The General Services Administration (GSA) announced that daily per diem rates in Standard areas for lodging and meals and incidental expenses (MI&E) will increase about 6 percent beginning October 1, 2010. All of the increase for FY2011 comes in the daily lodging rate, which will increase to $77 from $70 in FY2010. The MI&E rate will remain at $46. The standard rate covers most of the 2,600 CONUS counties. However, the daily lodging rates for the most of the 378 Non-Standard areas, for which rates are set individually, will actually decrease. This will be especially true in many major cities, where hotels continue to lower their prices in response to a weak economy. MI&E rates for Non-Standard areas will show little or no change in FY2011. For a description of Per Diem Rates and the latest tables showing rates for Standard and Non-Standard Areas, go to the GSA Per Diem web site.