I thought that these 2 chapters (Chapter 4a & 4b) were very fascinating. I can relate to these topics because there have been a few instances where we have had some billing issues with certain government agencies. The first instance that I can think of was with an agency we had booked at the Gettysburg Hotel last year. During their meeting they ended up adding AV equipment on to make their master account higher than what it was originally approved for. It only ended being a small amount under $100 but in order to be paid the full amount, the agency would have had to gone back and gotten the full amount approved which could have taken months. Instead we wrote off the added amount just to get the majority of our money while they were there.
A second example is apparently there is an online payment system where hotels can log on and get reimbursed right away. We have a recurring group that stays with us annually and for 2009 we waited months for payment only to find out that all we had to do was go to this website and the payment would be distributed immediately. It must have been stated in the fine print listed on the Purchase Order and it was never brought to our attention until we had waited for months to get paid.
I know that the chapters talk mostly about how the Government Traveler gets paid and reimbursed but I think it is important to show payment examples of how hotels deal with situations.
Jen Millheim