What to expect as restitution?

[Jonathan Freinkel]

I just got home from my honeymoon and man am I disappointed.

We went to a resort in Cancun and it was far from cheap and it did not live up to expectations.

my main problems were:
1. I don't like being panhandled for spa treatments while sleeping on the beech.
2. 3 times the concierge made reservations for dinner and when we got there...they didn't exist
3. 7am weedwacker a every day
4. Could hear the toilets being flushed in any unit up to 3 doors away at any time.

I know these sound minor and if it was under $200 a night I would bite my tongue. My issue is it was far more. Let's just say I could buy a good few powermatic tools for the same $$

i confronted the desk staff and their ability to speak English suddenly disappeared. I escalated it but haven't heard back.
Monday I plan to talk to the travel agent.

The real question- what would be acceptable restitution? I go between reduce the cost to $200 a night on one end and send my wife flowers with an apology note not the other.

[Bruce Pratt]

go with the flowers...

[Bert Kemp]

Hey thats the way it is in Cancun its a tourist trap and its Mexico. Couple yrs ago I got a really nice Codo for a week just off shore on Isla Mujere's $500 for the week We rented scooters $10 a day, Nice dinner in the villa each night cheap. Pretty laid back no pan handlers, it was awesome.

[Mike Henderson]

Congratulations on your wedding! Other than the issues you mentioned, I hope it was a good honeymoon.

Mike

[Matt Day]

Congrats on the wedding!

I had a great time in Cancun - it's not all tourist traps as said above. There are a lot of very nice places and service.

As far as restitution, tough call. Free stay I would think but you might not want that! Credit would be nice, maybe 1/2 the cost of your stay or something. I dunno.

[Mike McCann]

Congrats on the wedding but I do not think you will get anything. if at the resturaunts you got seated then nothing, as far as asking for spa treaments nothing you can do about that. if you wnet through a travel agent that is who i would be upset with. they should have known about the thin walls with the flushing.

[Frederick Skelly]

Congrats on the wedding but I do not think you will get anything. if at the resturaunts you got seated then nothing, as far as asking for spa treaments nothing you can do about that. if you wnet through a travel agent that is who i would be upset with. they should have known about the thin walls with the flushing.

First off, congratulations Jonathan!

As far as "restitution", I agree with Mike on all points.

Your travel agent SHOULD HAVE been able to place you in a good hotel. He/she should be sending your wife flowers for that foul up.

[Pat Barry]

Your travel agent SHOULD HAVE been able to place you in a good hotel. He/she should be sending your wife flowers for that foul up.

Are folks really still using travel agents? With everything on the internet? Why?

[Wade Lippman]

Are folks really still using travel agents? With everything on the internet? Why?

I used a travel agent once in the last 30 years, to book our 25th anniversary trip to Alaska. I am certain it was a better trip than I could have done myself. All the little details were done wonderfully.

But back to the restitution. My previous experience with a travel agent (31 years ago to Saint Thomas) was much worse than yours. It never even occurred to me to complain to the travel agent; I just never used him again. I suppose he would agree to send flowers, but is it worth the trouble?

[Scott Shepherd]

This is what's wrong with society today. If something is not up to someone's expectations they think they deserve or are entitled to "restitution". I say tough luck on the bad experience, but get over it and move on.

Seriously? How's that? The expectations are set by the people selling you the travel. What you sold me and what I got aren't the same thing, and you're supposed to just say "oh well?". I don't agree with that all. I think it's our responsibility as consumers to raise poor experiences as well as great experiences. It's what makes people fix poor customer service. Do you think that if no one ever complained about anything, then service would magically rise to the top tier? Service gets better because people show the shortcomings in their systems. The good companies listen and address them, the poor companies don't.

If you ordered chicken off a menu at a restaurant and you cut into it and it was raw inside, would you complain or just say "tough luck on the bad experience" and watch your wife eat her dinner while you sat with nothing (and paid for the chicken)? Of course you wouldn't. You'd complain to the waitstaff about it. That's the same thing he's doing. Except in this case, he complained to the staff and they refused to resolve it.

[Frederick Skelly]

Are folks really still using travel agents? With everything on the internet? Why?

We still have then around here. I havent used one in ages, but some folks do - mostly to gain the benefit of their knowledge of a particlar hotel, resort, etc. (Me? I do my own research. But thats just me.)

[Mike Henderson]

Go on TripAdvisor and leave a review. It'll help someone else. I use TripAdvisor often to find hotels and have found the reviews to be pretty accurate, in the aggregate.

Mike

[Brian Elfert]

When exactly is the lawn crew supposed to do their work? If they didn't trim the weeds then you would be complaining about the poor landscaping. In hot climates outdoor work is typically done early in the day because it is too hot later in the day to do the work.

Did the resort have a private beach? If it was a public beach would the resort even have the right to remove bums from the beach?

[Jim Matthews]

http://www.cntraveler.com/contributors/eric-jordan

Write to the Conde Nast Ombudsman.
They love ruined vacations.

It gives them a fresh target to write about.

Perhaps you send a draft of the letter you intend
to write to the Hotel manager, first.

Ask for cash, unless you want to return to see if they've made improvements...

[Mike Henderson]

When exactly is the lawn crew supposed to do their work? If they didn't trim the weeds then you would be complaining about the poor landscaping. In hot climates outdoor work is typically done early in the day because it is too hot later in the day to do the work.

If that's true, I would expect the resort to tell people that the lawn crew starts work at 7am - and tell them before they made the reservation. If they did that, then you wouldn't have a right to complain.

But when you go to a resort, you don't expect to have reveille (like they do in the military) at 7am every day. People like to sleep late when they're on vacation, and that's not unreasonable.

Mike