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Red Cross spent $688K on unused rooms


Published: March 21, 2008 at 7:10 PM
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SAN DIEGO, March 21 (UPI) -- The American Red Cross has confirmed it spent $688,000 on San Diego-area hotel rooms that were not used during its October 2007 wildfire relief operation.

San Diego TV station KGTV first reported last month that many rooms rented by the Red Cross during the emergency went unused because Red Cross volunteers never checked in. The organization confirmed Thursday it spent $688,000 on more than 6,000 unused rooms.

The amount would have been greater but the Red Cross said it had negotiated the recovery of some of the funds from hotel owners in recent weeks, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Friday.

Officials said they were still working to get rebates and room credits from other hotel and motel operators.

Red Cross spokeswoman Laura Howe said the organization was clearly at fault for the problem.

"The bottom line is our people should have recognized the unused room nights and canceled them more quickly than we did," she told the newspaper.

Wildfires that broke out Oct. 21 in San Diego County burned for several days, killing 10 people and forcing an estimated 500,000 from their homes.

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