I didn't sleep much that night.
I had returned to the pickup.
The folded blanket was beside me.
The receipt was in the glove compartment.
I kept thinking about the corporate response.
Their records showed the fee had been removed.
Sterling had acknowledged the original instruction.
Yet Kendall had charged me for it.
There were only a few possibilities.
The system hadn't been updated.
Someone had deliberately restored the charge.
Or the hotel was using a separate method to collect money from guests.
I didn't know which explanation was correct.
I wasn't going to invent one.
The next morning, I drove to a nearby breakfast place.
I ordered coffee and sat near the window.
Then I called the corporate operations office.
A woman answered.
She recognized my voice.
I had spoken with her several times over the years.
"Good morning. How can I help?"
"I need to check something about the mountain property."
"Of course."
I asked whether the heritage preservation fee was still active.
She said it wasn't.
I asked when it had been removed.
She checked her records.
"Four months ago. We received confirmation from the property."
"Who submitted the confirmation?"
She paused.
"Sterling Vain."
I looked at the coffee.
"Was there any later request to restore it?"
"Not that I can see."
"Could you check the property's current guest billing settings?"
She said she would need to ask the systems department.
I thanked her.
Before ending the call, I asked her not to contact the local manager yet.
She sounded surprised.
"Is there a problem?"
"I'm trying to understand a discrepancy."
"I see."
"I'll explain once I have the information."
She agreed.
I ended the call.
For a while, I sat quietly.
I didn't like what I was beginning to suspect.
But suspicion wasn't proof.
I needed to be careful.
Later that morning, I returned to the hotel.
This time, I entered through the main doors and walked directly toward the reception desk.
Kendall was working.
She recognized me.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
I placed the printed policy sheet on the counter.
"I have another question."
She looked at the paper.
"About the fees?"
"Yes."
She glanced toward Sterling's office.
He wasn't there.
"Could you tell me whether the heritage charge is automatically added by the system?"
She looked down.
"I don't really know."
"Does it appear on every reservation?"
"Not every one."
That answer interested me.
"How is it decided?"
She moved her hand toward the keyboard.
"Some reservations have different packages."
"Who selects those packages?"
She didn't answer.
I didn't press her.
Instead, I asked whether I could see the receipt for a standard room.
She looked confused.
"You already have yours."
"I'd like to understand the difference."
She turned toward the computer.
Then she stopped.
"Sir, I don't think I'm allowed to show you another guest's receipt."
"That's fair."
I stepped back.
She looked relieved.
I was about to leave when she spoke again.
"The charges depend on the reservation code."
I turned.
"What does that mean?"
She lowered her voice.
"Different codes bring up different totals."
"Even when the room price is the same?"
She nodded slightly.
I thanked her.
Then I walked away.
That small answer changed the way I understood the problem.
The additional fees might not have been applied randomly.
There could be a billing structure behind them.
I needed to see it.
I returned to the pickup and opened my notes.
I wrote down Kendall's words.
Different reservation codes.
Different totals.
I underlined the phrase.
Then I called the corporate office again.
I asked whether the booking system contained different packages that could add charges to a standard room.
The woman transferred me to someone from revenue management.
A man answered.
He explained that the property could offer optional packages.
But those packages were supposed to be clearly described before guests completed their reservations.
I asked whether the mountain experience charge was a standard requirement.
He said it wasn't.
I asked about the preservation fee.
He said that charge should no longer exist.
I thanked him.
Then I asked one final question.
Could the local property create additional packages without corporate approval?
He explained that some local adjustments were possible, but they had to be documented and approved.
I wrote that down.
The call ended.
I sat behind the steering wheel.
The rain had stopped completely.
Sunlight was falling across the mountain road.
But I didn't feel relieved.
I felt increasingly concerned.
The charges weren't simply a mistake on one receipt.
They appeared to be connected to a system that could be adjusted locally.
And someone had been telling corporate that everything was operating correctly.
I looked at the hotel entrance.
The brass plaque was visible through the glass.
I had once believed that the people managing this place understood why it existed.
Now I wasn't sure they understood it at all.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: I Finally Saw How Easily Two Guests Could Be Given Two Different Prices, and the Difference Had Nothing to Do With Their Rooms
I Returned to the Mountain Hotel After Years Away, But the First Person I Met Made Me Question Everything We Had Built
Part 10 of 20
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