A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
No, not the website this time. I’m talking about the people who go out of their way to take care of our troops. We often hear stories about people or businesses like Marriott who refuse military or government rates to some employees on official orders, forcing them to pay the difference out of pocket. But, we don’t often hear about the good that is done by the nameless. I try to highlight those as often as I can.
LTC Arata, who works with Army Public Affairs and met with military bloggers at the Pentagon on Friday during the 2009 Milblog Conference, just put up a story on the Official US Army Blog about one such person:
I recently made a purchase from someone for some recreational equipment for my family.
As we were negotiating a fair price for the equipment, the seller discovered I was active-duty military, and of his own accord, offered to substantially reduce the price of the equipment for me and my family simply because I was an active-duty servicemember. Needless to say, I was extremely surprised, grateful, and very appreciative.
I asked the gentlemen if he had ever served, assuming he was a veteran. He said, “No, but I understand and appreciate the sacrifices you and the Soldiers are making to help defend our country, and I want to thank you for your service.â€
Like all such stories, you really need to read the rest of this. Stories like this need to be told far and wide because all too often it’s the more negative ones that get all the attention.
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sue05
I know it doesnt always seem like it to you guys CJ, but there are a lot of good people out there who really care and actively support the troops. I have found here where I live now, there is a much greater respect for the sacrifices made by Service Members than where I used to live where protests were more the flavor of the day. I’m glad I have made this place my home.
Steve
Courtyard by Marriott, Oxford, Alabama. 3 Department of Defense
employees (all military veterans), 3 rooms, 1 night, all checked in and
paid with GSA Government Travel Cards. 2 pay regular rate, 1 pays
government rate. Manager (Sam Mukherjee) refused on multiple occasions
to correct this deficiency. We have to pay the difference out of our
own pocket. When we made the reservation last Friday we asked for the
government rate. Manager insists that we were told that we would not
get the government rate. The damned hotel was practically empty. IF
they informed us that we would NOT get the government rate we would have
stayed somewhere else because we are NOT STUPID!!! We have the
different bills to prove this. I am going to have a field day with
this. I will start with the General Services Administration, who
negotiates government rates for hotels nation wide. From there I will
contact the Defense Travel Service personnel to try to have Marriott
hotels deleted from their data base. I will also contact the commander
of Anniston Army Depot and attempt to have your hotel in Oxford barred
from Army use. From there, there is still the media and the Chamber of
Commerce and that is just the beginning. We still have the power of the
Internet. I see the Courtyard by Marriott decision as extremely
unpatriotic and I will do something about it. Feel free to contact
myself or Mr. Thomas Brame, the other affected individual. I have over
30 years of government experience and have travelled throughout the
world in the performance of my military duties and I’ll be damned if I
do not take action to correct this situation.
PS, when the bill appears on my government credit card statement I will
dispute this bill.
Steve
Good morning Mr. Brame and Mr. Kopsick,
I am sorry you feel that way but as I had explained to you during our
conversation, that we are very sure that it was mentioned to Mr.
Finkley, at the time of making the reservations, that there were no
government rates available for the dates of your stay. Gail Scott, our
guest services representative, clearly remembers the conversation with
Mr. Finkley. We are sorry if he misinterpreted that bit of information,
but we will not be able to adjust the rates to the government rate,
since that was not available for the dates of your stay.
Sincerely,
Sam Mukherjee
General Manager
Courtyard by Marriott
289 colonial Drive, Oxford, AL 36203.
Ph: 256-831-7995
Fax: 256-831-1304
mailto:sam.mukherjee@marriott.com
Steve
Please send this to everyone you know. Sam’s number is 256-831-7995.
Here’s his e-mail: cy.bhmaa.gm@marriott.com
Ed Kopsick
***************************************************************************
Sam,
Let me tell you something. I have over 30 years of government service
and have travelled throughout the world in the performance of my
military duties. If your clerk would have advised us that we would not
get the government rate then we would have booked a different hotel; one
that supports the military and the US Government. We serve our country
every day but not apparently not enough to travel at our own expense
doing government business. I personally feel that your final decision
is very un-American. You should be ashamed of yourself!!!
Ed Kopsick
Chief, Receiving Division
DDWG Warner Robins
DSN 468-3912
COM 478-926-3912
Andrea Shea King
A heartwarming story of how some Americans “get it”. thanks for sharing, CJ. I’m betting there are more of these Americans than not. They are the true Americans, true patriots.
And a huge THANK YOU to all our men and women who serve in uniform. We can never repay the debt owed. God bless you.
Andrea
Patty Gale
I am glad I found this. Courtyard by Marriott is now off of my travel list of places to stay.
Even though I’m not active duty, I am an Army mom.
To Sam Mukherjee of this particular Marriott, hotel discounts during certain time periods may be applicable to the civilian community who can choose when & where they want to travel, however, this is not the case for our military.
In most cases, if they are traveling on government business, they are on orders, not their own free time.
Since when does serving your country only count during “certain dates of stay?”
Patty
Marcus
Interesting. Seems we have a comment war brewing.
Patty Gale
I wanted to follow up on this and give a big kudos to the Hampton Inn in Columbus, GA off of Exit 8. I was there this past weekend for Ranger School graduation.
I had a reservation at a different hotel, which I came to find out, was in a bad part of town. My son, the graduating Ranger, said, “Mom, you can’t stay there, we’re not even allowed to go to that part of town.”
So, I got off the highway on the north side of Columbus, Exit 8, and found a Hampton Inn. I explained the situation and asked if they had any rooms available, to which they had a few.
There was a lot going on at Ft. Benning this past weekend. Ranger School graduation, Basic Training Graduation and a Best of Ranger competition. Needless to say, hotel rooms were pretty booked everywhere.
The woman behind the desk asked me, “Your son is at Ft. Benning?” I said, “Yes, he’s graduating from Ranger School tomorrow.”
Without any hesitation, she said, “I’m going to give you our military discount.”
Now that’s a random act of kindness!
Tracy Shook
Hello,
Based on your feedback, we have added two hotels in Oxford to http://www.fedroom.com (and all the channels through which FedRooms is distributed).
Thank you for you input. Let us know where else you need hotels. FedRooms currently has over 7000 hotels, but with the Government, we always need more!
Sincerely,
Tracy Shook, Senior Director FedRooms
tracy@fedrooms.com
FedRooms Help desk: 800.226.1741