Forget the standard corporate apartment, available to many out-of-town employees. Today, the smart executive traveling frequently between two locales owns or personally rents his out-of-town digs -- and gets paid for staying there.

Employers are reimbursing executives for staying in their own second homes at a time when many have deemed company-owned residences too expensive to maintain. Though fairly common in the media, entertainment, banking and retail industries, the arrangement largely remained below the radar screen until recently. Facing heightened pressure from regulators and investors for greater details about executive rewards, several major corporations described this perk for the first time in their 2005 proxy statements.

Employers say second-home allowances make sense because they save hotel costs. Critics take a contrary view. "It's ridiculous to pay [executives] to stay in their own beds," says Ann Yerger, executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, a Washington group representing more than 140 pension funds with over $3 trillion in assets. "How many perks do they need?"

Since January 2002, Time Warner Inc. has given Chief Executive Richard D. Parsons $4,000 a month plus utilities and maintenance costs for the Los Angeles apartment that he rented for business trips. He has pocketed nearly $175,000 so far, collecting the money no matter how rarely he occupies his unit. The number of days he stays there "varies from year to year," reports Edward Adler, a spokesman for the New York media conglomerate.

"If the guy only is in L.A. 10 days a year and the company is spending a lot for his apartment there, that's obscene," says Brian Foley, an executive-pay consultant in White Plains, N.Y. "The problem is we don't know."

The outlays are "in lieu of reimbursing Mr. Parsons for his hotel business expenses in Los Angeles," the latest Time Warner proxy states. Mr. Parsons, CEO since May 2002, made $9.5 million in salary and bonus last year. The rental expenditure offers "benefits in terms of convenience, security and keeping business transactions confidential," Mr. Adler explains. Time Warner decided to reveal the setup because Securities and Exchange Commission officials recently said "this is the type of thing that should be disclosed," he continues.

Michael Eisner, longtime CEO of Walt Disney Co., receives a $10,000 monthly allowance to help maintain his New York residence. He owns an apartment in the Pierre, an elegant Fifth Avenue hotel, knowledgeable people say. (Disney declines to confirm the location.)The two-bedroom unit belonged to his late mother.

Mr. Eisner's fiscal 2004 salary and bonus totaled $8.25 million. Disney began the stipend during the year ended Sept. 30, 2002. "Mr. Eisner devotes significant efforts to company matters in New York in addition to his California-based responsibilities," the Burbank, Calif., entertainment concern says in its latest proxy.

The proxy notes that Mr. Eisner bears all of his apartment's expenses, "which exceed the amount of the monthly allowance." For the past three years, it adds, estimated "hotel business expenses would have exceeded the amount of the allowance."

For instance, a deluxe hotel room with king-size bed at the Pierre costs $595 a night; breakfast is $40 on average and a three-course dinner (without drinks) costs an average of $75.

Like Time Warner, Disney never discussed its leader's allowance until the latest proxy. "This disclosure occurred in the interest of following suggested guidelines for best practices," says Zenia Mucha, a spokeswoman.

Michael Ovitz, Mr. Eisner's onetime successor, who left Disney in 1996 with an exit package then valued at $140 million, had an employment contract entitling him to the same perks and benefits as Mr. Eisner. Last fall, in a trial of a shareholder suit against Disney directors, Mr. Ovitz testified that Disney paid him $750 a night for staying in his New York apartment during business trips. Ms. Mucha declines to comment about Mr. Ovitz.

Viacom Inc. has long reimbursed its new co-presidents for using their out-of-town residences during business trips. Leslie Moonves, a Los Angeles resident, received $105,000 to cover the nights he occupied his New York apartment last year, according to the New York media giant's current proxy. New York-based Tom Freston got $43,100 for time spent in his Los Angeles home.

Viacom paid each man about $20 million in 2004 salary and bonus. Their allowances began after they bought second homes during prior roles as divisional chiefs. Both executives spend more than a third of their time on the opposite coast. The fixed reimbursement for their second-home stays "significantly reduced the historic hotel and related costs," creating "a more efficient and productive situation," notes Carl Folta, a Viacom spokesman.

The co-presidents' latest contracts, signed last July, assure them the same nightly rate through 2009. But in light of their new posts, Messrs. Moonves and Freston have decided to relinquish the benefit, Mr. Folta said Tuesday.

On the other hand, the head of Sierra Pacific Resources doubts he could fulfill his peripatetic duties without a second-home allowance. "I probably wouldn't be in the job," says Walter M. Higgins, chairman, president and CEO of the utility holding concern since August 2000. He is required to live and work in Las Vegas, where Sierra Pacific has extensive operations but spends an average of seven to 12 days a month at its Reno headquarters.

In 2001, Mr. Higgins bought a 2,000-square-foot house in Reno and sought partial reimbursement for his stays. "I just sat down with the compensation-committee chair and we worked out what I thought would be fair for me," remembers Mr. Higgins. Proxies show his second-home allowance has ranged between $64,122 and $80,836 a year since then. Mr. Higgins, who is selling the house in Reno and now rents an apartment there, collected about $1.17 million in 2004 salary and bonus. "Arranging to have a base where I could ... sit down, leave some food and have a choice of clothes to wear has saved my sanity," Mr. Higgins reports. "It is unequivocally a good deal for shareholders."

Even though companies typically treat these housing stipends as executive compensation in their proxies, tax experts say the outlays are valid business expenses not subject to individual income tax. And executives using their second residences for business trips not only don't share the space with other visiting officials but also often have room for the spouse and kids.

A different kind of housing perquisite is the corporate apartment set aside for the exclusive use of one official, as in the famous case of L. Dennis Kozlowski, ousted chief of Tyco International Ltd. He bought a Fifth Avenue apartment with $18 million of Tyco's money, and his employer spent $12 million furnishing it.

Mr. Kozlowski and another former official are standing trial in New York, accused of stealing more than $150 million from Tyco. Both deny wrongdoing.

Personal use of a Manhattan corporate apartment caused trouble for Jack Welch, the former leader of General Electric Co. Mr. Welch found himself under fire, partly over that housing perk, after his 2002 divorce proceedings exposed details of a 1996 employment and postretirement consulting accord. He subsequently repaid GE at the rate of $50,000 per month for his use of the apartment at One Central Park West during the year after his Oct. 1, 2001, retirement. He kept up such outlays until 2003, when he paid GE $11.25 million for the furnished unit and the conglomerate transferred it to his ex-wife. GE made a profit on the sale, reports spokesman David Frail.