CHBS Now CHRS!

[ANAPROP]

I must have missed the edition of SROs or whatever medium was used to publicise the switch, but CHBS is now CHRS (R for Reservation). The company providing the service are RHG, they went live today apparently. It takes quite a while to get through to a human operator, but at least they are not in India!
Of course they have no record of who you are, as the CHBS had if you'd used them before, so all personnal details need to be given to them again... If you book UK accomodation, then need to book overseas accomodation they don't seem able to transfer you, so call again and get back in the queue...

[ZH875]

Another penny pinching, time wasting idea.

How much will all the extra calls cost in time, compared to how much HMG (Her Majesty's Gordon) will save?

Just like the Dragons in the Den, .......I'm OUT.

[Wader2]

and they don't have an internal phone number yet.

[ANAPROP]

Still on hold...

[Spotting Bad Guys]

CHBS was another centralisation/cost saving idea, which will not be improved on in it's current guise. The bottom line is that on more than 75% of occasions I have used CHBS, I could have got the same or a better deal going direct to the hotel or chain (even Expedia).

It takes just as much time to fill out the paperwork as it does to make the call anyway...

Waste of time and money, IMHO.

SBG

[Grabbers]

Surely it's a good idea. Prompted by the IT Single Point Of Contact (SPOC). I love the fact we have an extra link in the chain. We dial a number (god know's where), say YOUR STATION NAME, and then get transferred back to your station. WTF is the point?

[ANAPROP]

...and the International booking desk is in a different call centre to the UK desk, hence why they can't put you through. Still haven't gotten through to the International desk...

[EODFelix]

New Booking Service

All part of the new Defence Travel project. As the EXPOTEL contract expired at the end of October HRG are undertaking the manual process until EBIS Lite rolls out to desktops in Dec. This will allow personnel to make air reservations on line. From April full EBIS will allow self bookers to make online reservations for Air, Rail and Hotels. Domestic car hire will be handled under the current contract until it expires.

CS were notified of the tel number change in their Oct payslip – however SPVA said there were more pressing priorities for inclusion in the military payslip!

SRO of project is DG Info, with a very strong light blue element. DT Team Leader is G/Capt and Technical forum chaired by W/Cdr.

Personnel profiles were being downloaded from HRMS/JPA – however whilst HRMS records were 99% complete it was discovered that this was not the case with JPA. Thus I suspect the reason for new profiles needing to be created.

For those with Intranet access search under Defence Travel - lots of info ‘n’ stuff available.

[ANAPROP]

Finally got through, its only taken half the day!

[vecvechookattack]

You could always use Military accommodation....

I went to a meeting once where we all discussed where we had stayed the previous evening.... along came the token crab who complained that the temperature of the Pool at the Hotel was pretty poor.... He then explained how he had managed to get a "Non availabiluty" chit from his wingman back at base...


...snag was the meeting was in Portsmouth (dozens of spare military rooms available)..... How we laughed.

[L J R]

So half a day to get the booking with CHRS and half a day to reconcile it on JPA. Makes for a short working week really. I guess that is efficient.

[iccarus]

Well they have screwed me over already! Nice!

Why do i constantly feel like i am pushing an avalanche sized turd up everest when i deal with anyone in JPA, SHQ, CHBS/CHRS or just about anyone in bluntsville?

If i was as crap at my job as many of the people i have to deal with on a daily basis, you would have a smoking hole somewhere in the UK.

[Brown Job]

DHRS! I should coco, down my hole one person has listened to the engaged tone all day and three civis going to the same meeting were all ................. put in separate hotels!

Don't you just love progress?

[WannaBeCiv]

Hi

I am currently sitting in a hotel that is frankly a bit of a ****-hole. It was booked for me by CHBS/Expotel a month or so ago. Now I knew before I came that it wouldn't be great (tripadvisor is your friend), but you can't realistically change what you are given anymore.

So it is too late for me, but does anyone know if there is a system in place whereby we can give feedback on a specific hotel, so others don't have to suffer the same fate? I appreciate that the CHBS/Expotel system has changed now.

On the plus side I do have (overpriced) internet!

Thanks

[TOPBUNKER]

Erm - feed it back here.

Mention the name of your hole of poo!

[Bitberg7]

Just spent 4 days trying to book 36 rooms for the Sqn - total time on hold over 2 hours; number of promised calls returned - 1 out of 4 on the last day; end result, no accommodation available! 5 minutes on-line: result, all rooms booked and at a good rate! The downside is that the guys will have real problems trying to claim under JPA because they have to have a CHRS booking number. Why are we persisting with this outfit???

[Hardly Worth it]

Hotel Bookings

Now into our third day waiting for a confirmation that the rooms have been booked ........ wtf is this all about ?

Even the helpline we have been given is an answer machine.... aaaargh !

[L J R]

Complaint Procedure

Does anyone know of a formal procedure to lodge and follow up a complaint to the lack of service this company is providing. We can all rant on as much as we want, but until a complaint process is followed, evidence of same will not be acknowledged.