The following email was sent recently and there was some confusion. This was for “informational” purposes only. This is not a change to travel policy. These web-sites can be very beneficial but we wanted everyone to know of the risks associated with using them. If you have any questions let me know.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Recently there have been issues arising around the matter of travelers using public online services to make hotel reservations. Some of these services include Orbitz, Hotels.com, etc. We would like to advise travelers to be aware of the risks associated with using these online services to complete or handle your hotel reservations.When you make the reservation and book the room, you are charged for the full hotel stay at the time of booking. Not just using your credit card to hold the reservation. If for an unforeseen reason your business trip is cancelled or delayed, it has often been difficult for travelers to receive their money back from the online service company. Depending on how far in advance the traveler is making the purchase, the employee may be out their personal money for a significant period of time. What the online services do is purchase a block of rooms from a hotel at a discounted rate. They then are in turn able to rent those rooms to online customers at a competitive rate that is lower than what the hotel can sometimes offer to individuals. While this discounted rate is lower and the reason for the attraction to use the online services, these companies usually charge a service fee on top of the room rate. Another problem arrising from the use of the online companies is the receipt. The traveler is given a receipt for the purchase of the room at the time the reservation is made, which then can be printed by the employee and turned in for reimbursement. However, this receipt does not prove the employee actually stayed at that lodging facility, that the dates weren't later changed, or that the reservation wasn't cancelled. Also, the hotel the traveler stayed at usually will not provide any additional receipt at the time of checkout. The hotels claim they have no way to print a receipt because the purchase of the room was completely handled by the online company and it is beyond what their computer systems can generate.
Travel Coordinator 541-346-3158 ph 541-346-2393 fax |