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                            October 21, 1997
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                            GSBCA 14280-TRAV
 
 
                    In the Matter of MARY S. CARROLL
 
 
        Mary S. Carroll, Natchitoches, LA, Claimant.
 
        C.  Bruce  Sheaffer,  Comptroller,  National  Park  Service,
   Department  of   the  Interior,  Washington,  DC,  appearing  for
   Department of the Interior.
 
   BORWICK, Board Judge.
 
        Claimant, Mary  S. Carroll, an employee of the Department of
   the Interior's National  Center for  Preservation Technology  and
   Training (NCPTT), seeks reimbursement of $320.76 for the costs of
   a canceled hotel room.  For the reasons stated below, we conclude
   that claimant is entitled to reimbursement.  
 
        Claimant, whose  permanent duty station is  in Natchitoches,
   Louisiana,   was  to   attend  an  information   technology  show
   (COMDEX/Fall'96  Trade Show)  in Las Vegas,  Nevada.   The agency
   authorized claimant's travel on  September 9, 1996; the show  was
   scheduled for November  18 through 21.   The travel authorization
   allowed $74 per diem for lodging.  Between the time of the travel
   authorization and September 19, the agency sought  accommodations
   for claimant.  The agency states that no one in the  NCPTT office
   had  previously  traveled to  Las  Vegas and  employees  were not
   familiar with lodging in the area.  
 
        On  September  19,  the  Executive  Director  of  the  NCPTT
   authorized lodging  per diem  of $107 per  night.   The Executive
   Director noted  in his  memorandum of  justification that  "hotel
   rooms [were] at  a premium during this  time in Las Vegas  due to
   the high attendance.  More than 200,000 attendees are expected at
   this year's  event."   He stated  that the "Thunderbird Hotel was
   the only place where  a reservation could be taken,"  and that "a
   call  to a  major  national  hotel chain  confirmed  the lack  of
   available rooms within a 30-mile radius of Las Vegas."  
     
 
        The agency, therefore, booked claimant's reservations at the
   Thunderbird Hotel, for three nights from  November 18 to November
   21.   The  agency knew  if  the reservation  were canceled  after
   November 1, "the Thunderbird charges the credit card used to make
   the  reservation [for]  the full  amount for  the  time reserved.
   They will not give refunds."
 
        The  room  at   the  Thunderbird  Hotel  was   booked  using
   claimant's American  Express  Government credit  card,  with  the
   hotel  advising claimant of its no-refund policy for reservations
   canceled after November 1. 
 
        On November 18,  claimant traveled to Las Vegas  and checked
   into the hotel.   However, in her words, she:  "did not feel safe
   in the  area or in the room.  I checked out the same night due to
   safety  concerns and  checked into  another  motel.   I felt  the
   Thunderbird  Hotel and its environs  were not a  safe place for a
   woman traveling alone." 
 
        In accord with its stated policy, the hotel charged claimant
   $320.76 for the unused room and the charge appeared on claimant's
   American Express Government  credit card.  Claimant  disputed the
   charge  with the  American Express  Company,  which requested  an
   explanation of  the charge from  the hotel.  After  receiving the
   hotel's  explanation, American  Express  maintained the  disputed
   charge on claimant's account and requested payment from claimant.
   Claimant  paid the  charge and  submitted  a supplemental  travel
   voucher  to   the  agency,   which  disallowed   it.     Claimant
   subsequently filed a claim with this Board.
 
        The Government may pay for forfeited room deposits where the
   change in  room reservations  represents a  legitimate change  in
   Government requirements  and the  traveler acted  with reasonable
   prudence  in canceling the reservations.  Alexander Kunzer, GSBCA
   14102-TRAV,  97-2 BCA    29,137.   The General  Accounting Office
   granted an employee s claim for forfeited room deposits where the
   failure to locate  the proper motel and  consequent liability for
   "no-show  lodging reservations" was due to a Government mistake--
   an erroneous address in the GSA travel directory.  Dora M. Perez,
   B-225155 (July 16, 1987). 
 
        Here,  significantly,  the  agency  does  not  contest  that
   claimant had legitimate safety concerns about the location of the
   Thunderbird  Hotel.  She acted with reasonable prudence, changing
   hotels immediately  upon her arrival  at the hotel in  Las Vegas.
   Certainly  claimant   would  have   no  reason   to  cancel   the
   reservations  earlier since NCPTT had booked the reservations for
   her, she had every reason to trust the agency's judgment, and she
   had no previous knowledge of, or experience with, the suitability
   of lodgings in the Las Vegas area.  
 
        Finally, the  agency  left claimant  with no  choice in  the
   initial booking at the Thunderbird  Hotel.  The agency booked the
   first room  it could obtain, having decided claimant would attend
   COMDEX only  about eight weeks before the trade show, when it was
   difficult to reserve a hotel room.  Based on a cursory phone call
   to a national hotel chain, the agency assumed a lack of available
   rooms within a thirty mile radius of Las  Vegas.  This assumption
   was  erroneous; claimant  secured other  accommodations the  very
   night she arrived in Las Vegas.  
 
 
         In  light of  the agency's  belated  booking, the  agency's
   unsuitable  choice of hotel  for claimant,  claimant's legitimate
   security concerns,  and claimant's appropriate response  to those
   security concerns, claimant is entitled to  be reimbursed for the
   expense of $320.76.
 
 
                                 _________________________  
                                 ANTHONY S. BORWICK
                                 Board Judge