My girl friend and I recently stayed at the Sandals Royal Caribbean from and unfortunately, we had a negative experience when we first arrived. When I originally booked this trip, I reserved the Royal Grande Luxe Beachfront room. Approximately a week before our trip, Tim from Sandals emailed and called me to tell me that we could upgrade our room to the Royal Honeymoon Luxury Beachfront Concierge Room for the length of our stay for $150. I told him that it was very important to us that the upgraded room was “beachfront” and had an “ocean view”. He assured me that it was. I asked if he was sure because “beachfront” and “ocean view” were our priority. He assured me again that it was. Well, it was not. The room overlooked the pool and was not even close to the beach. In fact, the only way you could see the beach or the ocean was to walk out on the balcony, hang your head over the rail and look 90 degrees to the right. I told the representative that this room was unacceptable and that we would like to have the Royal Grand Luxe Beachfront room that we had originally booked. They said that this room was unavailable. I asked to speak to the manager. After a very long delay, a manager finally came in. He repeated that this room was unavailable. After a very long, uncomfortable, stressful and frankly angry discussion, they “found” the room that we originally booked. I then asked for the upgrade charge to be refunded. The manager said that it was unrefundable. This is when I really got upset. We had now been there for over two hours, our hopes of getting on the beach the first day were gone. We had to fight to get the room that we originally booked and now I was told that after all of this, my $150 was not going to be refunded. I was so about to leave Sandals and go to the Ritz.
The manager offered to give me a $150 hotel credit. I said I just wanted a refund. They refused. We were at a standoff. I was upset. My girlfriend was upset. This was ruining our vacation. The manager finally said that he would “give” us concierge service in our room. This was not what I wanted, but I told him fine, just so we could end this unpleasantness. This really left a sour taste in our mouths for the rest of our time there. I wrote to the Sandals home office, hoping that they would do the right thing. They did not respond to my first letter at all. I wrote to them again and almost two months later they responded. They refused to do anything and the letter was very condescending. As a result, I will never go to a Sandals again. They are liars and thieves, plain and simple. Sandals...I hope you enjoy the $150 you stole from me. You have a new enemy.
The manager offered to give me a $150 hotel credit. I said I just wanted a refund. They refused. We were at a standoff. I was upset. My girlfriend was upset. This was ruining our vacation. The manager finally said that he would “give” us concierge service in our room. This was not what I wanted, but I told him fine, just so we could end this unpleasantness. This really left a sour taste in our mouths for the rest of our time there. I wrote to the Sandals home office, hoping that they would do the right thing. They did not respond to my first letter at all. I wrote to them again and almost two months later they responded. They refused to do anything and the letter was very condescending. As a result, I will never go to a Sandals again. They are liars and thieves, plain and simple. Sandals...I hope you enjoy the $150 you stole from me. You have a new enemy.
