Back to 205 SyllabusRefusal Letter Assignment Refusal Letter Assignment
Business Writing: English 205
Professor Alred
Date Due ~ See Course Schedule
You are the Manager of the Grand Geneva Resort, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Mohan Limaye, M.D. of the International Medical Relief Society has written you the following letter:
Dear [your name here]:
The International Medical Relief Society will hold its annual staff meeting on June 15-17 of next year. We would like to use your resort for this three-day meeting, which will include about 1,500 staff members, speakers, and others.
We would need to use your conference area from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. We would also need video tape players, PowerPoint capability, Internet connections, an overhead computer projection system, and an interactive podium in the largest room for the various speakers who will address our group.
Since some of the staff members will stay at the resort for three days or more and we will be paying for meals in your dining room, I'm sure you could provide the use of your conference area free of charge. In fact, the exposure your lodge will receive during our meeting and the goodwill you will generate should more than pay for the facilities in your conference area.
Please let me know by [date] if your lodge is available.
Sincerely,
Mohan Limaye
Mohan Limaye, M.D.
Executive Director
You will need to write to Dr. Limaye, and you'd like his organization to use your conference area. But you have a problem: you charge $2,500 per day to any group that uses the conference area. They have many fixed and variable costs--you can't afford to give them away. (Hint: What services do you provide? Does it cost money to clean rooms? pay for the lighting and air conditioning? supply and repair equipment? What happens if others knew you had given use of the conference facilities free?) Write a letter to Dr. Limaye turning these negatives into selling points while holding to the position that the $2,500 fee must apply. Use tact and refusal letter strategy to help you write the letter. You cannot, by the way, say it's "company policy" or complain or whine about costs.
Format: Use full-block, single-spaced letter style with a centered return address that simulates a printed letterhead (see correspondence).