MalContent: One & Only Ocean Club, Bahamas
Yet again, another self explanatory situation: Customer books a holiday; customer is very excited about the holiday; customer finally arrives at the holiday destination, and nothing is like it should be. Disappointment all around!
Oh, and did I mention, that the customer is still waiting for the 2,500 USD reimbursement promised in the very politely written email reply! Well, this customer really is patient! Or gullible!?
Customer complaint written on August 14th, 2012:
"Dear Sir/Madam,
Yet again, another self explanatory situation: Customer books a holiday; customer is very excited about the holiday; customer finally arrives at the holiday destination, and nothing is like it should be. Disappointment all around!
Oh, and did I mention, that the customer is still waiting for the 2,500 USD reimbursement promised in the very politely written email reply! Well, this customer really is patient! Or gullible!?
Customer complaint written on August 14th, 2012:
"Dear Sir/Madam,
After searching long and hard to find the relevant customer service contact to direct this e-mail to, and after the staff at the One & Only, Ocean Club, Bahamas failed to provide me with the requested and promised contact details, I am directing my complaint to you.
We, the Z Family, have planned our summer holidays around our stay at the One & Only, Ocean Club. We have stayed at a number of the One & Only resorts, most recently in January 20xx at the One & Only Palm in Dubai and in July 20xx, our grandparents renewed their wedding vows at the One & Only Palmilla. We have also stayed a number of times at the One & Only Royal Mirage in Dubai. All of our stays have been tremendously successful and have provided us with wonderful memories, that is, until our stay at the One & Only Ocean Club, this summer.
We booked our holiday at the Ocean Club on February 7th, 2012. We initially had problems making the booking on the website and ended up calling the reservation department at the Ocean Club three times. The booking was finally made for the period from July x-th until August x-th, for two Crescent Wing, Luxury Beachfront rooms (travel plan #1058xxx & travel plan # 1058xxy). The request was made, in person during the telephone booking, for an extra helper bed in each room, for both rooms to be adjacent and on the top floor, and for airport transfers to and from the hotel for six passengers and six suitcases.
On the day of our arrival, we were met by a hotel representative who was meant to take us to our hotel. We were kept waiting for well over half an hour for our transfer to arrive. It took another twenty minutes to fit our six suitcases into a limo, that obviously was not built for transferring six passengers plus six pieces of luggage. Once at the hotel, we were greeted by an extremely absentminded and unmotivated receptionist. She seemed in a hurry to check us in, and proceeded to 'show' us the hotel facilities from the lobby lounge armchair! Our hearts were already sinking.
After our haphazard check in, we were taken to our rooms. Room number 10xx and room number 10xx, to be precise. Waiting for us, laying on the corridor floor adjacent to our rooms, was a room service tray with half eaten food. First impression, hardly five star hotel ambiance! Once inside our rooms, which were not on the top floor as requested all the way back in February, but on the ground floor, our dissatisfaction deepened by the second. Neither of the rooms had wheel in beds, as originally requested. We were told that the hotel was not aware of this request. We were also told, that we must have made a mistake and not really requested a top floor room , as the hotel was not aware of this request either. Both rooms looked like they needed a thorough clean. As I proceeded to exit room 10xx onto the patio, I stumbles on an uneven tile while a large nail form the outdoor ceiling fan fell on my head. As I tried to access the adjacent room, 10xx, through the patio, I stepped into a gooey looking mess on the floor created by a liquid dripping from the above balcony. At this point I decided to call the reception and request to be moved to different rooms. First we were told that we could all be moved to the first floor. Then we were told that only one room could be moved, as the second room was 'out of order'. Fed up and annoyed, I walked back to the reception. The receptionist requested to view the 'evidence' for our unhappiness in person. Once she was satisfied that our complaints were legitimate, in her opinion, she walked off with the ceiling fan nail and told us that we could all either stay put and wait for both rooms to be ready, or, we could all initially move to one room, while the second room still needed to be serviced by housekeeping. We decided to wait for both rooms to be ready. This wait took further three hours. We found this wait to be preposterous.
