Under the Department of State Standardized Regulations (DSSR), HSTA does not use a formal “short-term vs. long-term” definition for temporary lodging. Instead, it defines what counts as “temporary lodging” and then applies time-limited reimbursement periods (up to 60 days with possible extension). Outside DSSR, federal travel resources–such as the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)–treat 30 nights or more as “long-term lodging.” 

 

The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) does not set a single day-count threshold (e.g. “30+ days”) that discriminates between long-term and short-term lodging but rather focuses on how lodging is procured/priced vs. a hard number of days; it treats lodging as “long-term” when it is obtained on a weekly or monthly basis and then provides a specific computation rule:

Long-term lodging (e.g., weekly/monthly): compute the daily lodging rate by dividing the total lodging cost by the number of days of occupancy for which the traveler is entitled to lodging reimbursement/per diem.

But for HSTA under DSSR, the reimbursement mechanics hinge on 30, 60, or (up to) 120 days, not a “short vs. long” lodging label.