Gold Card Equals Gold Treatment

And now, for something completely different.
We’ll call this my valuable piece of travel advice. It comes in two parts.
First off, when leaving the country I suggest making all reservations with an American Express card. If not for the internationally recognized company I would still be one very angry traveler
My arrival to Nuremberg – at about 8 p.m. Wednesday – was greeted with the person who checked me in asking if the hotel should keep the charge on my MasterCard. I thought nothing of it at the time – having booked my stays in a variety of ways this trip – but I rechecked the itinerary up in the room and realized that I had prepaid after booking with American Express’ travel services in April. I brought this to the attention of that same clerk, who tried to claim the nearly $300 I already laid out was simply to reserve the right to purchase the single-night room for the identical price. This despite showing him the portion of my e-mail confirmation stating I owed no balance.
After a series of arguments – split by a good meal tarnished by frustration – I returned to the hotel and continued fighting my battle. On top of it all, the MasterCard they had on file didn’t match the number of any card I have, which made me think identity fraud was my next concern.
Eventually, I got myself behind the front desk to log onto the American Express Web site, where I showed the gentlemen the charge on my bill of two months ago. About 30 seconds later, my friend finally got through with American Express and passed the phone to me. After its representative assured me I was paid for and had nothing to worry about, American Express spent the next five minutes telling our Holiday Inn what the problem was and to be sure not to bother me with the issue anymore. The once hostile, and at times rude, hotel clerk was suddenly quite apologetic after I hung up with American Express.
In the end, the problem was American Express had purchased the room for me through Travelocity – which had the MasterCard on file, meaning no identity issues – and the hotel was owed money from the company and not me in any way.
The second part of my rule is to always keep your documents and bring them during all travels. If I hadn’t brought everything with me I would be out nearly $300 and probably wouldn’t have been cheated of some fun while watching the U.S. play Ghana in their pivotal match Thursday.
I know it sounds like an almost made-up story, but I promise, this really did happen. It’s something I wouldn't want to make up knowing how frustrating the situation was.
As for the rest of my Thursday night. We went into the town square, where we bumped into a decent size group of U.S. supporters. Included in the mix were two people we met a night earlier in Berlin and had traded e-mails with earlier in the day in hopes of reuniting. The plan is to reconvene at 11 a.m. and then be at the stadium by 2 p.m., two hours before kickoff.
I’m just glad soccer is the only thing on my mind right now.