Letter to Atlantis/Kerzner management
Jul 26th, 2005 | 06:33 AM
#1
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Joined: Apr 2005
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Letter to Atlantis/Kerzner management
My husband and I recently stayed at the Atlantis hotel – Royal Towers – for 5 nights. Instead of writing a review or trip report; I am attaching a letter that I have sent to the principles at the Atlantis. I will continue to post this letter weekly on every travel related web site – until I get a response from the Atlantis. Then I will post the response. This resort is the PITS!! I went with a completely open mind hoping to prove the critics wrong!! What a mistake – I should have taken the negative reviews more seriously. I am absolutely convinced that any good reviews that are posted are coming from personnel at the resort who make up the reviews.
Dear Sirs/Madame:
My husband and I stayed at the Royal Towers beginning July 18th for 5 nights. We paid a total of $2786.00 for 5 nights in a king size water view room. That price was strictly the cost of the room (including tax and resort fees) – which means that we paid $557.20 per night for the room only. We ate all of meals on the resort property – including dinner at the gourmet restaurants; gambled in the casino; enjoyed some cocktails during the day – thus spending more money at the resort. What we expected was to receive quality service from the resort – instead we were treated so poorly that I wanted to cry and go home on our first day (and actually did cry – every night) it made me sick to know that we had prepaid for the room and could not get a refund…I wanted to get out of there so badly. We enjoy traveling and have no issue whatsoever with paying a premium for a nice hotel. In fact, we have stayed at some of the most beautiful hotels all over the world. In many cases for less money – but we have never ever been treated so poorly anywhere!!!
The various incidents that occurred were so many, I cannot list them all – however, I will step you through just a few of them.
(We had stayed at the Hilton in Nassau for 2 nights so were on island on Monday morning). We went over to the Atlantis at noon on Monday the 18th. We were told that Check in was 3pm – but we would have a room sooner than that. We were told to just call the prompt response number (38) in about an hour and they would give us the room number. We did call, at 1pm, at 2pm, and finally at 3pm we were given a room. As soon as we walked into the room - # 12-578 – we were hit with the worst moldy musty smell conceivable. It practically knocked us out. The bellman that brought up our luggage had the same reaction we did to the odor – he said that many of the rooms smelled musty but none as bad as this. We immediately called down to the front desk and explained that it would be impossible for us to stay in that room.
Charles responded to our problem by telling us at first – that there were no other rooms available and that there was nothing that could be done except to have housekeeping come up and deodorize the rug. We did not know what to do – so we said – “okay”. About 20 minutes later – sitting in the musty room with the balcony door wide open to alleviate the stench – we called back down to the front desk. (House keeping had not come to the room to deodorize) I explained to Charles that we had to move to another room and we were willing to pay to upgrade to the Imperial club or a suite or anything that he had. He said that he had a room on the 11th floor that had 2 double beds instead of a King bed. We jumped at the chance to move – and he agreed to bring us a key to the new room so my husband could check it out to insure it did not smell.
Charles brought the key up to our room and walked with my husband down to room #11-592. My husband was completely satisfied that there was no moldy odor and came back to the 12th floor with Charles to tell me. Charles then came back with a luggage cart at 4pm to take our luggage down to the new room. He said that housekeeping needed to clean the room – but we should just hang out and go to dinner and when we were done we could go directly to the room. Unfortunately we were in tee-shirts and shorts and had dinner reservations at 7:30 in the Café in the Great Hall of Waters. We needed our luggage etc to shower and change before dinner.
Charles said – no problem – stay in this room for the afternoon – then come down for dinner; while you are at dinner we will move your luggage to the new room. Just come by the front desk before dinner and get the new keys. I said – will you be there around 7pm? Charles said “I am here until 8pm; and I will not leave until you are in the new room.” Like a couple of fools - we believed him.
