Valley company must pay hotel fees

A Hawaii court on Wednesday determined a Spokane Valley corporation that arranges sports tournaments should pay $87,579 in unpaid hotel charges and other costs to a Hawaii hotel company, an attorney for the company said.

ResortQuest Hawaii LLC of Honolulu this summer sued Hoopsmart USA Inc. and its president, Aaron Alteneder, alleging they didn’t pay the total bill for more than 150 rooms occupied for several nights in December and January for a softball tournament. Alteneder said he disputed the charges because tournament attendees had a “disastrous” time at the Waikiki Beach Hotel and didn’t fight ResortQuest in court because he expected it to negotiate.

Alteneder didn’t enter an appearance, so the First Circuit Court of Hawaii made a default judgment, said Liane Brown, associate general council for ResortQuest Hawaii.

Alteneder said he has already been in negotiations with ResortQuest and is focusing on reducing the amount owed. Brown said the court decision is a “paper judgment” and the company still needs to determine how it will receive the money, which could involve lessening the amount.

Hoopsmart, which does business as TourneySport USA, contracted to rent 20 rooms for 10 nights and 150 rooms for eight nights, according to court documents. The company paid only $74,800 toward total room charges of $147,063.

Alteneder asserted ResortQuest said it would cut the bills after Hoopsmart complained about customer service.

“This was a miserable experience in terms of what we were offered,” he said of the hotel stay.

But ResortQuest President Kelvin Bloom said the company attempted to collect from TourneySports “for some period of time, and it became obvious that was going nowhere fast.”

Hoopsmart arranges Hawaii tournaments for high school athletes from around the nation, offering to “immerse the athlete in the ‘Hawaii Experience,’ ” according to the company. It’s served almost 10,000 athletes, about 15,000 parents and more than 20,000 coaches, Alteneder said.

Alteneder, 45, is a former East Valley High School teacher and coach. He started the company in 1997.

ResortQuest manages 26 hotels and resorts on four islands.