Visitors Bureau Staff to Repay Bonuses for Fake Bookings

Officials with the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau acknowledged Friday that sales staff falsified records of hotel bookings and, as a result, received $20,000 in unmerited bonuses.

At a news conference at the bureau’s headquarters, Chairman Chris Pook said the executives accused of encouraging staff to add as many as 47,000 questionable bookings to last year’s total have been ordered to repay the $20,000.

However, further inquiry is needed to determine whether Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Sales Tom Dorsett and bureau President Linda Howell-DiMario should lose their jobs.

“We know we’ve got a problem,” Pook said. “And we are going to fix the problem. . . . But I have every reason to believe this was done with good intent. There’s no malfeasance.”

Pook’s announcement was made the same day that an article was published in The Times detailing accusations made by former sales staff member Sharon Thomsen that Dorsett directed her to inflate bookings because the agency was short of its 1999 performance goal.

Thomsen said Howell-DiMario rebuffed her complaints about the booking changes, and former national sales manager Shanna Fuller said she saw questionable entries made under Dorsett’s name.

The accusations are part of a performance audit by the Virginia-based Scott Bryant & Associates.

Pook said Friday the bureau board unanimously voted Monday to keep audit results confidential.

Neither Dorsett nor Howell-DiMario attended the news conference Friday. And neither could be reached for comment.

Bureau Vice Chairman Joseph F. Prevratil said, “If there is real wrongdoing, then actions should be taken.”