Q: My friend and I prepaid for two nights at the Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino in the Bahamas through Travelocity.
On our second night, someone came into our 7th floor room through the sliding glass door to the balcony while we were sleeping. He took all of our money, some jewelry and a cell phone.
After more than three hours of interviews by police and hotel security, I told the manager that we didn’t have any money and asked for help. He provided a voucher for breakfast and a cab to the airport.
I asked about dinner, and he said, “You have breakfast, go enjoy it.”
To add insult to injury, we were charged a $15-a-night resort fee. We were not told about the fee by Travelocity when we booked the trip or by the hotel when we checked in.
My friend and I still can’t believe this happened to us. The trip that we had planned for such a long time ended up being a terrifying event.
— NANCY MILLER
A: It doesn’t get much worse than this. First the robber took your belongings, and then the hotel charged a surprise “resort fee.”
And never mind the fact that the Wyndham sent you to bed hungry on the last night of your vacation. That’s just shameful.
The hotel has a responsibility to protect its guests from outside threats, and it should have done better. It also failed you by subjecting you to a morning of interviews and then offering you inadequate assistance.
But you let yourself down, too. Any time you travel abroad you should familiarize yourself with the security risks. The State Department’s report on the Bahamas warns: “Hotel guests should always lock their doors and should never leave valuables unattended, especially on beaches” and advises leaving papers and valuables in hotel safes.
You were traveling with a lot of cash. Credit cards are far easier to replace when they’re stolen. You should only carry enough cash for tipping and incidentals. You also should have used the hotel safe for your valuables.
Travelocity should have told you about the resort fee.
A competent travel professional could have steered you to a safer property. In fairness to Travelocity, it is working on offering better advice. But it hasn’t quite figured out how to replace a person — yet.
I contacted Travelocity and Wyndham. Travelocity promptly refunded the resort fee. The operator of the Wyndham property, Cable Beach Resorts, has referred your case to its insurance adjusters. In a letter to you, Andrew HeLal, vice president of operations, acknowledged that ”the manner in which our manager on duty responded to your situation failed to meet your expectations.” He said ”corrective action” had been taken, but offered no specifics.
As a “gesture of goodwill,” HeLal invited you to return to the Wyndham for two free nights.
Source: www.miami.com
