Harborside Power Outage

[conkyjoe]

Hopefully tropical storm Bertha will stay well away from Nassau. It just passed St. John at about 3PM today.

 

[Klynnn103435]

I just returned from Harborside. Not a good scene. The plan is to make everyone negotiate individually for compensation rather than offer everyone the basics. Then in the end everyone received the same offer (a few nights, meals, and documented expenses). Why make people wait for hours, go through the timeshare switch, and waste more time for what seems to be basic Hospitality 101. This has been a very disappointing experience.

 

[suzannesimon]

When did they get the power back on? Yesterday?

 

[AZcardMD]

Similar experience at Harborside

My family and I also stayed at Harborside this past week, and found that the power outage was not handled in a competent manner. Most of the frustration came from a lack of communication on the part of Harborside managment and an apparent lack of planning. Many hours were spent waiting in line and moving luggage from one place to another.

After spending one night (7/29) completely in the dark, we were told the next morning to go about our business and that power would be restored when we returned to out villa that afternoon.

When we returned to the resort that afternoon (7/30) there was no power in our villa. We found the lobby to be chaotic, and waited nearly 3 hours to be reassigned to a room at the Reef. We were told to just pack a few things for overnight and that when we returned the next day we would have power. Well, the next afternoon (7/31) came and still no power and then we had to go through the same process again of being assigned yet another room and checking into the Reef.

Since we were leaving for home 8/2 I asked about just booking us for the rest of the stay to avoid the pack and unpack exercise again I was told no, to call the manager in the am to see to see what the plan for the day was. I explained that we had an all day boat trip for the next day and would be on the boat when the manager arrived in the am we were then told that we should leave the bags in our room at the Reef and that a late checkout would be arranged at 6pm! When I explained this to the front desk at the Reef, the front desk person agreed that this was not a good plan and called the Harborside and did extend us til our departure day (finally someone to help).

We did check out this am (power still not restored in our villa), were given a small credit to our bill for groceries that we purchased and spoiled and for miscellaneous items. We were also told to call Starwood next week and that we should receive something from them as well. Will see.

 

[LisaRex]

Wow! Very disappointing, to say the least.

 

[suzannesimon]

So there is still no power at Harborside? Are they putting all the new check -ins at the Reef?

 

[AZcardMD]

As of yesterday am power still off in building 6. We were talking to someone at the Reef that arrived on Friday, he was put into the Reef for the week. So I am guessing they plan on being having to move some.

 

[SueDonJ]

It's good to finally see an acknowledgement on the Facebook page linked earlier in this thread.
https://www.facebook.com/StarwoodVacationNetwork

 

[BJRSanDiego]

I wonder what's in the owner update email to which they referred. Just curious.

 

[suzannesimon]

I'm an owner and I didn't receive any update.

 

[suzannesimon]

FINALLY - an informative post on Facebook from Starwood:

Starwood Vacation Network Joshua Boehringer, Suzanne Snyder Simon and Bruce, Please see below: On the evening of July 29, 2014, Harborside Resort at Atlantis experienced a power outage to buildings in Phase II. As initial efforts to restore power were unsuccessful, the Resort Team facilitated alternate accommodations at Atlantis’ Reef and Cove for the night of July 30, 2014.

On Thursday, July 31, 2014, the Resort Team acquired the needed components to make the necessary repairs and restore power to the impacted villas. A complimentary barbecue was provided at the pool and the power was restored by 5:30pm to all buildings except one. Relocation arrangements were made for any in-house or arriving owners assigned to the impacted building.

In addition to providing alternative accommodations, the resort also provided compensation for replacement of grocery items and partnered with Starwood Vacation Ownership, Owner Services, to provide StarOption refunds for the affected nights based upon the villa type reserved.

On behalf of the management and staff at the Harborside Resort and Starwood Vacation Ownership, we extend our sincere apologies and appreciation for our owners‘ and guests‘ patience during the unfortunate circumstance.
30 minutes ago · Like

 

[DeniseM]

Based on the posts above, this isn't true:

On Thursday, July 31, 2014, the Resort Team acquired the needed components to make the necessary repairs and restore power to the impacted villas.

 

[BJRSanDiego]

Based on the posts above, this isn't true:

Well, if you exclude the last building without power, maybe it would be. :hysterical:

"So, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think about the rest of the play?"... :rofl:

 

[Henry M.]

Based on the posts above, this isn't true:

They said:

" ... power was restored by 5:30pm to all buildings except one."

Maybe the poster above was in that last building.

 

[DeniseM]

They said:

" ... power was restored by 5:30pm to all buildings except one."

Maybe the poster above was in that last building.

Good catch - I missed that line.

 

[twinmommy19]

Wow - being that this happened smack in the middle of the week (assume most reservations are Fri / Sat / Sun check ins) the owners in the one building that didn't get power back on 7/31, were lucky. It's bad enough having to pack up and move locations once on your trip, but twice? No thanks. Plus those without power longer will get more compensation for the trouble (more days of refund).

IMO Starwood really dropped the ball here. What they really should have done is moved all impacted guests to the Reef, Cove or Royal Towers on July 30th and immediately given them ALL the option to stay there for the duration of their trip (bad enough to be inconvenienced once). All impacted guests should have been given a free laundry service at the hotel and been placed on their casual dining plan for free for the duration of the trip to make up for the loss of kitchen and laundry facilities. By doing this, the unsettled experience would have been limited to one day and it would have been perfectly reasonable to only reimburse the night of the 29th. Instead, many guests had no power on the night of the 29th (must have been so hot without power BTW), moved over to the hotel on the 30th, back to Harborside the 31st and then checked out a day or so later. Ridiculous - that's not a vacation. I'd argue that even though guests regained access to their kitchen on the 31st, who wants to go back to the grocery store and restock a supply of food when you are checking out in a day or so?