At 7pm my husband went to the front desk to get the new keys – he was told Charles was on a break. He explained the situation to the woman at the front desk. She said that room 11-592 was no longer available to us – and gave my husband a key to a room in the East wing on the 15th floor. My husband went up to that room and it was musty and moldy – he came back to our room and told me what had happened. I immediately called the front desk again and asked for Charles. I was told he was at lunch. I explained the situation to the woman at the front desk and assured her that Charles was aware of the situation and began to ask her when he would be back from his break. I started to say that Charles had told us he was off at 8pm and that he would not leave until we were in our new room – so when did he come back from his break? Before I could finish my sentence the rude, rude woman said – “it is none of your business when we take our breaks or when we return”. Again, I said, I am only asking because he is aware of the situation and I think that this will save us some trouble”. She told me that I was being unreasonable and that she would not tolerate my questioning their break policies!!! I asked to speak with her manager.
Robert got on the phone and I asked him if he was aware of the situation. Robert said that he was beginning to get caught up on what was going on. He said that unfortunately room 11-592 is “out of order”. I told him that my understanding was that Charles had actually booked the room in our names so that it would not be given away to another party – perhaps that’s why it shows as unavailable. I offered that perhaps we could go to dinner – while at dinner – have them fix the room for us, and then when we were done – move into the new room. Then Robert said this to me “You are not smart enough to understand the technical difficulties involved in getting the room prepared for you”. That’s when I lost it!! My response was something along the lines of “big mistake” – “You are making a very big assumption about my ability to understand this problem” “what I understand is that we were made a promise and now you are not keeping your word”. I then asked to speak with the resort manager. Robert told me he was the resort manager. I am guessing that that’s not true is it? ** As a business professional – I know that I should not even have to continue with this letter. The response from Robert – to a paying customer – was absolutely unacceptable and he should lose his job because of it. It still angers me to know that he was allowed to treat me that way and to know that there was nothing I could do about it at the time….I am floored that an organization based on service like Kerzner International would employ someone like that – let alone – make them a manager**.
About that time – Charles showed up and was standing (I assume) alongside Robert. I asked Robert to let me speak with Charles because I wanted to hear him tell me that the room was no longer available to us. Robert put me on hold instead; then came back on the line and suggested the following: Why don’t you go to dinner, after dinner come to the front desk and get a key to the new room # 11-592- and they will have it made up for us. I was very puzzled – and said – “that’s what I suggested at the onset of this conversation before I was insulted and put through the ringer.”
After dinner we went to the front desk – Robert came out to give us the new keys. He also said that he gave us $150.00 credit for our troubles. We thought that that was a good start but since we paid $557.20 a night and it was 9:30pm and had not been able to settle into our room; and the new room did not have a king bed in it – we thought that there was probably more that could have been done to compensate us. We went to our room and thought that the worst of the trip was over.
In the room next door to us – #11-594 – there were 2 or 3 young teens sharing the room. Apparently the parents were staying in a different room; perhaps on another floor – but not near the room next door to us. When I say young teens; I am talking about 13 and 14 year olds (I am guessing). All I know is at about midnight (or as I later learned – when “club rush” let out) the room next to us became a zoo. Screaming, laughing, loud music, jolting us up from our sleep. After about an hour – I called the front desk. They assured me that they would call security and talk to the kids about this. I don’t know if security came up or if they just went to bed on their own, but about ½ hour later the noise stopped. That was our first night in the hotel.
Tuesday we hoped was going to be a better day. (I wont even get into the whole – no chairs at the pools as people come out at 7am and reserve them with old towels; then never come back to claim them, so people who come out to actually sit and enjoy the pools at 8:30 or 9am had no place to sit – LITERALLY – people sat on the grass, rocks, or stood).
Tuesday night – we were asleep until our Midnight wakeup call – the unsupervised teens next door began their nightly noise fest. I called the front desk after only 15 minutes and told them that we had noisy neighbors again. They sent security up. We heard security knock on the door, talk to the kids (who had no adults in the room), then leave. We heard the teens – laugh at security – and continue their party. I called down to the front desk again – and this time asked what the policy was for having unsupervised children in a room? I told them that the noise was continuing and that something needed to be done. They told me that they would take care of it. I am not sure it they contacted the parents – but something happened – and the noise stopped. Thankfully.
