotels: Adds cancellation or stay-adjustment coverage to an eligible hotel reservation under the coverage terms shown for that booking.
• Flex for Flights: For eligible airlines and fares, allows cancellation through the Engine account at least two hours before the first scheduled departure, with qualifying value returned as Engine Travel Credit under the program terms.

These options support planned flexibility for individual business trips. Contracted group-room-block changes follow the applicable hotel agreement.

Engine Per Diem Templates: FY 2027 Expense Documentation

Engine's Per Diem Expense Report Template, published October 8, 2026, includes a downloadable Excel workbook with FY 2027 locality and monthly rate lookups, first and last day M&IE calculations, furnished-meal adjustments, and lodging claim fields.

Its Per Diem Policy Template, published October 13, 2026, provides an editable framework for rate selection, exceptions, receipts, tax treatment, and reporting requirements. Together with Engine's booking policies, approvals, DirectBill, and reporting, these resources support a coordinated Houston travel and reimbursement process.

Make work travel less work.

Hotels, flights, cars and meeting spaces in one place, with savings on every booking. Free to use. No contracts. No BS.

Join freeBook a demo

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Houston's GSA per diem rates for FY 2027?

The published Houston FY 2027 rate is $133 per night for lodging and $80 for a qualifying full day of M&IE. The first and last calendar days of eligible federal travel receive $60 in M&IE each. Lodging is reimbursed at eligible actual cost up to the nightly cap.

Do Houston per diem rates change during major events?

Events may affect hotel pricing and availability, but they do not automatically amend GSA allowances. The FY 2027 Houston lodging table shows $133 in every month, including March 2027, when the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is scheduled. An employer's approved exception process or a federal agency's authorized actual-expense procedure may address qualifying over-cap circumstances.

Can my company set rates below the Houston GSA allowances?

Generally, yes. A private employer may establish different lodging or meal allowances, subject to applicable employment law, contracts, and company policy. GSA rates govern eligible federal employee travel and can serve as a benchmark for private reimbursement arrangements. IRS accountable-plan rules separately govern the tax treatment of employee reimbursements.

Which rate applies if the hotel is outside the Houston locality?

For federal travel, the rate normally follows the location of official work activities, not the hotel. Where lodging is unavailable at the work location, the agency may authorize the lodging-location rate. The GSA Houston table identifies the relevant locality. Private employers can specify other location rules in their policies.

Do The Woodlands and downtown Houston have different rates?

Not when the official federal work location is within the published Houston locality covering Harris, Montgomery, and Fort Bend counties. The FY 2027 Houston allowance is the same within that defined area: $133 lodging and $80 full-day M&IE. Specific property prices and taxing jurisdictions may still differ.

What if hotel taxes push the total above $133?

The federal lodging maximum is stated before hotel occupancy taxes. For qualifying federal travel, taxes actually paid on reimbursable lodging costs are generally reimbursed separately. In the Comptroller's example of a property subject to the full 17% combined Houston-area hotel tax, a $133 taxable room produces $22.61 in tax and a $155.61 room-and-tax subtotal. That tax rate does not apply to every hotel in the broader GSA locality, and eligible federal employees on official business may qualify for an exemption. See the Texas hotel-tax guidance.