LCBR really disappointed me today

[JackD342]

i have been coming here for nearly 2 decades and have been a very vocal advocate for the place here and elsewhere for a very long time. In all that time, they have been nothing but the very epitome of professional, bending over backwards to do things right and make guests happy. We booked a trip back in May for this October. We had to shift the dates a little over a month ago, and as a result ended up with a pool view room. At that time, I asked the reservations group to let me know if any ocean front rooms came open. 11 days ago, I got a call that an ocean front room had come open, and I paid the extra cost to reserve it.

Today, we arrived, and at the front desk, they handed us papers with room 216 (oceanfront) on them, but were told “you are in room 211”. No mention that 211 was not an ocean front room, no explanation of why we were being moved to a pool view room. We checked in at the dive shop, tried to pay for something, were told “you are not checked in to 211 yet.” Went to go to the room and found our bags in front of 211, a pool view room. When we went back to the front desk to ask for an ocean front room that we had paid for, we were told that they didn’t have the authority without the manager onsite to make any changes. Obviously that is not true, because our paperwork was filled out with us in 216, but we were moved to 211. So somebody decided that somebody else needed the room more than we did, and took it away from us, and were too cowardly to even mention it to us when checking us in.

I have had a lot of good times here, have made it an annual trip for the last few years, and have recommended it to dozens of people. But some upcoming changes the current management team has been making, and this episode of extremely unprofessional conduct by their front desk team is very disturbing to me. The difference between the rooms is not really that big of a deal to me. What bugs the crap out of me though is that they didn’t communicate the change to me at all, gave no reason for why it happened, and made no offer to make it right. So now, instead of starting to relax into my vacation and unwinding from what has been a very stressful few weeks at work, instead I am laying here mad, my wife is stressed and unhappy, and it was all because somebody at the front desk decided to screw over a couple that has been coming here for many many years and had finally decided to spring for an ocean view room for the first time. Real buzzkill you know?

I will update tomorrow if they are able to fix it, but for right now, this may be the nudge we have needed to go try someplace else next year. Or maybe we will just try SCC instead.

First, I hope it all works out for you. Regardless, you can still choose to enjoy your time there "as is" rather than letting a relatively small thing spoil your week. I hope that is possible.

May I also suggest that you give them the benefit of the doubt? 12 days ago your reservation was for a pool view room, and then 11 days ago you were able to change to an ocean view. I think it is far more likely that the ball was dropped somewhere along the way on completing those changes, than that "the front desk" chose to switch you around and communicate nothing to you. You even say the shop saw two different reservations in the system. So maybe the person at the desk is not as skilled at understanding and resolving mix-ups as would be best for business, but my money is still on a mix-up and not a willful and intentional change to your reservation.

 

[AggieDiver]

I plan to Jack. If they come through tomorrow like I hope and expect that they do, I will absolutely come back and let everybody know how they took care of it correctly. If they don’t, then it still isn’t going to ruin our trip. We will just come back to our room with two queen beds instead of a king, and listen to all the bar noise out the window instead of sitting on our patio enjoying the breeze and be ever so slightly annoyed after a fantastic day of diving. It certainly isn’t the end of the world and is definitely a first world problem to have...but it just isn’t at all what I have come to expect from LCBR, so I am surprised that it happened the way that it did.

As for the possibility of a glitch, if they hadn’t already put the ocean front room on our papers before we got there and then scratched it out in front of me, I would have completely agreed with you. However, all of the bookings for LCBR go through a single agency and to my knowledge there is no way for a 3rd party or an algorithm to mistakenly double book a room like you frequently get through other online booking sources. Reef Fantaseas does one thing, and that is to book the Clearly Cayman Resorts, and I would be very surprised if they were the source of the error.

 

[bcaderunr]

Having been in the service industry for the past 25 years, I've come to learn that there is essentially no difference between MALICE and INCOMPETENCE. They both look the same to the customer. And both are equally inexcusable. Go as high up the food chain as you can and inform them of the situation. Remind them that you are merely a customer and that it is NOT your job to manage their operation for them. Go quietly back to you accommodations and await their response.

If they do anything less than bend over backwards to make you a completely satisfied guest, NEVER darken their doorstep again and please inform the rest of us so that we don't suffer a similar fate. In any case, thanks for sharing.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'd like to know what the front desk told you with regard to the fact that you had paid extra to get the ocean front room. Did the front desk tell you that it would be looked into today sorry tomorrow?

 

[chillyinCanada]

By the way, my guess is there weren't any guests in 216 but it wasn't cleaned yet.

I've had that experience before

 

[tridacna]

I’m not surprised by your experience in the dive shop. Sharon and her subordinate treat customers like unwelcome nuisances instead of revenue generating entities. The front-manager (Charlise?) is much better and should be able to resolve your issues.

 

[AggieDiver]

By the way, my guess is there weren't any guests in 216 but it wasn't cleaned yet.

I've had that experience before

Unfortunately, no. If it were only that simple. There were guests in the room when we walked by on the beach.

 

[Doctorfish]

My experience at LCBR in the past and recently has always been outstanding.
Mick the manager has gone out of his way to be of help in the past and Sharon is a gem. The food facilities and dive op are all first rate.

I would not have made a big deal out of this sort of minor glitch and certainly would not have let it ruin my holiday at the best dive island in the Caribbean. Somebody made a mistake. Best guess is that it was the booking office in Fla, the info may not have been transmitted to the resort and somebody else got the ocean view room.

The pool view rooms are modern, well equipped and spacious. The bar noise complained about pretty much ends by 9 PM. Just go out and enjoy Bloody Bay. Put the $800 you inadvertently saved towards your next dive trip.

 

[tkaelin]

They owe you an apology plus something financial, even is a small resort credit in addition to your refund

 

[Doctorfish]

I would be surprised if they don't do both.