We booked our honeymoon to Bora Bora w/ the Travelstore in California earlier this year. They book through a 3rd party called "Islands in the Sun". Long story short- We paid $8,500 for the 12 day trip to stay in an overwater bungalow. When we arrived we had no reservation. They put is in a gargen room and the Travelstore blamed it on Islands in the Sun. We just finished our trial against Travelstore where we found out that Islands in the Sun told Travelstore that our room wouldn't be available for those days but Travelstore booked it anyways and didn't tell us and acted oblivious to the situation. We won our judgement but we will never get back our honeymoon unfortunately.

- The island of Bora Bora is Unbelievable though.
- Do yourself a favor and visit Blood Mary's restaurant & Matira Beach!!

this is a double-post

It's not surprising there are some customers that are so spiteful, they will say anything "to get back" and say just about anything to do so, and it warrants a reply.
1) These folks had confirmations and reservations. What they didn't have was confirmation for an upgraded overwater room that was a last minute request on their part and which was "on request" subject to being confirmed once they paid for it. By the time payment was received and processed, the space was not available, and so they did not get their upgrade confirmed and sure enough, we were not, as the travel agency, clear on that fact and assumed otherwise, which was our agent's error. We did not "put them in a gargen (sic) room", that's what they paid for and were confirmed in all along until they requested the change.
2) Because of their disappointment (indeed they expected the overwater bungalow), we upgraded them at our expense to an overwater bungalow at their next island visit. (Gee, we're such lousy agents we cared enough to do what we could do at that point given the circumstances. How come they don't mention that?)
3) We did make an error with this booking -- we did expect the overwater room to be confirmed because e thought it was being held when they requested it, but it sold by the time payment was posted. All of this, by the way, happened within days of their departure!There was total miscommunication between Islands in the Sun, the resort, and ourselves, and we failed to sufficiently clarify otherwise to advise the clients, as we should have. No one is perfect, and mistakes do happen. However, to claim untruths about what we did or didn't do is dishonest. (Welcome to the internet where you can say anything you want about anyone and no one is the wiser.)
4) What these folks also failed to mention is they waited until the last minute to book this honeymoon, and then their credit card payment for the trip was denied by the credit card company. This also caused delays in getting confirmations for a trip that was so important to them. (Not that we're not responsible, but the reason we made this error was because things were being finalized within days of their departure due to the payment problem and late booking on their part.)
We admit the error made with this booking, have nothing to hide in that regard, and take exception to the tone and accuracy of this post. TravelStore is one of the country's premier travel agencies, award winning, and anyone can read honest tesimonials on our website from our clients. Again, everyone makes mistakes at some point, especially in this business when so much relies on communication between multiple parties. When we handle thousands of clients, one or two things will periodically fall thru the cracks. Again, that's not right and doesn't excuse anyone when it does, but it's all about what you do about it when it does happen. We took it upon ourselves to upgrade these clients and be pro-active in their behalf and at our expense to make up for their initial disappointment by upgrading them to overwater elsewhere, plus refund them the difference in what they had confirmed and the upgrade they requested that was not, unfortunately, confirmed for them. Again, not to excuse our error, but the lesson to be learned here is plan far enough in advance (especially for something as important as a honeymoon to such a popular destination as Tahiti), and don't wait till last minute to make changes.

Well, it's nice to hear both sides. Dan, you should be aware that the original poster has left this exact same denunciation in several other forums here, and presumably elsewhere. You may need to go to some more lengths with your damage control.

This same woman is now requesting information for a "mid-November honeymoon" on the Caribbean boards! How ridiculous is that?

Hi Dan,

Lucky for you that you found out your client was posting here and you were able to print a rebuttal.

I completely identify with this as I'm going through something similar with clients who are currently in NZ. (I only hope I'm not the next one on here having to present my side of the problem)!

What I've learned is that some clients have their own reality and will never take responsibility for anything, but instead prefer to blame the agent. They also don't seem to appreciate anything you've done on their behalf, preferring to concentrate on the negative.

And, while you might be able to contact them (or have your lawyer do so) to "cease and desist" (defamation of character), there's nothing you can do about them telling their friends and family what an awful company you are. That's really the worst part.

Regards,

Melodie

The mid-November Honeymoon is from 2005.

Was there actually a courtroom trial on this?