We have been trying to confirm by email and telephone for the last month a reservation with Divi Flamingo.

The latest was (3rd August) "Salima won't be available until Friday to confirm your reservation"

Anyone else having a similar problem.

We are considering the Eden Beach as an alternative, or does any one have other suggestions.

We are planning our vacation for the first 2 weeks in September.

Jenni Stewart
Loughborough
UK

Jenni,

Flamingo customer service has always been very weak in spite of their bragging that things are better. The good news is that you will usually get your confirmation..eventually... I own timeshares at Divi and go thru the same thing every year. Makes one one to jump thru the phone and grab somebody on the other end. Try sending an email to Rebecca rebeccal@diviresorts.com and ask for her help. The worst part of Divi is dealing with the home office and reservations. Once you get there, you should enjoy...I think you will like it better than Eden Beach

Jenni,

try Coco Palm Gardens (info@CocoPalmGarden.com; website: www.cocopalmgarden.com), which is owner-operated and you will get a reponse within 24 hours. That's where we will be staying, September 4-18.

Ask for Brigitte (owner), a "Berlinerin" married to an Englishman.

Karl & Terez
Edmonton
Canada

Jenni,
We (9 of us) just returned home last night from Bonaire and stayed at the Divi.
I am going to put together a trip report in the next few days but since I have seen your post I will tell you the following IN CAPS:
WE HAD RESERVATIONS AND CONFIMATIONS FROM OUR TRAVEL AGENT SINCE APRIL 4TH. WE ARRIVED AT THE DIVI AT 9:00PM ON JULY 27TH (18 HOURS OF TRAVELLING)ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT SOME OF US DID NOT HAVE THE ROOMS WE REQUESTED, AND SOME OF US DID NOT EVEN HAVE ROOMS - SUPPOSEDLY CANCELLED BY US THAT VERY DAY (VERY HARD TO DO FROM A PLANE FLYING OVER THE CARIBBEAN). i MUST SAY THAT FRITZ, THE MANAGER, SOLVED THE PROBLEMS AS BEST AS HE COULD BUT IT TOOK US CLOSE TO TWO HOURS OF VERY LOUD DISCUSSION TO GET US INTO ROOMS.

LATER IN THE WEEK, A COUPLE WHO ALS0 HAD RESERVATIONS WERE SENT TO CAPT. DON'S AS THERE WERE "NO ROOMS AT THE INN" - AGAIN.

BOTTOM LINE - TALK DIRECTLY TO THE DIVI IN BONAIRE AND GET YOUR CONFIMATION IN WRITING FROM THEM - AND TALK DIRECTLY TO FRITZ IF YOU CAN. ACCORDING TO HIM, THE PROBLEM IS THAT EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE FULL, THE DIVI HQ. MAY SHOW UP TO 18 TO 20 EMPTY ROOMS SO THEY KEEP SENDING PEOPLE DOWN. I DON'T KNOW IF I TOTALLY BELIEVE THAT BUT I HAVE DELT WITH THE DIVI AT THE CORPORATE LEVEL IN THE PAST AND IT DOESN'T SURPRISE ME.

Don't take this the wrong way, the Divi is a great place to stay with an outstanding dive operation and great people. You just have to make sure that you will have a room when you get there.

Jim

Jim,

How did you even find Fritz? When I was there in July, he couldn't be found. We sure do miss Stevo Schwartz...he would have help better... glad you got a room...bummer that the group had to work so hard to get what they had paid for Duh!!!

I always take a copy of my confirmation with me and in the future am also going to email a copy to Divi Flamingo. The Bonairians have always been super about trying to straighten out the mess that the reservation people make. If you have a piece of paper in your hand, it makes it much easier for them as they can fax it to the main office in N. Carolina.

Gregg - I guess that we got lucky because Fritz arrived pretty quickly after they called him. Of course it didn't hurt that we had a lawyer, a very upset Italian mother and the support of the twenty people in line behind us whom we had met at the airport in Puerto Rico and on the plane to Bonaire - A great group of people from Oklahoma.