Wednesday night – now that the hotel knew about the problem; we were sure that we would have a decent sleep. No such luck – like clockwork; midnight hit and the party began. I called the front desk and told them about the problem, and also told them that this was the 3rd night in a row with the same issue. They told me that they would send security up to handle it. Security seemed to quiet them somewhat – but not totally…I had basically given up hope of getting any sleep – so piled pillows on top of my head and had to tolerate the noise until they finally went to sleep.
Thursday morning – we are sure it was the kids next door – but there was food and garbage piled up at the foot of our door. Very nice. But then again, what does $500.00+ a night get you? We were treated like garbage – we might as well walk through it too!!
Thursday night – you won’t believe this – but at midnight – 4th night in a row – guess what the top notch personnel at the Atlantis – knowing that there had been a problem in room 11-594 did? NOTHING. Midnight came and the party began. I called the front desk – and guess what they said – “we will send security up to take care of this”. I don’t think security ever came – so again, we were up until the wee hours of the morning with the loud teens listening to their party.
Friday night – our last night – THANK GOD – We had an early flight so needed to be up and out early in the morning. Midnight came and so did the party – but this time there were more kids than before. Including some guys talking about getting high etc….I called the front desk and was so angry. I could not believe that this was still going on. I could not believe that our vacation had been so horrible. The woman at the front desk said that she would ask security to come up and talk to them – and that she would call me back to let me know it was taken care of. I said – “don’t call me back – I want to sleep – if they stop screaming and yelling and partying I will know it was taken care of”. Needless to say – we did not get any sleep that night either.
I could go on and on with the overcrowding of the resort property, I could talk about the filth in the pool(s); I could talk about the expectations of the dress policies at the gourmet restaurants (don’t bother reading the dress codes as there were so few people who actually followed the codes; some did – others wore whatever they wanted); forget the “cover-ups must be worn in the lobbies rule; There were plenty of bathing suited people wandering around the hotel; I could talk about how bad the service was in the casino – the tables were not covered by cocktail servers; the slot machines did not accept bills/tickets or room keys (I play video poker and would have loved to earn the points that I played but most of the time the room key in the machine did not work).
We knew that in July the hotel would be crowded; that there would be a lot of children – but we never ever expected to experience the nightmare of a vacation from this resort. I had stayed there 5 years earlier and thought it was great. I am expecting some sort of refund of our room costs. As stated earlier – I will post this letter on every travel related web site and hotel review that I can find on a weekly basis. Once I get a response from the Atlantis – I will post that response as well. Until then, I will never again be back at the Atlantis and I will do everything I can to help spread the word about the horrific service and low grade facilities that the resort offers.
You can reach me via email at
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Tracey
Dear Sirs/Madame:
My husband and I stayed at the Royal Towers beginning July 18th for 5 nights. We paid a total of $2786.00 for 5 nights in a king size water view room. That price was strictly the cost of the room (including tax and resort fees) – which means that we paid $557.20 per night for the room only. We ate all of meals on the resort property – including dinner at the gourmet restaurants; gambled in the casino; enjoyed some cocktails during the day – thus spending more money at the resort. What we expected was to receive quality service from the resort – instead we were treated so poorly that I wanted to cry and go home on our first day (and actually did cry – every night) it made me sick to know that we had prepaid for the room and could not get a refund…I wanted to get out of there so badly. We enjoy traveling and have no issue whatsoever with paying a premium for a nice hotel. In fact, we have stayed at some of the most beautiful hotels all over the world. In many cases for less money – but we have never ever been treated so poorly anywhere!!!
The various incidents that occurred were so many, I cannot list them all – however, I will step you through just a few of them.