After a long and frustrating day spent waiting rather than enjoying the holiday which we came for, we checked into rooms 10xx, on the ground floor, and 20xx on the first floor. We were in disbelief that it took three hours to prepare and clean the rooms to the standard we found these rooms in. At this point we decided to cut short our stay at the Ocean Club. Unfortunately, we could not change our tickets back to London for the next day, as the flight was full, and were forced to buy new tickets at the first available date for all six passengers, on July x-th. We informed a very ambivalent front desk of our decision. We were called three times to arrange a transfer for our new departure date.
We hoped for a nice dinner, which we booked during our long wait for our rooms, at the Dune restaurant, after this nightmarish first day at the Ocean Club. We were taken to our outdoor table which was long enough to seat ten people and had a token empty chair at the very end of it. Apart from one candle light at this long table, the six of us were in complete darkness. This is when the waiting game commenced all over again. Waiting for the menus, waiting for the bread, waiting for the water, to be honest I am getting tired and frustrated all over again just thinking about all this waiting again. We waited for well over an hour, for an extremely mediocre meal, including a burnt mini pizza and unfresh fish, terrible service, and this all in complete darkness with no ambiance, for the total price of over $400. Our frustration was overflowing at this point, but we had no energy left to voice this to the obviously very unprofessional and disinterested restaurant staff.
The first half, of our first full day at the Ocean Club, was spent at the beach. So far so good. If we only had the good sense to stay at the beach and not move to the pool. To say that the water at the pool is unclean, is an understatement. To say that the staff at the pool restaurant is unfriendly, unprofessional and devoid of an sense what constitutes descent service, is the understatement of the century! Amongst a number of dishes we ordered for our lunch, were two orders of plantain chips. We were brought one plate of about six individual chips knocking about. Once we enquired about the second plate we ordered, we were told that the kitchen ran out of plantain chips, as they had to be made fresh every day! When we commented that this should have been disclosed before a plate of six chips was being passed off as a full order, we were told to hold on. Some half an hour later, a further plate of six chips arrived, as 'complimentary, from the kitchen'. Looking at the grand total of five restaurant staff, taking care of us and another table of two, we decided that we would definitely have to look for another dinner option outside of this hotel. We proceeded to have dinner, both on July x-th and x-th, at the Nobu Atlantis. These were the only descent meals we had during our unexpectedly short holiday in the Bahamas.
As we checked out on July x-th, there was no apology, no excuses, no attempt at all to ameliorate an unhappy customer. The hotel deemed the deduction of the first night's dinner at the Dune restaurant as enough of an apology. Words like 'thank you', 'please', 'excuse me' and 'sorry', are not part of the dictionary of the One & Only Ocean Club staff. We find this to be a shame. It is a shame, because we genuinely enjoyed staying at the One & Only properties. We particularly enjoyed the exceptionally good service at the One & Only Palmilla. If you only had more employees, the likes of Ms. JE at the One & Only Palmilla! Unfortunately, our experience at the Ocean Club, not only destroyed our summer holiday of 2012, but also the hope that we will holiday again with what was until now our favourite hotel group.
Kind regards,
Ms. Z"
The polite reply, received on August 15th, 2012:
"Dear Ms. Z,
Thank you for your email regarding your recent stay and the One&Only Ocean Club. Only&Only strives to provide first class service and facilities, and we are disturbed to learn we fell short of your expectations.
Please accept our sincere apology for the many inconveniences and disappointments you have described. Rest assured, the concerns you mentioned involve situations, which are the exception and not the norm. Such are unacceptable as they are not in keeping with our usual first-class service and accommodations. Your comments will be further reviewed and corrective action taken as deemed appropriate.
There is no excuse for our inability to provide you with a comfortable and relaxing vacation time. Therefore, as a repeat and loyal guest of the One&Only brand, I would like to offer you a reimbursement to your credit card on file a total of $2,500 USD.
Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for all inconvenience caused. We would like to thank you for your continued patronage and One&Only looks forward to welcoming you back in the near future.
Sincerely,
Mr.X | General Manager | One&Only Ocean Club Bahamas
Direct : xxx-xxx-xxxx|www.oneandonlyresorts.com
TripAdvisor 2012 Certificate of Excellence Award
Travel+Leisure 500 Best Hotels 2012
Condé Nast Traveler Gold List Reader Survey 2012"
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