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Accommodations: The Bonaire Inn - The worst accomodation
Bonaire Talk: Accommodations: Archives: Archives 2000 to 2006: Archive - 2006-03-01 to 2006-08-31: The Bonaire Inn - The worst accomodation
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrew Jerrard (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #1) on Sunday, June 18, 2006 - 2:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I travelled to Bonaire and spent almost two weeks there on a trip around South America. It was our first stop and we didn't have any plans on where to stay when we got there. we (my friend and i) ended up staying at the Bonaire Inn. This is the worst hotel/sleeping place i have ever been in. the staff were very unhelpful, the vehicle vendors refused to let us hire a bike/motorcycle as they are stolen in the area, there were rats on the building and an assortment of the most aggressive looking people that hanged around the area. What was the worst part though was that we booked for 3 nights (feeling very tired when we first got there) for about $50 a night and we were assured by the lady serving us that we could get a refund for any nights we didn't want to stay there. We asked for a return on our money the next day for the following two nights as we had decided to stay elsewhere and they would not give us a refund. The owner even had the nerve to claim that the lady that served us the first night had taken all the money from the cashier and flown away.

Now on the other hand we went to the Lizard Inn after and spent the rest of the time there. The owner is very nice and helpful. Also the best priced inn on the island.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Menno (BonaireTalker - Post #94) on Sunday, June 18, 2006 - 3:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Very sad to hear (read) this awful experience. Good that you switched accommodation regardless the not received refund, but, kind of sad to see that your sharing of experiences stops after this switch. This looks (to me) like a "let's have a neg" posting again.
Don't get me wrong here please, I do agree with you that you where treated very, very poorly (to keep it somewhat friendly) at first, but how was the Lizard Inn further besides a nice and helpfull owner and what do you think about the island of Bonaire ??
In other words; Please, is there anything positive to share about your visit of Bonaire ???

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrew Jerrard (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #2) on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 3:22 am:     Edit PostPrint Post



(Message edited by andrewjerrard on June 19, 2006)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrew Jerrard (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #3) on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 3:23 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

The Lizard Inn was truly amazing, nice spacious room, kitchen available to use and the owner as previously mentioned was good fun. Before going out each evening we would have a drink with him and he'd give us tips on where to go.

The island of Bonaire in itself though was beautiful and did help us get accustomed to the climate of South America. We did hire a motorcycle and travel around the whole island visiting the north part where we had a particularly good lunch. (can't remember the name of the place but i believe it was the more local village). The views of the ocean were wonderful and not to be missed.

As far as the people go, i had very mixed feelings. Some were simply unnecessarily malicious (one of the bike rental owners - deliberately sent me the wrong way after i asked for the way to the Lizard Inn and then laughed and swore at me after walking for 10 minutes in the wrong direction, the hotel owner previously mentioned, and also one of the "aggressive" looking types that attempted to mug my friend simply down one of the side alleys just off the tourist area whom we saw later on in the trip and swore at my friend). I really was surprised at these problems we encountered because who would expect a small island to house these kinds of social problems.

On the other hand we did meet some very nice people indeed, the hotel owner, the other people staying at the same hotel (other tourists), a man and his son that owned some of the bars along the beachfront, the barman in the cigar bar (can't remember the name now) and probably the most memorable experience of friendly people there was a young dutch couple who after chatting for most of the evening with them invited us back to their place to continue the chat. we ended up leaving at 6 in the morning!

So there were some good parts of the trip in Bonaire but there just seemed to be so much aggression in the atmosphere with the locals.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Menno (BonaireTalker - Post #95) on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 9:16 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Andrew, good to hear that you did enjoy the rest of your stay on Bonaire a lot better.
Sorry to hear about the sad experiences you have had. This (and a "few" other things) is indeed a growing problem Bonaire is facing. Also very sad is that the ones who's job it is this to put this all to a stop don't see it happen and carry on with business as usual.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Grasshopper (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #18483) on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 9:58 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Andrew, welcome to Bonaire Talk, and thank you for your report. Glad you ended up having a good time and met some nice folks.

Andrew, did you report the attempted mugging to the police? They need to hear and know about these things. If it's not reported, then how will they know?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Andrew Jerrard (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Monday, June 19, 2006 - 3:06 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

No, we did not report the attempted mugging to the police - i left it up to my friend to decide and he didn't want to. Although would it make a difference? and the street it occurred on is literally just off of the well lit, tourist area. there (near the piers). There were a few suspicious looking characters around and whenever you walk near they all offer drugs. There is no excuse for the police not to know, nor arrest them. If you go one street back from the coast the area is surrounded by dealers. It is such an obvious problem there - if it is not reported, how will they know you say but you would have to walk through with your eyes closed not to see it!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mtnest (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #111) on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 6:39 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Andrew
So sorry to hear of your problems and advising of the poor quality of the accommodations at the Bonaire Inn.I did not view your post as "lets have a negative post" and appreciate you taking the time to inform us, as this is the accommodations thread.

 


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