A reservation company, Accommodations Unlimited, which has an address listed on Crestview Drive in Summit Park, is in hot water with local lodging professionals for purportedly not passing on money paid by clients for reservations.

Bill Malone, executive director of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, announced the problem at a Park City Area Lodging Association meeting last week that was in turn reported to the Park City Council at its last meeting by member Liza Simpson, the council’s liaison to the association.

Contacted by The Park Record on Tuesday, Accommodations Unlimited accountant Pete Thompson said he was angry about the accusations, considered them libelous and was looking into a lawsuit against the Chamber/Bureau. He said miscommunications have occurred, but no clients have ever been wronged.

Malone wished not to discuss the details with The Park Record, but lodging association president Paul Christensen said it’s an ongoing issue.

Problems like these come to his attention because when businesses in the lodging industry fail they often leave tourists arriving without their reservations. The association and the Chamber/Bureau work together to try to make sure all visitors to Park City have a good experience, Christensen explained.

As far as he knows, Accommodations Unlimited is not going out of business and he is unclear of the extent of the current problems with them. He was also unaware of the number of visitors affected.

“No one has notified us that they’re leaving and need help taking care of their guests. If they did, we’d do all we could to help,” he said.

Thompson said they are experiencing no financial problems other than what would be expected from the slow economy and said there are no troubles, no victims and no debtors.

But Teri Whitney, an officer in the lodging association, knows of at least one victim of the situation who showed up in Park City last month thinking they had a reservation.

The reservation was with her own company, Snow Flower Property Management. Because Accommodations Unlimited never provided payment for the reservation, she said, it was cancelled unbeknownst to the traveler. Fortunately, the visitor was able to cancel payment to Accommodations Unlimited through her credit card company and have a successful stay.

Thompson said the traveler was aware of that problem and chose to take it directly to Snow Flower. The problem originated over a discrepancy of payment method. Thompson said Snow Flower wanted payment via credit card and Accommodations Unlimited wanted to pay with check.

Even though the traveler decided to make payment directly to Snow Flower, Thompson believes the company still owes them a commission for booking and handling the client.

Jess Jensen, general manager at All Seasons Resort Lodging, had a similar problem but the visitor found out about the trouble before arriving. It still ended up being a lose-lose situation, however.

The visitor wanted to reserve several days worth about $7,000 at the Silver King Hotel on Empire Avenue. When payment didn’t arrive, the Silver King had to scramble to fill the space some of the days, but wasn’t able to make up the $7,000. When the visitor realized the trouble, they contacted the Silver King directly, wanting those rooms, and they were then unavailable, Jensen explained.

His company lost a great client and the visitor couldn’t stay where they wished, he said.

Jensen claims that All Seasons Resort Lodging has had other problems with this company costing them thousands of dollars and resulting in the cancellation of their contract, he said.

In each of these circumstances, Thompson responds, there were simple miscommunications that occur regularly in the reservation and lodging industries. No one was at fault.

Utah State Division of Corporations spokesperson Jennifer Bolton said the company renewed its registration with the state in July of last year. Paul Herwit and Leonardo Pisinalli are listed as co-directors with the Crestview Drive address given for both of them. Neither could be contacted by deadline.

Bolton said she has no record of complaints made against the company to the Division of Consumer Protection.

“Every single person has been accommodated,” Thompson said. “No one was left on the street Nobody is in trouble it’s a slow economy, that’s all.”