 

[Joshadelic]

We ended up staying at The Reef until checkout time on Sunday. We had another 4 days reserved at Harborside and when we checked in we were told that the management would be discussing compensation with guests individually. I take that to mean that they try to low-ball everyone and see how much they complain before offering them something more. We ended up settling on about $550.00 in compensation - which I don't think is nearly enough. The way they arrived at that figure was taking the amount of money we spend on groceries ($300 or so), plus a $200-ish meal at Carmines and 2 days of internet access. I think we'll need to contact Starwood after we return home on Friday.

 

[DeniseM]

Hi Josh - Didn't you have other meals that you had to buy when you were out of Harborside unit?

 

[Passepartout]

This is all too reminiscent of the Carnival cruise ship that lost power, air cond, water purification, toilet operation, and had to be towed to port. I understand that this loss of power was on land, and that it was not a life threatening situation, but the Carnival passengers got Thou$and$ and a replacement cruise whenever they chose to book one on Carnival.

I would think that Starwood would reconsider low balling the affected guests.

Your MF at work.

Jim

 

[suzannesimon]

Who do you think will pay for the restitution?

 

[SueDonJ]

We ended up staying at The Reef until checkout time on Sunday. We had another 4 days reserved at Harborside and when we checked in we were told that the management would be discussing compensation with guests individually. I take that to mean that they try to low-ball everyone and see how much they complain before offering them something more. We ended up settling on about $550.00 in compensation - which I don't think is nearly enough. The way they arrived at that figure was taking the amount of money we spend on groceries ($300 or so), plus a $200-ish meal at Carmines and 2 days of internet access. I think we'll need to contact Starwood after we return home on Friday.

The thing that makes this so bad is that the resort personnel were completely unprepared to handle the guest relations aspect and they apparently didn't have any specific direction from management. Even if they couldn't have pacified every guest all the way through the disruption, the onsite personnel certainly should have been much more empathetic to the guests' predicaments and management should have been much more proactive with supporting the onsite staffs' re-lodging efforts of the affected guests. Plus, this wasn't just an inconvenience - the nasty sewage is a health issue and having no electricity is a safety issue. Starwood needs to be held to a compensation package that will make them react much more positively the next time a resort is faced with such a major problem.

I sure would be contacting them! With something as bad as this I'd start with a compensation package that's enough to cover a complete re-booking of the vacation that you were expecting to be able to enjoy. They'd no doubt try to whittle it down but I wouldn't give it up without a fight.

Boy, I must sound like a major shrew! Honestly, I think I'm pretty easy-going and don't complain about much, not even the 4AM fire alarm that had us milling around in the ground floor parking area for 55 minutes during a wild thunderstorm on Hilton Head, with the fire department all around us and not a resort rep in sight! But I didn't feel unsafe there and I didn't see the resort personnel sitting on their keisters doing nothing - later on that day we learned that the few of them onsite at 4AM were busy directing the fire department to the main infrastructure controls, and upstairs using master keys to open the units that hadn't responded to the alarms. What you described happening at Harborside appears to have been a major problem coupled with a completely inept staff - that combination is simply not acceptable.

 

[SueDonJ]

Who do you think will pay for the restitution?

I would expect it to come from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., out of the profits they earn serving as the management company for Harborside. Sure, those profits effectively come from the MF's paid by owners, but there's no reason why this has to cost the owners additional money. Starwood's profits are probably like Marriott's - astronomical - and to be genuinely hurt economically they'd have to pay out a whole lot more than it would take to make these affected owners whole.

 

[Passepartout]

I would expect it to come from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., out of the profits they earn serving as the management company for Harborside. Sure, those profits effectively come from the MF's paid by owners, but there's no reason why this has to cost the owners additional money. Starwood's profits are probably like Marriott's - astronomical - and to be genuinely hurt economically they'd have to pay out a whole lot more than it would take to make these affected owners whole.

HA! Sorry Susan, but this statement proves that Fantasyland is not just at Disney.

Watch your financial statements. I'll make a small side wager that there will a line item of the payout and/or an assessment to cover payouts to Harborside guests.

Starwood's profits (I betcha) are exempt. This won't cost the suits or shareholders a dime.

Jim

 

[suzannesimon]

I can see the repairs coming from maintenance fees and restitution from Starwood. For the life of me I can't imagine why they don't have a generator in a hotel in the hurricane zone. Do you think this could have happened in the other Atlantis hotels?

 

[SueDonJ]

HA! Sorry Susan, but this statement proves that Fantasyland is not just at Disney.

Watch your financial statements. I'll make a small side wager that there will a line item of the payout and/or an assessment to cover payouts to Harborside guests.

Starwood's profits (I betcha) are exempt. This won't cost the suits or shareholders a dime.

Jim

We'll have to agree to disagree, Jim. But it's not my financial statement - I'm not an owner there. I posted so that the owners/guests who were impacted would know there are others in agreement with them that they deserve compensation, and so that Harborside owners would know that they should watch their budget statements next year to make sure that they're not held financially liable for any compensation.

I'm not living in Fantasyland and resent a little bit that you feel like you can belittle me that way. The governing docs should stipulate the responsibilities of the Management Company as well as the repercussions if those responsibilities aren't met. Starwood is a big, successful timeshare developer/manager. They're not stupid, and I find it very hard to believe that their leadership team or board supports the way this mess was handled. But besides their legal standing, they live and die through public opinion. They're not going to jeopardize their reputation by ignoring reasonable demands for compensation, not when the required scheduled MF audits will eventually prove if they try to put the financial burden on the resort ownership. Really, making these affected owners/guests whole again financially is a drop in the bucket compared to how much they would be harmed by handling it poorly.