(We had stayed at the Hilton in Nassau for 2 nights so were on island on Monday morning). We went over to the Atlantis at noon on Monday the 18th. We were told that Check in was 3pm – but we would have a room sooner than that. We were told to just call the prompt response number (38) in about an hour and they would give us the room number. We did call, at 1pm, at 2pm, and finally at 3pm we were given a room. As soon as we walked into the room - # 12-578 – we were hit with the worst moldy musty smell conceivable. It practically knocked us out. The bellman that brought up our luggage had the same reaction we did to the odor – he said that many of the rooms smelled musty but none as bad as this. We immediately called down to the front desk and explained that it would be impossible for us to stay in that room.
Charles responded to our problem by telling us at first – that there were no other rooms available and that there was nothing that could be done except to have housekeeping come up and deodorize the rug. We did not know what to do – so we said – “okay”. About 20 minutes later – sitting in the musty room with the balcony door wide open to alleviate the stench – we called back down to the front desk. (House keeping had not come to the room to deodorize) I explained to Charles that we had to move to another room and we were willing to pay to upgrade to the Imperial club or a suite or anything that he had. He said that he had a room on the 11th floor that had 2 double beds instead of a King bed. We jumped at the chance to move – and he agreed to bring us a key to the new room so my husband could check it out to insure it did not smell.
Charles brought the key up to our room and walked with my husband down to room #11-592. My husband was completely satisfied that there was no moldy odor and came back to the 12th floor with Charles to tell me. Charles then came back with a luggage cart at 4pm to take our luggage down to the new room. He said that housekeeping needed to clean the room – but we should just hang out and go to dinner and when we were done we could go directly to the room. Unfortunately we were in tee-shirts and shorts and had dinner reservations at 7:30 in the Café in the Great Hall of Waters. We needed our luggage etc to shower and change before dinner.
Charles said – no problem – stay in this room for the afternoon – then come down for dinner; while you are at dinner we will move your luggage to the new room. Just come by the front desk before dinner and get the new keys. I said – will you be there around 7pm? Charles said “I am here until 8pm; and I will not leave until you are in the new room.” Like a couple of fools - we believed him.
At 7pm my husband went to the front desk to get the new keys – he was told Charles was on a break. He explained the situation to the woman at the front desk. She said that room 11-592 was no longer available to us – and gave my husband a key to a room in the East wing on the 15th floor. My husband went up to that room and it was musty and moldy – he came back to our room and told me what had happened. I immediately called the front desk again and asked for Charles. I was told he was at lunch. I explained the situation to the woman at the front desk and assured her that Charles was aware of the situation and began to ask her when he would be back from his break. I started to say that Charles had told us he was off at 8pm and that he would not leave until we were in our new room – so when did he come back from his break? Before I could finish my sentence the rude, rude woman said – “it is none of your business when we take our breaks or when we return”. Again, I said, I am only asking because he is aware of the situation and I think that this will save us some trouble”. She told me that I was being unreasonable and that she would not tolerate my questioning their break policies!!! I asked to speak with her manager.
Robert got on the phone and I asked him if he was aware of the situation. Robert said that he was beginning to get caught up on what was going on. He said that unfortunately room 11-592 is “out of order”. I told him that my understanding was that Charles had actually booked the room in our names so that it would not be given away to another party – perhaps that’s why it shows as unavailable. I offered that perhaps we could go to dinner – while at dinner – have them fix the room for us, and then when we were done – move into the new room. Then Robert said this to me “You are not smart enough to understand the technical difficulties involved in getting the room prepared for you”. That’s when I lost it!! My response was something along the lines of “big mistake” – “You are making a very big assumption about my ability to understand this problem” “what I understand is that we were made a promise and now you are not keeping your word”. I then asked to speak with the resort manager. Robert told me he was the resort manager. I am guessing that that’s not true is it? ** As a business professional – I know that I should not even have to continue with this letter. The response from Robert – to a paying customer – was absolutely unacceptable and he should lose his job because of it. It still angers me to know that he was allowed to treat me that way and to know that there was nothing I could do about it at the time….I am floored that an organization based on service like Kerzner International would employ someone like that – let alone – make them a manager**.
