How to deal with reluctant ontractors (hotels etc.)

[Petersen]

Dear community,

First of all, I am delighted to be amongst you, as I just today joined the forum.

I am very new to my job as a secretary (have had some experience as a PA) so I would be more than glad to read some advice from you more experienced people

Today, my boss wanted me to cancel his hotel reservation. It was quite urgent because they have a 48h-cancellation policy and he was supposed to arrive Saturday morning.
My supervising colleague told me to call directly the Deputy Manager who knows that my boss is a very good client of theirs.
However, he turned out to be out of office today, so I spoke to a receptionist who told me unfortunately they would have to charge a fee because we went over the 48 hours.
I told her that my boss was an excellent client and that her DP on other occasions agreed to such changement without any problem. She insisted.

Do you have any tips on how to deal with this sort of situation?

Kind regards,

PeKa

[Katie G]

Hi Petersen, and welcome!

I'd call back tomorrow when the Deputy is there, and ask to speak to him/her personally.  If the charge is against a credit card, they can reverse it.  No biggie.  Just remember to confirm that it is, indeed, reversed when the bill comes.

I know this is frustrating and you may feel like you've been given the brushoff, but the likely scenario is that the receptionist does not have the authority to even confirm if they can do that, especially if this is a little "something special" that's done only for certain customers. 

Good luck!

[Atlanta Z3]

Another option since your boss frequently stays there is to change the reservation to a much later date.  Hold the confirmation number and then change it to the next travel date as soon as possible.  I've used this personally to get around cancellation fees when trying to travel standby.  Now I closely watch cancellation times and mark my calendar if less than 24hrs.

[susan silva]

Welcome to the forum board!   Both are great suggestions.  I have found, if talking to the manager (even a few days later) can work.  I have had charges reversed a few times, but there are times it just doesn't work and you to just take the charge.  I can't wait to see if others have more suggestions.

[crackerjack]

Bypass the receptionist. She will only be following procedures and will not understand the nature of the relationship your boss has with the hotel.

Receptionist sounds a bit of a jobsworth to me.

Be interested to know what happened when your boss got back.