Who Should I Address My Complaint to about Royal Hacienda Manager/trade with Hyatt.

[pizzagirl]

Hi. I used some of my Hyatt points to trade with II for two weeks at Royal Hacienda in Mexico. I got the two weeks for my daughter and her new husband for their honeymoon. I purchased the two guest certificates, did everything by the book. When they first checked in, the desk person told them that they would have to move to a new unit the second week even though he tried to keep them in the same unit. (no big deal). On the day of the "move", they called the desk and were told to be in their unit by 11 am and a belllman would come to move them to the new building/unit. Starting at 10:30 am they began to wait. At noon they called the desk and were told someobody would be right up. At 1 pm the manager showed up, asking why their name was different than the reservation. My daughter informed him, the name he was aking about was her father's, that she had a guest certificate (acutally two of them, one for each week), and had given it to the front desk person when he was trying to find them a unit they could stay in for two straight weeks. The manager then demanded to know where her "letter" from her father was, giving her permission to be there. She told him she had so no such letter, only the guest certificate. He stomped off saying "this is the problem!". A little later a bellman came, took them to the LOBBY of the hotel, and told them to wait there, that their room was not ready. As they sat there for several hours, many people came to check in (early) and were taken directly to their unit. When they were finally taken to their unit, it was not very clean and my daughter ended up cleaning up the kitchen rather than complain (I guess she felt she was already in enough trouble). My daughter and her husband are both 24 years old. We had the guest certificate. She did not need any letter of permission from her father!! This is not the way I would expect a five star resort trading with Hyatt, to treat somebody. I want to bring this to upper management's attention. Any suggestions where to start or how to go about this would be appreciated.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

Outrageous! In my view, you should complain to II and the hotel. II has responsibility for listing quality resorts that honor the rules of II participation. I think you should demand compensation for your daughter's problems. You pay dues to II for service. You didn't get the service your entitled to get. You might demand a "comp" week at a location of your choice.

 

[Dave M]

I'm not sure that anything out of the ordinary happened other than some poor communication. Obviously, since the resort put them in a unit for the second week, the resort was able to locate the guest certificate that your daughter said she had given to the front desk or otherwise resolve that issue. Those types of confusion issues are not unusual and this one was successfully resolved.

As for the delay in getting to the new unit, I don't believe that was at all unusual. Unless there were some vacancies during the first week, all units, including the one the couple would move to, had to be cleaned after the occupants departed by 10:30. It's pretty much standard in the timeshare industry that departing guests must check out by about 10:00 or 10:30 and new occupants generally won't have access to their units until after about 4:00. That applied to your daughter since the resort apparently couldn't give them the same unit for two straight weeks. (And there are a variety of legitimate reasons why two straight weeks in one unit might not be practical.)

And yes, it makes sense that other people arriving might well get into their units that second week before the honeymooners. It seems apparent that the couple’s unit wasn’t yet cleaned, but some other units were ready. It often happens to me that when I arrive at a resort, my unit isn’t ready for occupancy while later arriving guests are allowed to check into and occupy their units.

Lastly, it does happen occasionally that timeshare units are not properly cleaned before occupants move in, just as it happens with hotel rooms. The couple should have complained. The resort can’t do anything about such a problem if no one complains.

Thus, the front desk and the "manager" did a poor job of communicating to the couple what would happen or what might happen. Other than that, I don't see a problem. I certainly don't see enough of a problem to warrant any compensation. Further, if compensation were warranted, it should come from the resort and should have been addressed to local management by the couple before they checked out and left the resort. Such potential compensation issues almost never meet with success if no formal complaint is filed while the aggrieved occupants are still onsite.

If you are going to complain, do so to the resort. But don't expect much satisfaction.

 

[Bill4728]

To me the biggest complaint would have been waiting around all day with my things.

I'd have called for the bellman. Had him take the things and then I'd have left. Coming back much later. I would have never sat around all day waiting to move to the new room!!

 

[sandcastles]

I can't think of any TS I have stayed in when there hasn't been priority given to guests moving from one unit to another. I have usually been able to stay in my unit until the new unit is ready.

I own HGVC affiliates on Sanibel and Captiva. Even going to a completely different sister resort they let me stay in my unit until the other is ready. They do all the coordinating between the two resorts.

I would think that it would be a simple thing to do a change in the same resort.

 

[jerseygirl]

And the rude behavior in the unit was completely out of line. I don't know whether compensation is owed (they ultimately got the unit), but an apology is certainly in order.

 

[pgnewarkboy]

I agree that they were unbelievably rude. That is part of what makes me angry just reading this post. They treated adults like children simply because they were young. I don't think they believed them and treated them like dirt. These young people were basically ignored.

Certainly, at a minimum, there must be an apology. An apology, does not make up, however, for a lost day of vacation. People work hard to get their vacations. They take time off and make changes in their lives. Vacations are anticipated with great expectations.

Granted, some things such as weather are out of the control of the resort. If you come to early, you wait for your room. Sometimes things break and need to be fixed and they take time. When you travel glitches are par of the game but bad attitude by employees is not one of those things.

Sometimes at a restaurant, the kitchen gets too busy. I don't mind waiting if it is explained to me. Someone should have told these young people that there was a problem, the nature of the problem, how it would be fixed, and what they could do to help them in the meantime. The resort should have offered to watch their luggage and perhaps call their cellphone when the room was ready.

These resorts will not get better unless they hear from people like us when they do the wrong thing. This forum is great because we have the opportunity to spread the word and write reviews. The exchange companies and the resorts must also hear from us directly when we are treated poorly - or well for that matter.

I received excellent service above and beyond the call of duty at the Hyatt Wild Oaks near San Antonio. I posted my experience here, wrote a letter to the managment, and gave a gift to the person that helped me. Feedback both positive and negative is essential.

 

[pizzagirl]

I am not seeking any compensation. I do believe the manager was out of line in demanding a "letter of permission" from my daughter. As they are young and have not been guests like this before, I am sure that is why they did not complain at the time although they were disgusted.

I do want somebody in upper management to be aware of the way they were treated though. We have also stayed two weeks back to back, have had to move, and it was an easy transfer. We were never sent to sit in a hotel lobby for hours on end. So no.....I don't agree that this is to be "expected".

Thank you for those who responded with some favorable suggestions. As I said, I am not seeking any kind of compensation but an apology would not be too much to ask.