About that time – Charles showed up and was standing (I assume) alongside Robert. I asked Robert to let me speak with Charles because I wanted to hear him tell me that the room was no longer available to us. Robert put me on hold instead; then came back on the line and suggested the following: Why don’t you go to dinner, after dinner come to the front desk and get a key to the new room # 11-592- and they will have it made up for us. I was very puzzled – and said – “that’s what I suggested at the onset of this conversation before I was insulted and put through the ringer.”
After dinner we went to the front desk – Robert came out to give us the new keys. He also said that he gave us $150.00 credit for our troubles. We thought that that was a good start but since we paid $557.20 a night and it was 9:30pm and had not been able to settle into our room; and the new room did not have a king bed in it – we thought that there was probably more that could have been done to compensate us. We went to our room and thought that the worst of the trip was over.
In the room next door to us – #11-594 – there were 2 or 3 young teens sharing the room. Apparently the parents were staying in a different room; perhaps on another floor – but not near the room next door to us. When I say young teens; I am talking about 13 and 14 year olds (I am guessing). All I know is at about midnight (or as I later learned – when “club rush” let out) the room next to us became a zoo. Screaming, laughing, loud music, jolting us up from our sleep. After about an hour – I called the front desk. They assured me that they would call security and talk to the kids about this. I don’t know if security came up or if they just went to bed on their own, but about ½ hour later the noise stopped. That was our first night in the hotel.
Tuesday we hoped was going to be a better day. (I wont even get into the whole – no chairs at the pools as people come out at 7am and reserve them with old towels; then never come back to claim them, so people who come out to actually sit and enjoy the pools at 8:30 or 9am had no place to sit – LITERALLY – people sat on the grass, rocks, or stood).
Tuesday night – we were asleep until our Midnight wakeup call – the unsupervised teens next door began their nightly noise fest. I called the front desk after only 15 minutes and told them that we had noisy neighbors again. They sent security up. We heard security knock on the door, talk to the kids (who had no adults in the room), then leave. We heard the teens – laugh at security – and continue their party. I called down to the front desk again – and this time asked what the policy was for having unsupervised children in a room? I told them that the noise was continuing and that something needed to be done. They told me that they would take care of it. I am not sure it they contacted the parents – but something happened – and the noise stopped. Thankfully.
Wednesday night – now that the hotel knew about the problem; we were sure that we would have a decent sleep. No such luck – like clockwork; midnight hit and the party began. I called the front desk and told them about the problem, and also told them that this was the 3rd night in a row with the same issue. They told me that they would send security up to handle it. Security seemed to quiet them somewhat – but not totally…I had basically given up hope of getting any sleep – so piled pillows on top of my head and had to tolerate the noise until they finally went to sleep.
Thursday morning – we are sure it was the kids next door – but there was food and garbage piled up at the foot of our door. Very nice. But then again, what does $500.00+ a night get you? We were treated like garbage – we might as well walk through it too!!
Thursday night – you won’t believe this – but at midnight – 4th night in a row – guess what the top notch personnel at the Atlantis – knowing that there had been a problem in room 11-594 did? NOTHING. Midnight came and the party began. I called the front desk – and guess what they said – “we will send security up to take care of this”. I don’t think security ever came – so again, we were up until the wee hours of the morning with the loud teens listening to their party.
Friday night – our last night – THANK GOD – We had an early flight so needed to be up and out early in the morning. Midnight came and so did the party – but this time there were more kids than before. Including some guys talking about getting high etc….I called the front desk and was so angry. I could not believe that this was still going on. I could not believe that our vacation had been so horrible. The woman at the front desk said that she would ask security to come up and talk to them – and that she would call me back to let me know it was taken care of. I said – “don’t call me back – I want to sleep – if they stop screaming and yelling and partying I will know it was taken care of”. Needless to say – we did not get any sleep that night either.
