European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A requiring deposits a significant number of Sato travel offices continue to charge 50 percent of the Price of Tours As Dow payment for bookings. Although this charge collected by Sato is double the 25 percent booking Deposit required by most of the travel companies which offer Tours through Sato offices to the military communities Sato clients Are often wrongly informed that such an excessive Deposit is prescribed by the tour operator. No reputable tour operator a either on the Economy or on contract with the army a requires 50 percent of a tour Price As Deposit when booking. Such a practice by Sato the army a sole on base travel contractor is not in the Best interests of the soldiers and families it serves. Would be travel clients Are frequently inhibited from making reservations by High deposits. And More during this period of a weak Dollar clients lose a often for months prior to Tours booked a the interest income from monies tied up in a higher Deposit advanced to Sato. Yes to Sato bookings deposits Are not forwarded to tour operators until after completion of scheduled Tours reports of these inconveniences to soldiers and their families which i hear regularly from participants on the Art history Tours i conduct Are not Idle complaints they Are serious and reasonable criticism of satos policy on Tours deposits. Last month i spoke about this matter with Bill Kochenderfer assistant general manager of Sato of. I remain unconvinced by his explanations and think it would be fair to both satos travel clients and its Tours operators for his office to clarify its policy on Tours deposits and take credit where credit is due inform its patrons that deposits of 50 percent of Tours prices Are a Sato requirement not a prerequisite of Tours operators. It is for this reason that i invite Sato to share with me this Public forum of the stars and stripes and also prominently to display in All Sato offices a a policy notice to clients clarifying its practices of collecting Tours deposits. A or. Andrew Laurie Stangel Karlsruhe West Germany editors note a we received two replies to this letter. The first is from William h. Kochenderfer assistant managing director Sato of thank you for the Opportunity to respond to the writers concerns about the Sato of tour Deposit policy. As the provider of full travel services under contract award by the Usa eur Germany contracting command Sato of maintains an ongoing customer comment program. We Are always Happy to have feedback on our services. The writer is Correct that Sato of requires a Deposit which in some circumstances May be at variance with a tour operator. The policy is the following Sato of requires a Deposit of 50 percent up to $200 in order to provide a confirmed booking. Where a Vendor requires a higher Deposit for example where the then applicable cancellation penalty would exceed $200 then that higher amount must be collected. It is important to distinguish of course Between Tours and pure transportation. In the cases of transportation for example airline tickets to the United states a booking May be made with no Down payment. Full payment is made Only upon receipt of tickets. There is a reason for satos policy of requiring 50 percent Deposit for tour bookings. As the writer May know and certainly Many of our customers will know one of the More frustrating problems in providing Tours to the military Community is the sometimes pervasive and always unwelcome late cancellation of Tours. The stars and stripes a Page 11 letter for Tours explained one of the commitments made by Sato of when we won the travel service contract was to strive to provide the very Best Tours to the Market. Clearly a tour that cancels is not a valuable product to our Market. In evaluating the reasons for cancellations we found through customer feedback and very experienced travel Counselor that a significant percentage of the bookings for Tours was being made shortly before departure. Customers were concerned if they did Book Early whether the tour would actually go. Sato of believes that the customer deserves to Book with Confidence. Confidence that the tour will be of High Quality and Confidence that the tour will operate As scheduled. This Means that the bookings should be made or at least Able to be made one week two weeks three weeks or earlier depending upon the Type of tour. We continue to work with our vendors to permit this booking Confidence. We also found it important however for customers to similarly make a commitment. Thus we instituted a 50 percent policy. The Art history Tours conducted by or. Stangel Are among the finest Tours which Sato of has to offer. As or. Stangel accurately Points out bookings for his Tours unlike bookings for the majority of other Tours Are often done More than a month prior to departure. Thus i must agree that our policy is somewhat unfair to customers who Book so far in Advance. On that basis i have tasked the relevant staff in Sato of to evaluate How we May Amend our policy to better meet All of the concerns outlined above including