Claudette

I read on another board that the main pool at the Westin St. John will be closed in September.

Here is exactly what it says: "13-27SEP04 - Renovations to our quarter acre freshwater pool. The main pool will be closed. We will run continuous resort shuttles to the two pools located at upper hillside villas."

I asked about noise and what exactly they will be doing and was told it will be noisy and they are redoing the bottom of the pool. Jackhammers ?

Well, my fiance' is really upset about this. We wanted to swim in the pool on our honeymoon, Sept 11-18. What should we do? I don't think I can get a refund because I booked thru Priceline.

Diana

Hmmm. That's kind of a dilemma.

September is the month that almost all Caribbean properties plan large construction/renovation projects because is it the slowest month of the year. (We always keep that in mind for planning purposes.)

I doubt that you can get a refund. It sounds like you will have to make the best of it and spend time in the pool on the 11th and 12th and then either go to the other pools or rent a car and go off exploring.

When we were in St John in October, we were so enamored of the gorgeous beaches, that we rented a car and spent most of our time on the various beaches.

We only went into the pool (Gallow's Point) once for a short while the first day we arrived.

I'm sorry. I think you will still have a fabulous time though. Congrats!

Europewithkids

Try to push it with Westin. Stress to them that their website and the hotel promos and reviews highlight their great pool and that is what made you choose them (their beach is not supposed to be all that nice). Tell them that had you known this, you never would have booked. Tell them this is your honeymoon -- a once in a lifetime trip -- and that you and your fiance are now distraught over this because you wanted your honeymoon to be perfect. If need be, tell them it is ruining the run up to your wedding day. If the phone rep. cannot help you, go up the ladder. Do not threaten -- you want them to want to help you. They may let you out or they may at least upgrade you away from the construction (maybe up to the villas if they are not busy). The important thing is do not assume a negative reaction. Be persistent, keep moving up the ladder if need be and personalize it to you, but not to them (do not attribute a "no" by someone to some kind of peronal motive). Be ultra polite and understanding of anyone who says "no," but when you think you can get no further with them politely insist that you be given the name and contact info. of someone who is better authorized to deal with your problem. Good luck.

caribtraveler

Europewithkids: Claudette booked this with Priceline so she needs to push it with Priceline and not the Westin.
Claudette: Go ahead and e-mail Priceline. You never know. If it doesn't work out, the only thing I can tell you to make you feel better is that their pool is nothing spectacular. We only used it because we were with our toddler. If it had been just the hubby and me, we would have never done the pool because the beaches on St. John are just magnificent. Good luck.

Claudette

I did e mail Priceline about this. No reply at all from them.

caribtraveler

Maybe you want to call? Do you have a history of buying with them? If so, they may give you a break. If not, I just don't know.

Diana

europewithkids,

No offense, but large resorts try very hard to schedule and perform their yearly maintenance in the offseason when the fewest number of people will be inconvenienced by the interruptions.

They have to line up the few skilled labor people they can find months in advance for large-scale projects, and to put a major item on hold for one guest is not realistic.

The best the original poster can hope for is that the project may get delayed due to "island time," and they will not start it until after they leave.

On the plus side, mention your disappointment at the front desk when you check in (in a nice way), and you're liable to get a juicy upgrade for free!

Europewithkids

You can try Priceline but if you get nowhere with them, call Westin! Don't assume that you will get nowhere because you booked with Priceline. Are they telling people who book directly with them (or through a travel agency) that the pool will be closed? Is it on their website? If not, you can at least argue that who you booked with should not matter. The point here is that the best approach is not necessarily legalistic. Get them to want to help you. Even if they do not let you cancel (assuming that is what you really want), they may let you apply it toward a later visit or they may give you some kind of upgrade. Do not wait to raise this when you check in, do it now.

caribtraveler

europewithkids: a person does not "book" with priceline. a person "bids" for a hotel with priceline and gets a room at a substantially lower rate than someone who books through the hotel directly or a travel agent. that is why a person who bids through priceline does not have a lot of recourse when things don't quite work out. of course, claudette can try and should try any way she can to fix her problem but she can't expect much when she got a room on a bid. the point is priceline is very clear on their rules, however i have read from other bidders that they do make exceptions. hopefully, claudette will have some luck since it's her honeymoon.

MarionCK

I agree with the above poster and encourage you to make some phone calls now. Primarily because this is something that will continue to cause you and your fiance stress as you prepare for your wedding. This should be a happy time....and your honeymoon the *pot of gold* you look forward to.


I would suggest that you call someone in Public Relations at Westin Corporate. The folks in Nevis just won't care as much as someone in PR.

A gentle reminder of travel boards like this, and how future business may be impacted might perk up some ears ;-) !

Good luck....the *mama* in me wants to make the phone calls for you !

Marion

Claudette

Just so the other posters know, we did not get a great deal through Priceline. Just a little less than we could have got by calling the Westin directly. And I've never found Priceline to be helpful when there's a problem.

I will call the Westin directly since they haven't responded to my e mail. Thanks for all your suggestions and good wishes.

Europewithkids

Caribtraveller, I think we are saying the same thing ultimately but in different ways. My point to Claudette is not to get caught up in the legal issues of who is technically responsible. Westin wants happy customers and she and her fiance are ultimately their customer, regardless of how they booked (and from what you are saying, they did in fact book with Westin through the Priceline bidding mechanism). Claudette, if you reach the right people at Westin and handle it correctly, they may do something for you because ultimately, they do not want miserable customers.

MarionCK

Just for the record....

My post timed at 1:11 was to agree with "europe with kids" who posted at12:42.

I was not referring to "caribtraveler's" post.
Now that you all know that I suffer from a wee bit of OCD ;-)....I hope that Claudette is able to resolve this issue to her satisfaction !

Marion

bobrxlex

i spent a week at the westin and dont think i was in the pool more than 5 minutes, too busy going to all the spectacular beaches of st. john

caribtraveler

It's too late for Claudette, but the bottom line is NO ONE should ever book an important trip like a honeymoon with Priceline. You have NO control on what hotel you will get and what room you will get. Using Priceline for her honeymoon was Claudette's first mistake.
I see someone brought back her old post when she tried once before to get out of her winning bid using a different excuse. I gave her the benefit of the doubt then but I don't know now.
On top of that, she did overbid for the Westin St. John and was obviously not aware that she should do research at www.biddingfortravel.com to avoid making bidding mistakes on Priceline. She overbid by at least $40/night and is now stuck paying pretty close to the regular rate that's on the hotel's website.
My husband and I use Priceline once in a while and have had no problems (because we understand and accept their clearly-explained rules), but we will never use them for our anniversary trips because those trips are important.
If Claudette had booked her honeymoon through the Westin or a travel agent, she would have gotten her money back right away when she decided she wanted to stay elsewhere...so do not blame Priceline for your own mistakes.
Lessons be learned to others who are thinking of using Priceline.

islandguy50

I would contact both Priceline and Westin. You may get nowhere with Priceline, but you won't know if you don't make an attempt. Westin, on the other hand, is usually very willing to accommodate you. I've had wonderful response from Starwood hotels (I've stayed at Westins many times) in regards to complaints or problems.
I also think Europewithkids gave you excellent advice on how to deal with Westin. Be polite and persistent.
I do a lot of research on the internet before booking my vacation and usually find that I can get better rates on my own than on Expedia and the likes.
Good luck and have a wonderful honeymoon!