I could go on and on with the overcrowding of the resort property, I could talk about the filth in the pool(s); I could talk about the expectations of the dress policies at the gourmet restaurants (don’t bother reading the dress codes as there were so few people who actually followed the codes; some did – others wore whatever they wanted); forget the “cover-ups must be worn in the lobbies rule; There were plenty of bathing suited people wandering around the hotel; I could talk about how bad the service was in the casino – the tables were not covered by cocktail servers; the slot machines did not accept bills/tickets or room keys (I play video poker and would have loved to earn the points that I played but most of the time the room key in the machine did not work).
We knew that in July the hotel would be crowded; that there would be a lot of children – but we never ever expected to experience the nightmare of a vacation from this resort. I had stayed there 5 years earlier and thought it was great. I am expecting some sort of refund of our room costs. As stated earlier – I will post this letter on every travel related web site and hotel review that I can find on a weekly basis. Once I get a response from the Atlantis – I will post that response as well. Until then, I will never again be back at the Atlantis and I will do everything I can to help spread the word about the horrific service and low grade facilities that the resort offers.
You can reach me via email at
I look forward to your response.
Regards,
Tracey
Jul 26th, 2005 | 07:30 AM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,658
Likes: 0
WOW!
I am sooooo sorry to hear about your experience at Atlantis!
You certainly have valid complaints, and I hope you get some kind of satisfaction (credit, etc.) and a timely and concerned reply from the company.
I have found that for the most part, those reviews are spot on. I can usually tell when I think someone is either impossible to please or it is indeed an owner or employee leaving the review.
This brings to mind a lady who was asking about Beaches, Turks and Caicos last year. I and several other posters told her the place gets bad reviews, and that we had SEEN it and not to go.
She decided to go anyway, and boy was she sorry!
Tra_Tra, I'm sure you will be more wary in the future when you read bad reviews about a property.
It's so sad your vacation was nearly ruined. It's bad enough when it's a budget place, but at $500+ per night!? Outrageous. >
I am sooooo sorry to hear about your experience at Atlantis!
You certainly have valid complaints, and I hope you get some kind of satisfaction (credit, etc.) and a timely and concerned reply from the company.
I have found that for the most part, those reviews are spot on. I can usually tell when I think someone is either impossible to please or it is indeed an owner or employee leaving the review.
This brings to mind a lady who was asking about Beaches, Turks and Caicos last year. I and several other posters told her the place gets bad reviews, and that we had SEEN it and not to go.
She decided to go anyway, and boy was she sorry!
Tra_Tra, I'm sure you will be more wary in the future when you read bad reviews about a property.
It's so sad your vacation was nearly ruined. It's bad enough when it's a budget place, but at $500+ per night!? Outrageous. >
Jul 26th, 2005 | 08:23 AM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 654
Likes: 0
Wow, what a nightmare. DH and I were at Atlantis several years ago on a business junket with a huge group of people. While we didn't have problems with the room, we did think the service was extremely lacadaisical (sp). I got the impression that noone really cared, service was included with all prices, so who cares. And the people throwing this little shindig spent an awful lot of money, and so did the guests. We will never go back, even tho it is so convenient to NY. As an aside, I had the worst massage of my life in the spa. Not only did the woman cough and hack through it, but someone actually came into the room to speak with her during my treatment. I promptly cancelled my second one.
I hope you get some kind of response, I am curious to see what they say, if anything.
I hope you get some kind of response, I am curious to see what they say, if anything.
Jul 26th, 2005 | 09:08 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 218
Likes: 0
Atlantis is awful. My family and I went back when it first opened for Christmas.
It was awful, horrible. The only good thing was the weather. Since this was back in 1998 or 1999, they seem not to care. There have been many negative reviews.
It was awful, horrible. The only good thing was the weather. Since this was back in 1998 or 1999, they seem not to care. There have been many negative reviews.
