The hotel had run into a challenging situation because of the policy of not “extending credit”.  Here is what happened. 

The Mickey Mantle Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the famous deceased baseball player, Mickey Mantle.  They had already “pre-paid” the hotel for their estimated amount of dinners that would be served that night at their “keynote” address.  The meeting planner approached the sales manager at The Mirage that they were working with, and indicated that they needed $20,000 more worth of food.  It was 3p.m. on a Friday afternoon, Pacific Standard Time, when this request was made.  The banquet was the “highlight” of their convention.  The meeting planner offered to write The Mirage a corporate “check”.  So, The Mirage hotel sales manager went to the banquet manager with the meeting planner.  They were both informed that because of the policy of “no credit”, they could only take cash or a cashiers check.  The meeting planner told the hotel that this was not possible, because the group was from New York, and the banks were closed. 

This was a “lose-lose” situation.  The hotel lost $20,000 worth of food and beverage revenue.  The hotel also created “bad will” with the attendees.  The meeting planner will probably never book the hotel again. 

Who is to blame?  Had the hotel had the “Pre-Authorization” of CrossCheck, they would have been able to thank the meeting planner, serve the food, deposit the corporate check of the meeting planner into the bank, knowing that if the check did not clear because of “Non-Sufficient Funds” or “Account Closed”, they would be paid. 

At the time the request for extra food was made, the hotel would simply have asked the meeting planner for the phone number that appears on the face of their corporate check.  Then, the hotel would be able to obtain a “Pre-Authorization”, and with CrossCheck’s “Premium Approval” program, be assured that virtually every check that was requested for authorization would be approved.  Finally, the meeting planner would then be told that they would be given a bill by the hotel by writing them a company check afterwards.