Steve and all,
As directed per Bob Grow, the IEEE 802.3
Working Group Chair, please take this subject matter up with him privately
offline.
John D’Ambrosia
From: Trowbridge, Stephen J (Steve)
[mailto:sjtrowbridge@ALCATEL-LUCENT.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
2:15 PM
To:
STDS-802-3-HSSG@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [HSSG] Shilla hotel
charges
Jacky,
We seem to have gotten WAY off the
topic of my original complaint.
I was not complaining about how the
meeting fee was charged. I was not complaining about our host (Samsung or
ETRI). I was not complaining about the AMEX international service fee.
What I was complaining about was the fact
that the hotel did not charge my total bill (mostly lodging, but also
containing the meeting fee) to AMEX in the amount of Korean Won shown on my
hotel folio (where, as you say, AMEX would have tacked on their fee where I
couldn't see it). The hotel converted my bill to US dollars at THE HOTEL's
exchange rate, and billed that DOLLAR amount to AMEX, and this was a
significantly worse rate than AMEX would have given me.
From others who have posted, the Novotel
did not do this. The hotel I stayed at ~3 years ago in Seoul for IETF did not do this. The hotel I
stayed at in Seoul
in 1997 in transit to another destination did not do this. No other hotel I
have stayed at in 22 countries on 5 continents for business travel has done
this. They have all submitted the hotel charges to AMEX in local currency in
the EXACT amount shown on my hotel folio. Assuming that I am not the only one
who was charged in this manner, this hotel's unique charging method seems to
net them an extra ~$70-90 per guest depending on whether they were there for
four or five nights.
Regards,
Steve
From: Jacky Chow
[mailto:jchow@MARVELL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
10:36 AM
To:
STDS-802-3-HSSG@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [HSSG] Shilla hotel
charges
Bob,
I agreed with you 100%. For those of
you not familiar with using your credit cards overseas, AMEX always
“built-in” their international service fees (per transaction)
directly on the charge amount – (The following is printed on your AMEX
statement: “Foreign Currency conversion rate is base rate plus 2%.
See legal disclosures for details”).
You should have voiced your complain to
financial institutions like AMEX, Visa, or Mastercard. Our host in Korea
has absolutely nothing to do with the exchange rate/fee policies charged by these
financial institutions.
Regards
Jacky
From: Grow, Bob [mailto:bob.grow@INTEL.COM]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007
8:28 AM
To:
STDS-802-3-HSSG@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
Subject: Re: [HSSG] Shilla hotel
charges
If there is really serious concern about
the ~$11 difference between the "advertised" registration fee and
what showed up on your credit card bill, please direct your comments to
me. Under the LMSC P&P, I as WG Chair am ultimately responsible for
approving the meeting budget and meeting fee. I apologize to the WG for
not making sure the meeting fee was announced in Won, how it was budgeted, with
US $ clearly marked as an estimate on the web page. Hopefully this will
not occur again.
It has been suggested that the meeting fee
be fixed in US $. It is my opinion that it is inappropriate to ask our
hosts to take on the additional risks of currency fluctuation in addition to
the other liabilities we ask them to incur. In this case, our hosts went
far beyond what we ask of hosts. I thank our hosts for their very
substantial financial contribution to the meeting. While on the dinner
cruise provided to us at no charge, I received favorable comments from a number
of you about the meeting. More than one person joked that they expected
the same when meeting in Portland in January
(dream on, you won't see that kind of activity sponsored in Portland).
Those of you who think that the hotel set
the exchange rate for the meeting fee are, I believe, in error. If
you were charged in Won, it is the bank behind your credit card that sets the
exchange rate. For those obvious to financial markets, the dollar has
been almost continuously moving down against most currencies in recent
months. A few years ago, the dollar was strong and our non-US participants
saw similar things to what you have seen this month, while we got the benefit
of meeting in Ottawa
with the Canadian dollar at $0.65 US (now they are basically at parity).
Frankly, I'm embarrassed by some of the
comments in this thread and apologize to our hosts on behalf of 802.3.
Bob Grow
Chair, IEEE 802.3
bob.grow@ieee.org