As an anniversary gift for our 2 year anniversary, my parents booked my husband and I a room at Talking Stick. I have been to the spa multiple times and was excited to make a weekend out of it. We made reservations at the spa, as well as at Orange Sky for our anniversary dinner. Unfortunately, neither my parents or myself realized that while my mom had used her credit card to secure the room, the card had not actually been charged yet. Once we tried to check in, we were told that the hotel would need a signed authorization form from my mom to process payment. Well...that would not have been a huge deal but for the fact that my parents had headed up north for the weekend with no access to email or fax. Ok, no problem right? What are the other options? Well we could use our own credit card. As luck would have it, my credit card has my maiden name on it. Yes it is ridiculous that two years later, I have not ordered a new card. I get that. But in 2 years it has literally not once been a problem. So the situation is certainly deteriorating. The name on my card matches the name on a bunch of other cards in my wallet but not my license. So the manager says she under no circumstances can take my card or my mom's card. How about cash? Seriously, how about we pay for the ENTIRE 500$ room charge in cash? Well, if we want to pay in cash, then instead of the regular 50$ deposit for incidentals, Talking Stick requires another $500.00. Absolutely absurd and I clearly do not have 1000 dollars in cash. So my mom is on the phone, I'm starting to lose my marbles, and yet still, this resort will not budge on any policy to help us remedy this unfortunate situation. We cant use my mom's card, she cannot come in the following day, upon her return, to authorize, we can't use the card we have due to my maiden name, and we can't pay in cash. So sadly, we turned around, got our car, and headed back home. Now, I am not trying to be unreasonable and I absolutely understand the motivation behind each one of these policies. I really do. However there are times when flexibility will benefit the business far more than staunch adherence to strict policies. I feel that this is one of those times. I am sure that these policies have saved Talking Stick from being left holding the bag on certain occasions. But does it make up for this situation? My whole family goes to Talking Stick a few times a year. My mom, sisters, and I go to the spa regularly for girl bonding time. Both of my sisters have taken multiple weekend getaways at the resort with their spouses and friends. We have all given and received Talking Stick gift cards for various holidays. But after my anniversary was such a disaster, none of us will go again simply due to the complete lack of understanding, and inability to apply any principles of empathy to their policies. So, yeah, I am saying that they should have made the exception. Even though the situation was partially my fault and their policies are their policies, an establishment with superior customer service would have taken pity on the now crying lady in the lobby and worked something out. Incidentally, the resort with just that kind of customer service was The Boulders, the resort we ended up at and are thankful we did because the service was great, and no one made me cry.