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Accommodations: Bottom Line: Always Call the Hotel/Resort Before You Go
Bonaire Talk: Accommodations: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2006: Archives - 2005-05-09 to 2005-08-16: Bottom Line: Always Call the Hotel/Resort Before You Go
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By anne hainsworth (BonaireTalker - Post #32) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 12:06 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Just got back last night from a fabulous and relaxing week in Bon. We stayed at Captain Don's (usually we are at Happy Holiday Homes), and everyone was very friendly and courteous. We booked the trip through Heidi at Maduro Travel (Capt Don's links directly to them for booking), but did encounter some rather significant issues once we checked in. We had been delayed by a day in Puerto Rico because of Tropical Storm Franklin, and arrived late on Thurs, 21 instead of Weds. 20th. We had booked and paid for a guest cottage at Capt Don's, but when we checked in, they gave us a room with 2 beds (we had a teenager along and that's why we paid for 2 rooms). According to the front desk, even though we fully paid for the cottage, Maduro did not inform them of that. They put us in an upgraded guest cottage, which was great, but the next morning (2 days into our delayed vacation), they told us we had to vacate by 3pm, but they had no idea as to where they would put us. I did not want to be curt with the staff, because they were fully booked and busy and this was clearly a communication breakdown with Maduro, but I told them we had been on the road for 2 days, just wanted to dive and not keep moving around, and so we ended up moving again later in the afternoon. We had already changed rooms twice, had been given two different sets of room billing numbers (therefore the dive shop and restaurant never knew what room to bill us for), and were then moved to Hamlet Oasis cottages next door. We were still considered Capt Don's guests, but were given an off-site lodging and a THIRD set of room billing codes for the dive shop and restaurant. Once we got settled at Hamlet Oasis, everything was smooth and the accomodations were quite nice, so I won't complain about that. But after a night at the San Juan Airport hotel from missing the Bonaire flight, a late night Bonaire arrival a day late, and 3 rooms in 2 days at Capt Don's, I do feel that a good day's worth of well-earned relaxation was lost. I keep perspective and do not want to impugn Heidi at Maduro, because she is very nice, but communications are not excellent between hotel and travel agent, and I would like to urge all of you to CALL your hotel or resort in advance, to make sure the room you paid for is confirmed, and not assume that the third party did that already for you. Some do, some don't or don't get the chance to. It's just due diligence on your part and could save you a good day's worth of vacation, diving, and needless logistical manoeuvers. If you have a bad temper and expect all of this to fall in place for you, God help you! Capt Don's did what they could to accomodate us, but my only complaint there is that they should issue your dive/room billing number once when you check in, not several times to correspond with room changes. It's easier on the paying guest as well as the restaurant and dive staff. OK, so that was the glass half-empty trip report. the other half of the glass was very full and very wonderful!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By DARLENE ELLIS (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1572) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 1:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What a horrible experience! I think you should be writing a letter and complaining for some compensation from Maduro!
I am glad you got to enjoy the rest of your trip after such a horrific beginning!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mrs. Limpet (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #967) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 2:59 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Anne, what a nightmare! I agree with Darlene, you need to contact Maduro and let them know what transpired,and get some sort of closure with that.

You spent the night in SJ airport? AE/AA didn't put you up at the Hampton Inn (where the flight crew stays?)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By anne hainsworth (BonaireTalker - Post #34) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 3:05 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Nope, they had an Aruba flight that was cancelled as well, so they put us up at the Best Western San Juan Airport. It was our first wedding anniversary. So we went to the Ritz Carlton at Isla Verde, pretended to be guests and had nice drinks on the beach. I told my 14 year old niece I was teaching her important life skills. My husband will definitely be dealing with Maduro.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2111) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 3:09 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am curious: did Habitat communicate with Maduro in an effort to clear up the problem?? It would seem that a telephone call was in order and that Maduro could solve things. Or Habitat's Manager's intervention. Especially since you were linked to Maduro from the Habitat web site.

Did you communicate with Habitat from SJ to tell them you were arriving a day late?

Just curious. :–)

(Message edited by glenr on July 28, 2005)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Susan (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1412) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 4:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Maduro strikes again!

I wouldn't count on them making anything good. They screwed up our airline tickets, made us jump through hoops to rectify their mistake (taking time off work,and running all over the place to get the bad tickets back to them before they'd send us the valid tickets), and then when we finally were able to get to a "supervisor" (the agent flat-out refused to let us, twice) were told that we shouldn't blame the agent (I think it may even have been Heidi) for getting a name wrong on tickets (and right everywhere else) immediately post-911, with this completely off-the-wall and sexist excuse, along the lines of "She's a woman, she has moods".

They're completely and utterly useless.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By anne hainsworth (BonaireTalker - Post #35) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 4:58 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

To answer the previous questions, Yes, Capt Don's communicated with Maduro to clear it up. My husband just informed me that it was Maduro who arranged our room with Hamlet Oasis. Hamlet Oasis accepted the vouchers. Please note that there was a different and increasingly confused person each time at Capt Don's desk, and the more the epic struggle to get a room continued, the more confusion there was for the staff in Bonaire! Also, we did call Capt Don's from San Juan to let them know we would be arriving a day late. We also called Budget to let them know we'd be picking up the car a day late, too.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2112) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 6:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

TKS, Anne. Not fun.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Stoltzfus (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #597) on Thursday, July 28, 2005 - 8:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

As an Innkeeper, I stand by the title of this thread. ALWAYS re-confirm your room reservations DIRECTLY with the hotel.

There are so many mistakes made on Internet reservations....wrong date, room type, smoking or non, etc. I had a guest just the other night that had incorrectly (on purpose?) entered a wrong number on his credit card. I couldn't hold the room without a guarantee...it's high season. So I sold his room. He showed up after hours expecting a room. If he had called to reconfirm he would have had a room.

ALWAYS re-confirm......and frankly, we book direct with the property! :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cam (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #454) on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 12:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Anne...we are staying at Capt. Don's in Sept/Oct....I will be sure to call them.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By anne hainsworth (BonaireTalker - Post #36) on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 12:36 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

All things said, the Capt Don's staff was very nice about the whole thing. Heidi at Maduro was pleasant, but the whole thing was disorganized at our expense. Luckily we had a happy ending, in part, because we informed Capt Don's about our delay, and there was room for us at Hamlet Oasis. My intention was to get travelers to always firm these things up so that they don't flip out on their vacation :-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andy & Dave Bartlett (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #333) on Friday, July 29, 2005 - 10:52 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We always check with the resort and airline 24-48 hours before trip starts. It is just a precaution that keeps things going smoothly.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Linda Stoltzfus (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #598) on Saturday, July 30, 2005 - 12:59 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Anne,

I am glad that the staff at Capt. Don's did their best for you. We have stayed there the past four trips and have always enjoyed them.

Here's another Innkeeper's tip....review your internet confirmation completely. We have recently had several guests arrive a month early. On the "drop down" months, it is easy to click the wrong month. Always verify the printed confirmation...then call the property/airlines direct to reconfirm.

Happy travels ! :-)

 


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