I HAD the unfortunate circumstance while at a major downtown Garapan hotel of encountering the fairly common bad business practice of being told, “I’m sorry, we don’t accept checks.” As a businessman myself I don’t see how that can be a good practice, especially under these tough times. You would think that a large company, say a major hotel in this case, would want all the business they could get. So when they adopt a policy of no checks, I feel it becomes discriminatory. Usually, I figure there is always an ulterior motive for having a policy like this in large corporations such as a downtown Garapan hotel. Most people that are familiar with competitive business practices are also familiar with the phrases “business intelligence” or “business espionage.” These are often associated with scams in certain business practices, such as the laundering of money or tax evasion. When a large corporation, such as a major hotel exclaims that their no checks policy is because they have had problems with that in the past. It doesn’t make sense when you look at the numbers.
I mean are we to believe that a major hotel would really have that much of a cash flow deficit as a result of patrons passing bad checks, it doesn’t make sense, nor when today we have the technology to have a check verified right over the phone line in seconds if they were really worried about the “problems with that in the past” thing. With services like the ones available at www.voicestamps.com/ACH_Check_Drafting.html where the hotel can simply use existing ACH technology just as they do for credit cards or even bank check debit cards…after all isn’t a bank check card actually a check, why not just refuse that too.
But it would be better for a hotel to not do accept checks so that even more cash money can be “not accounted for” and slip through the tax system helping keep the books cooked and appear as if they are making no money so they can ask for more tax breaks and other incentives from local government when their revenues show a decline. However, I bet when a foreign tour agency such as Japan or Korea or even Russia now, produces a big fat check for payment it’s welcomed with all smiles, maybe even over a few bottles of sake. But when a local institution of public learning who has written hundreds of checks without a single incident is shunned and who’s good names of not only the check signatories but the institution itself are blighted by the refusal of good money, it’s somehow a “problems with that in the past” policy, although no problems with our institutions past, just “the past.” Well, I must say that this policy can be, and is in this case is most likely going to be, bad for business. As now that I have looked at some of the numbers its look like I personally know about a little more than 1,300 people on island, that’s not including their families. I have personally contributed thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars indirectly to this specific hotel. However, now I guess I’ll just practice a sort of “reverse discrimination” and I’ll make it a point that all services and programs, including meetings, dances, trainings, banquets, retreats, etc are to be conducted at hotels other than this one in downtown Garapan, as a matter of policy of course. Not to mention of course counseling all those future employees for local hotels who are always asking me which hotel is good to work at, I can now tell them which one not to work at.
And this is not just about this specific incident or hotel, it’s bigger than that. It speaks about our island, our people, and our economy. We’re supposed to be in this together, one island, one family, with trust. From the earliest days relationships both business and family respected and trusted each other, even enemies had it for each other. We are such as small island, I know dozens of mom and pop stores who allow our local people to simply write down on the tab what they’re buying and gladly pay for it on payday or installments, etc. This is island life, small rural communities based on trust and the understanding that we often do what’s right instead of what’s better for me the company so that we can help each other. I am sure that while some of even the mom and pop stores wind up footing the tab for a given patron, in the end of the day, they don’t change the policy and lock everyone out, because, they know its worth the wait to keep a solid customer base with flexible and fair policies such as cashing checks and establishing store credit. Because, they want to be in business with the community, and be a part of it.
So when you’re thinking of our economy and your thinking of spending money at your local hotels and vendors, it might be better if you take a closer look at their policies and practices and stay away from those who you feel have policies that stink! If we really want to help the economy then we should spend more of our money on businesses that in turn spend their money on us, instead of sending their profits off to foreign banks and interests overseas. I think everyone knows that in the end of the day, the local population will be left taking care of each other long after the garment industry and other businesses that are here “just for the money” have left, taking everything with them they can out of the pockets of the local population. And if the big businesses like major hotels want to better capture the local markets cash, then they might want to take a look at current policies regarding payment and see if changes can result in an increase in revenue and the bottom line. I specifically left out the name of the hotel in this story because I wanted the reader to find out for themselves so they would know first hand. All you have to do is go and write a check and see if they refuse your good money. If they do, spend like Beckham…somewhere else and tell your friends.

CRAIG GARRISON
As Lito, Saipan