Israel trip before leaving

Hi Folks,
Here is it, July 12, and although I have been writing, I have not been able to post to my blog since I left for Israel on June 26. My connection would not work from Israel, and it was even a problem when I got back into the US, and I am in Chicago now. I finally got around the problem, and can start posting. This first post will be what was going on before we left on our trip.
Israel trip before we leave
June 25, 2007
Well, the Resistant Traveler is on the way to Israel. I am looking forward to meeting some Hamas fighters, Fatah soldiers and some suicide bombers.

Before our trip even began, I was having a problem. Dianne is not the type to choose a hotel and then stop her shopping for rooms. She will book a room in two or three hotels and then cancel them until she finds the one she is most comfortable with; the one people in the know have recommended; the one that has a good write up in Fromers and a few websites; the one that ends up costing more than we planned. This will be by far our most expensive trip. The airfare alone was over $4000 and she has hired a guide at $250 per day plus car rental and hotel for the guide.

I think that is a fair price to stay alive in a country that I don’t even want to visit. I mean I hear Israel is beautiful and the people are wonderful, but the Middle East is not my idea of a destination location. Hawaii yes. The Middle East in summer, no. If the IRS ever questions how this could possibly be a vacation instead of a business trip for my travel book, they have another thing coming. I would much prefer to vacation in the US, but that holds no interest to Dianne. I wouldn’t even take any deductions on traveling in the US if Dianne was willing to stay in this country. But nooo, that’s not how it works.

Anyway, getting back to the problem. You may have guessed it had something to do with a hotel room before I got off the topic, and you would be right. One of the places she booked a room was the Jerusalem Inn. A quaint 23-room hotel that looked nice on the Internet. Two weeks before we were to arrive she made a reservation, no specific room yet as she wasn’t sure what she wanted. Well 5 days later she found what she wanted at another hotel and booked that. The task to cancel with the Jerusalem Inn fell to me because she used my credit card. The first shock was the reply email when I said I wanted to cancel. I was told they had a two-week cancellation policy and I should stay with them and cancel the other hotel Dianne booked.

I find out later each hotel in Israel can set whatever policy they want regarding cancellations. Even though the major hotels, like Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, etc only require no more than 24 hours the Jerusalem Inn was digging inn their heels on their two week policy even though the room was only booked two weeks in advance. We must have had a half dozen emails back and forth over this. They finally stopped responding to me when I pressed for verification they would not charge my credit card. At least I have the following fall back points if this does show up on my credit card statement:
They do not have any mention of a two week cancellation policy on their website.
They never mentioned in the confirmation email.
No specific room was ever reserved.
No specific cancellation fee was ever communicated
I can dispute the charge if it shows up and I have all the documentation from emails to provide to the credit card company which can refuse payment to them.

What a great start on travel to a country that I didn’t want to visit in the first place.