Pearson New International Edition International pcl tp indd 1

The FOM in Action: The Challenge
“It’s like I told you; they aren’t going to pay,” said
Karla, the accounts receivable and credit man-
ager at the 250-room Lenox Hotel. Karla was
talking to Trisha, her friend and the FOM at the
busy hotel located in the downtown center of a
large city.
“But I don’t understand,” said Trisha “I looked
it up after you called me this morning. Mr. Keefer
stayed with us last month. He checked into room
240 and stayed three nights. When he checked out,
he signed his folio because his company had been
preapproved for a direct bill. It’s on the list of
authorized direct bill accounts.”
“That’s right,” replied Karla, “Greenfield
Financial, the company Keefer works for, does have
a direct bill established with us. But it specifically
says the company will only pay room and tax but
not incidentals. Keefer had almost $200 of non-
room charges when he checked out, and those are
the charges Greenfield is refusing to pay. Room
service, movies, telephone calls—a little bit of
everything. I talked to their accounts payable per-
son myself. They are adamant that these are not
allowable charges.”
“But,” protested Trish, “how was our front
desk agent to know what they would and wouldn’t
pay for? We have dozens of direct bill accounts!”
“All I know,” replied Karla, “is that I either
need to make a bunch of revenue adjustments
that will be charged to your department, or you
need to get in touch with Keefer. What do you
want me to do?”