avoiding unnecessarily holding customer deposits. A target Date of March 12 was set for this with implementation of any revised policy to follow. We thank the writer for his comments and encourage All Sato of customers with comments or questions to please keep letting us know How we Are doing. Customer comment forms Are available in All Sato of offices or you May write directly to Quality control manager Sato of Hanauer Landstrass 21, 6000 Frankfurt main 1. Editor is note a the second reply is from Bernadette Wise transportation specialist office of the Deputy chief of staff logistics he Usa eur thank you for giving me the Opportunity to respond to the writers concerns about Sato of tour Deposit policy. A it As the Usa eur chatra Otini offi Ltd re representative Cor for the Sato of travel services contract i share your interest in making certain that the travel customer and family receive the Best possible service. I am aware of the hardships caused by advanced payments on some bookings. It is a travel Industry Standard to require significant Advance payments for Tours to communist countries Tours offering higher priced or Premium services and special offers which require full Cash payment to get Low rates. Sato of must balance tour attractiveness against the restrictions of their booking policies and procedures Deposit requirements and cancellation penalties. Expensive Tours such As the ones conducted by the writer require that customers commit themselves to the tour. Sato of cannot otherwise Bear the financial Burden if the customer makes a late cancellation. As a result of your letter Sato of is reconsidering its policy on deposits. I thank the writer once again for his comments and encourage All Sato of customers with questions and comments about Sato of services to Contact their military Community installation transportation officer Ito for assistance. Landers dear Ann Landers what do you think about Louis Sullivan Secretary of health and human services getting unhinged because Philip Morris inc., sponsors the Virginia slims Tennis tournament frankly i find it baffling. Its not As if this is something new. Philip Morris has been sponsoring these tournaments for 20 years and i might add they have done a darned Good Job of making women a Tennis a major sport. It seems to me that the Secretary could find something better to do with his time. A a Reader in Goshen ind. Dear gosh to be perfectly honest in a a bit miffed with Secretary Sullivan too a because he beat me to it. For at least three months i have been meaning to print one of the Many letters from readers who agree with the Secretary. Actually the women a International professional Tennis Council should be put on the carpet for accepting such sponsorship. Surely there Are other companies that would agree to underwrite this event. I have often wondered Why Pam Shriver Martina Navratilova Chris Evert and Zina Garrison would agree to play in a tournament sponsored by a cigarette maker. You can be certain that none of these women would be caught dead with a pack of cigarettes in her handbag. Surely they know that cigarettes cause cancer emphysema and heart attacks and that smoking is related to 390,000 deaths each year. The evidence that smoking kills people is now irrefutable. To be linked with the sponsorship of cigarettes is in a sense an endorsement. Dear Ann Landers who would have thought that at 69 years of age i would be writing for advice Here a the problem. I have been going with a gentleman who is 79, and we have been talking about marriage. My granddaughter is getting married in a few months and she has asked me to Wear a formal gown since i will be in the wedding party. I want my Fiance to be my escort and this Means he would have to Wear a Tuxedo. When i mentioned this to him he said a i have no intention of getting into one of those Monkey suits. I done to have to impress  i really love this Man and want to spend the rest of my life with him. I am leaving it up to you Ann. Do i say a Wear a Tuxedo or else a or do i go alone no name or City please. I done to want to Embarrass him. Teeny teeny miney to dear deny you overlooked the Best alternative. Invite him and say a whatever you Wear will be All right with me a and ill bet he shows up in a Monkey suit. Dear Ann Landers please please set something straight or there might be a whole lot of unwanted pregnancies. A woman a most Fertile period for getting pregnant is not on the 14th Day of her Cycle unless she has a 28-Day Cycle. Most women have a longer Cycle every 29 or 30 Day Sand Many women have a Shorter Cycle every 26 or 27 Days. These variations can be crucial. Women whose cycles Are irregular should not depend on this Type of birth control. It is like playing russian Roulette. . Dear . Thanks for a More accurate presentation than i made a few weeks ago. I appreciate the correction. C creators Syndicate european edition col. Gene e. Townsend Usan commander editor in chief it. Col. Suzanne l. Phillips Usan Deputy commander editor in chief Marie Kominicki Mert Proctor Deane b. 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