Bowles letter: Thank you

My two 19-year-olds had planned a trip to Seattle. They used their own bank cards and made their own reservations through a booking company. The hotel immediately took the entire dollar amount out of the bank account and sent a confirmation email. The day before they were to depart, they noticed four pages down in the fine print that guests must be 21 years of age. We called both the booking agency and the hotel to either get their money back or allow them to use the reservation. Although the booking agency sympathized with us, they said their hands were tied. The hotel just said, too bad, that is our policy. The money would not be returned and the two 19-year-olds would not be allowed to stay. The hotel website said they had a flexible cancellation policy. The cost was over $600 and they were simply going to keep the money. They were told to come and use the room in two years when they were 21. Two weeks later we contacted our bank, Wells Fargo. They said, no way, we’ll get your money back. They did, within hours. Thank you, Wells Fargo.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Bowles letter: Thank you."