Linnea - We had copies of everything but unfortunately it was all from either our travel agent or Divi Corporate, nothing from the hotel and as I mentioned, there is a very large gap in the communications between the hotel and Corp. Plus, it being a Saturday night, Corporate was closed until monday morning.
Again, I stress the fact that for peace of mind, talk directly to Fritz (voice AND e-mail) and get a written confirmation from the hotel. It is a little more work and will cost a couple of dollars extra for the phone call but you won't have to worry about what may or may not happen when you arrive.

I must also say again that once we got over this hurdle, the hotel, the staff, the dive operation and just the overall vacation could not have been better.

Jim

P.S. Thanks for posting the WE ARE...PENN STATE underwater webcam shot. More about that later in the trip report.

Thanks for all the replies, including an email from Frits (with apologies)received on Monday 5th, we gave the Divi 24 hours to confirm our reservations by email or phone - guess what - we're still waiting. In the meantime we are booked for the Eden Beach. Hopefully we will be just as happy there. We are looking forward to our (1st?) stay in Bonaire from Sept 1st - 15th. Hope we will meet up with some of you.

Jenni and Dave Stewart

Jenni-

We are supposed to be staying at the Divi Sept 2-13 and this makes me a little nervous! I am going to try to call them and confirm with them tonight.

Stephanie

OK I called my travel agent and found out that the Divi won't receive my information until a week before we get there (I usually do everything on my own, but the travel agent was a lot cheaper this time around). Should I be nervous, or is this standard procedure? Thank you!

Stephanie, my gut feeling (and that is all that it is) is that a lot of people make their reservations directly with the Divi Hotel and not through the Corporate HQ and/or travel agents. Because Fritz told me that there is a serious lack of communications between the Hotel and Divi HQ, there is a chance that the hotel could be full without HQ knowing about it so that when your information arrives 1 week before you do, there will be 'no rooms at the Inn' available and you may not find out until you show up. I strongly suggest that you find a way to talk directly to Fritz, fax him whatever information you have and demand (in a nice way) e-mail or fax confirmation directly from him.
Fritz said that Divi is diligently working on the installation of a new software system that will eliminate these problems but until that happens, trust no one.

Jim

Jim,

As an owner at Divi and having dealt with their problems more than I can remember, don't base your actions on Divi promises. Their track record on delivering on promises is very bad. They just upgraded (supposedly) their computer systems last year to solve the very problems now described. As a general rule, I always send a fax to the resort several weeks in advance reminding them that I am coming. I have not had a problem with "no rooms at the inn" for a long time. As I have said before, once you get there generally you will like it.

Gregg,
I am in complete agreement with you in that contact and confirmation directly with the hotel is the only way to go. Other than the check-in/room issue, our stay was everything we had hoped for, and more. We will, without question, stay at the Divi again (and again). It is just that I now have a much better understanding of how to go about making it a much smoother experience.

All -

I received an email from Frits today. It was a nice surprise and he is being very helpful.

Stephanie

Hello All,

Since I will be on my honeymoon in Bonaire starting on Sept 22, I dont want to run into any of these types of "issues" I have called Divi HQ to confirm reservations, and - like some of you have mentioned, they will not get them from the travel agent until 1 week before I leave.

So... Stephanie, do you have Frits's e-mail address? Could you pass it on?

Also, if anyone is going to be on the island during the week of Sept 22 to 28, and you want to get together... drop me a line.

Cheers,

Erik

Erik,

There will be 4 of us at the time share section...if you are not busy :-), stop by for drinks....

Hi Erik,

It's divibon@bonairelive.com

Good luck and have a great honeymoon!

Stephanie

I always stay at the Divi and have had no problems in my four visits. I usually book through Kim at Caradonna Travel and then I usually send an email to Fritz to confirm my reservation and room choice. I also have the need for a fridge for medical reasons so the confirmation on that is equally important!

Darlene
We also booked through Kim at Caradonna Travel. We just got back we loved the place! One person stayed in the time share unit 710 and we were in room 209 both were great.
Ida