This is not turning related but it is Symposium related.
IF YOU BOOKED THE GALT HOTEL THROUGH TRAVELOCITY, READ ON.
I admit to being a procrastinator. So, when it came time to get a reservation for the Symposium, the only avenue open was via Travelocity
-- somebody posted to this forum that they had rooms. So, I booked through them and their confirmation said that my credit card had been charged and this was a PREPAID reservation. I assume others did the same.
My wife did the check in duties and gave them our credit card for incidental charges -- restaurant, parking, etc.
On the morning of check out, there was a copy of the bill which had been put under the door of the room and it showed that they had charged us for the room and all associated taxes -- remember that I had already paid Travelocity.
It was pretty clear there was a mistake -- the first line on the bill was my name and the second line was "Travelocity.com". On the way to the trade show area (I was there as a vendor), I stopped at the front desk and pointed out the error. I was told that it would be corrected. A week or so later I received a bill from the hotel in the mail and the charges were still there.
I called the Travelocity VIP Priority Service (yep, that's what they call it) and told them what had happened. I was told that this was normal and that the hotel would automatically refund the money to my credit card. I knew that was a lie since I've done this before but let it ride.
When I received my credit card statement and there was no refund, I called the Travelocity VIP Priority Service again. This time I was told that what had happened was not normal and that I would need to fax or snail-mail proof that I had been double charged, etc. I offered to send the documents as attachments to an email but was told that they cannot do it that way (I thought fax was dead!). I told them that it seemed a lot faster and easier for me just to dispute the charge on my credit card and let them sort it out without me. They hoped that I wouldn't do that. So much for Travelocity's guarantee of great customer service and swift problem resolution.
Then I called the hotel. It took four tries, 2 extended hold times and three hang-ups before I got through to the right person -- explaining the problem each time.
The hotel acknowledged the error and agreed to refund not only the hotel charges but also the parking and several small restaurant charges -- about $40.00 total. I was told that their computers were down the morning we were checking out and that was the reason for the confusion.
So, if you booked through Travelocity, make sure that you take a good look at your credit card statements -- I bet I'm not the only one affected by this problem.
Now, some interesting stuff -- at least to me... I got to see what Travelocity was charged so I could compare it with what they charged me.
I was charged $111.09/day for the room. They were charged $87.20.
Additionally..
I was charged $19.58/day in taxes and fees. They were charged $13.07/day.
Bill Rubenstein Stubby Lathe USA