Finally made it, almost!
Trip Start
Jul 04, 2009
1
3
10
Trip End
Jul 19, 2009
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Sunday, July 5, 2009
I had searched the resort and one particular room was often mentioned as the best one. I had booked 4 weeks last minute with Red Tag but stumbled on a call center in India; not that I'm racist, but the receptionist, neither kind nor understanding,(barely understandable for that matter!) was not inclined to put my requested room on the invoice. Since we arrived by 11am and the maids take their sweet time to clean
the rooms, our shuttle group is told all of our rooms would not be ready before 3pm
and we were ushered to the resort's amenities, for us to enjoy. We were
asked to return to check in periodically to see if our rooms were ready. Hot as hell with long pants on, I go to the buffet for lunch then crash a cute loveseat in the court yard. Sweat invaded my clothes so I start looking for air condition and landed in the lobby, I decided to check in to see if my room was ready as many of the shuttle group were given their keys. Little I knew my request established a full blown brawl. The attendants in the lobby did not want to give me the room stating it was located in the cheaper part of the resort and my reservation located in the upgraded part. My "file" started to go from hand to hand, receptionist to manager, everyone scratching their heads...including me. It felt as if I had requested Donald's Trump bachelor pad or something!
By 3pm, I was left alone in the lobby, everyone else had gone to their dispatched rooms except me. I was tired, hot and thirsty and soaked up in sweat and began easily to get frustrated, my kind polite tone of voice towards the attendant went up a few notches. By 3:45pm, still no room, being passed on by new comers, I walked for the last time to the desk and gave them a stern choice; either give me a room RIGHT NOW or give me a full refund and call me a taxi to the airport to return home.......almost 5 hours after arrival and no room had taken a toll on my attitude. Finally, I was offered an upgraded suite in the brand new building without extra charge, but the maid had YET to finish cleaning it.
From here on, I only wish there were a video shooting the scene; I said "yes thank you" grabbed the key from the attendant's hand, who was on the phone speaking Spanish to the maid asking how much longer. I could not have care less, I was beyond impatient, I was on my way to the room number, the porter running behind me to catch up with me. The door was opened, there was a mop bucket in the entry of the room, which I rolled out swiftly, pointed the way out to the maid, grabbed my luggage from the porter, no tip, and closed the door shut. I didn't think any of them deserved "respect" for I checked in at 11am and forced myself into m y room by 5pm.
Later that evening, I returned to the lobby to give an apology to the front desk.