Jul 26th, 2005 | 10:38 AM
#6
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
I'm so sorry you and your husband experienced such a horrible NIGHTMARE of a vacation! I would like to see what ATLANTIS has to say!! They need to close that place and re-open it with new management!!! My family and I thought about taking a vacation last year and visiting ATLANTIS but after all the bad reviews and negative feedbacks I just couldnt risk it!
Best of luck and keep us posted!!
Thanks to FODOR'S and people like us we all can share our good or bad experiences! If it wasnt for us were would the resorts be!
THANKS Tracey -
Best of luck and keep us posted!!
Thanks to FODOR'S and people like us we all can share our good or bad experiences! If it wasnt for us were would the resorts be!
THANKS Tracey -
Jul 26th, 2005 | 10:44 AM
#7
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 149
Likes: 0
I'm so sorry to hear what a terrible experience you had! My sister-in-law and her family are there right now...I'll be anxious to hear about their experience. About 12 years ago, we had a horrendous experience at the Radisson Cable Beach. Long story short, we were refunded half of our money. I hope you are as lucky.
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Jul 26th, 2005 | 11:37 AM
#10
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,080
Likes: 0
What a shame your vacation was so miserable - especially at those prices.
We visited Atlantis a few years ago and did not have a similar experience; everything was very clean and pleasant.
Try sending your letter to the Ombudsman at CN Traveler magazine; maybe they can help.
I'll be anxious to hear how your situation is resolved.
We visited Atlantis a few years ago and did not have a similar experience; everything was very clean and pleasant.
Try sending your letter to the Ombudsman at CN Traveler magazine; maybe they can help.
I'll be anxious to hear how your situation is resolved.
Jul 26th, 2005 | 05:17 PM
#13
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,121
Likes: 0
Tra:
We thought about Atlantis for a future trip with the kids..but I have read and heard bad things.Yours tops the cake..so we will NEVER stay at Atlantis.
I have been in management and the customer is always right...no matter what!!And with you paying $500 a night..I hope that you get a refund for your room.
Please keep us updated on how this is resolved.
Sounds like you needed a vacation when you got home.
We thought about Atlantis for a future trip with the kids..but I have read and heard bad things.Yours tops the cake..so we will NEVER stay at Atlantis.
I have been in management and the customer is always right...no matter what!!And with you paying $500 a night..I hope that you get a refund for your room.
Please keep us updated on how this is resolved.
Sounds like you needed a vacation when you got home.
Jul 27th, 2005 | 04:48 AM
#14
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 746
Likes: 0
wow, i cannot even imagine how you guys feel, we are taking our two teens to the ocean club for two weeks and the preparation, planning, organizing and time spent just to get there is overwhelming...and then to have something like that happen....so sorry for you, but i applaud you for posting...we never really planned on staying at the atlantis, hence the ocean club nearby, but i thought the kids would like to be close to the action...i have a feeling, and i felt this before i read your post that the atlantis would disappoint all of us and i didnt plan on doing much there, and then i read your post and im sure i will not be using that property that much even though i am entitled to it..there are just too many negative reviews. you were brave, you took the plunge, and unfortunately got screwed. i find it pretty disgusting that the room next door to you was allowed to go berserk, where were their parents? good luck, keep us posted, i am curious if the management at the atlantis does anything to rectify this situation...and again, thank you for posting...i'll be reading to find out how they handle this. good luck in your future travels.
Jul 27th, 2005 | 07:31 AM
#15
Original Poster
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Thank you all so much for your support!! I just wish I had listened to people before we went. While we were on Paradise Island we went to dinner at Dune over at the Ocean Club. Even though that is considered part of the Atlantis property - I would recommend that hotel...it was beautiful.
