Chapter 7 - Twenty-seven overrides
The twenty-seven overrides covered six months.
Four were legitimate.
A burst pipe took rooms out of service.
One electrical incident.
Two truly sold-out nights after airline cancellations.
That left twenty-three.
Families approved through hospitals.
Then displaced.
Where did they go?
Fourteen were offered rooms at another hotel called Lakeside Suites.
Not owned by Romano Hospitality.
A lower-tier property near the interstate.
Distance from partner hospitals:
Between eleven and nineteen miles.
The Sofia Foundation had been billed as though the Bellweather provided the rooms.
That looked bad.
But the reimbursement accounting was not immediately simple.
The Bellweather’s contract allowed third-party placement in emergencies if:
The family consented.
The alternate hotel met standards.
Actual cost was reported.
Miriam asked accounting:
“What did we report?”
Bellweather program rate.
$214 per night including meal credit.
“What did Lakeside charge?”
Average:
$86.
The difference should have returned to the foundation.
It did not.
Where did it go?
Recorded as:
relocation management fee.
To a vendor.
DCH Guest Solutions.
The initials were not subtle.
Dominic Charles Hale.
He claimed coincidence.
May you like
Investigators would later disagree.
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