Now the good news....I was very very pleased with the response I got from my letter. Immediately after I sent the letter to both the Atlantis management as well as Kerzner international management (including the pres, coo, ceo, investor relations and media relations managers)....I got a message on my machine at home from Stuart Bowe the VP of hotel operations at the Atlantis. He called my machine every hour on the hour wanting to speak with me (I was at work)> When I got home from work, I called him back. I was very happy with his response. He first of all apologized and DID NOT make any excuses for the horrible experience. He even said "I am not going to make any excuses - we dropped the ball on this". After a little discussion - he offered my husband and I another trip as his guest sometime in the next 12 months. I declined that offer. I told him that while we were there - we ate dinner at the gourmet restaurants and happily paid for that. We had service at the pools and beach and happily paid for that; we purchased merchandise in the shops and happily paid for that. What we did not get was a decent room so I dont feel that we should have paid for one. He agreed. He offered me a very generous credit for our room cost. I accepted that resolution. I also did Thank him and told him that I was very pleased the he took the time to resolve this issue. I know that one guest cant even make a dent in the business that Atlantis takes in...but felt that he treated me as if it did matter. He responded that they did not consider us a "small fish" and that our bad experience in fact, did matter to them.
I think that (my lesson learned) what we did right in this case - was complain to management at the moment the issue happened. They keep a computer log of the issues and when I wrote the letter - they were able to go back and validate everything that I had complained about. I think this works better than waiting to address the issues when we got home. That would be my advice to anyone who wanted to pursue an issue - make sure the hotel knew about it while you were there.
Anyway - Thank you again for your support. Next trip I will be asking for/ and TAKING advice from you fellow travelers
Tra
Now the good news....I was very very pleased with the response I got from my letter. Immediately after I sent the letter to both the Atlantis management as well as Kerzner international management (including the pres, coo, ceo, investor relations and media relations managers)....I got a message on my machine at home from Stuart Bowe the VP of hotel operations at the Atlantis. He called my machine every hour on the hour wanting to speak with me (I was at work)> When I got home from work, I called him back. I was very happy with his response. He first of all apologized and DID NOT make any excuses for the horrible experience. He even said "I am not going to make any excuses - we dropped the ball on this". After a little discussion - he offered my husband and I another trip as his guest sometime in the next 12 months. I declined that offer. I told him that while we were there - we ate dinner at the gourmet restaurants and happily paid for that. We had service at the pools and beach and happily paid for that; we purchased merchandise in the shops and happily paid for that. What we did not get was a decent room so I dont feel that we should have paid for one. He agreed. He offered me a very generous credit for our room cost. I accepted that resolution. I also did Thank him and told him that I was very pleased the he took the time to resolve this issue. I know that one guest cant even make a dent in the business that Atlantis takes in...but felt that he treated me as if it did matter. He responded that they did not consider us a "small fish" and that our bad experience in fact, did matter to them.
I think that (my lesson learned) what we did right in this case - was complain to management at the moment the issue happened. They keep a computer log of the issues and when I wrote the letter - they were able to go back and validate everything that I had complained about. I think this works better than waiting to address the issues when we got home. That would be my advice to anyone who wanted to pursue an issue - make sure the hotel knew about it while you were there.
Anyway - Thank you again for your support. Next trip I will be asking for/ and TAKING advice from you fellow travelers
Tra
Jul 27th, 2005 | 08:17 AM
#16
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,658
Likes: 0
Yay! Very good!
What a great response that was, and I am so happy to read that he was so courteous and helpful as well.
In these days of so many of us just being a "number," it's great that you were treated with respect and had a resolution that you were pleased with.
I think they handled it properly, and so did you, by bring reasonable in what you expected and received.
Congrats!
What a great response that was, and I am so happy to read that he was so courteous and helpful as well.
In these days of so many of us just being a "number," it's great that you were treated with respect and had a resolution that you were pleased with.
I think they handled it properly, and so did you, by bring reasonable in what you expected and received.
Congrats!
Jul 27th, 2005 | 08:22 AM
#17
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,870
Likes: 0
I'm delighted that you received what you consider appropriate compensation for your horrible vacation. I'm impressed with the management that they took care of you like that. What a pity you didn't receive that level of service for your vacation!
