Fantasy Island

[lionfish-eater]

Has anyone taken Rich up on his offer to provide proof of payment, or did all of you just buy his story and accept the "free upgrade" at the new resort? Is Rich really booking for the new place? I wonder how many of FI's bookings he promised them? Don't confuse his generosity with robbing peter to pay paul. The resort should honor all paid reservations and then sue Rich's company for theft and damaging their reputation.

I was at FI at a time Rich was there. He had a very ugly incident with another guest. He was very unprofessional and escalated the situation. I do not give him the "benefit of the doubt".


Cajuncru Very sorry to hear about your situation. We all know how much you loved the place. Please reconsider your future with FI as you are their greatest cheerleader. You would make a great agent yourself. Remember the guys in the dive shop are who really matter.

 

[farsidefan1]

Any of you who frequent this board know that I have been Fantasy Island Resort's most loyal customer and supporter for years now. We have been to Fantasy Island so many times that I quit counting, but it has been at least three or four times a year for the past several years. We were there before the property was leased to Privilege Hotels, we were there DURING the tenure of the Privilege Hotels team and we have been there twice since the owner took the resort back on November 1st.

I love the place so much that I decided it would be fun to work with Fantasy Dive Travel answering the telephone and talking to people about a place I dearly loved...and it was a blast! Unfortunately it was very short-lived. When Fantasy Dive Travel stopped representing Fantasy Island Resort, I chose to end my brief stint as a booking agent.

While I will not discuss private matters between two businesses that are clearly at odds, I will certainly share the fact that I don't think anybody has been more severely affected by this nightmare than me. I have been planning a big "Birthday Bash" for my husband's 70th birthday for the past 9 months. I recruited our dive buddies to join us at Fantasy Island for a great time. They willingly jumped in and paid to book at Fantasy Island. I paid for our kids and grandkids to fly down to Roatan with us. They wanted to see the place we love so much and meet the friends we love so dearly. They saved every penny they could scratch together to pay their share of the resort cost. I booked for all of us and we paid THOUSANDS of dollars well in advance for this grand celebration.

For the past nine months our family has been eagerly anticipating this trip. Last weekend we all spent the weekend at our local dive shop so six of them could become the newest and next generation of divers in our family. The excitement level was so high and we were all so happy. Then came this week. After years of what I thought was a great relationship with Fantasy Island, I received a telephone call notifying me that our reservations would not be honored. There is no way to describe what I have been through since that time…the shock is impossible to describe and I won’t even try.

I have imagined every possible scenario for trying to make sure our family and friends are taken care of. Since I feel responsible for getting them there in the first place, I’m thinking we’re going to have to fork over the entire cost of a trip for 16 people – I had no idea what to do. Our birthday celebration quickly turned into a nightmare. All I can say is that Rich Henry and Fantasy Dive Travel have come through in a big way. Not only did he re-book us at another resort, it is a phenomenal, brand new facility called Media Luna that I have wanted to visit for a long time. Every time we went to dive Calvin’s Crack on the East end of the island we would go by this awesome place that was in the midst of construction and I’d always comment that I wanted to go there some day. Well, it looks like my wish is finally coming true. Rich sent confirmations to us this morning and we will all be experiencing a new place together. The most amazing part is that he is doing this at no additional cost to us, and my understanding is that he is doing the same for every other customer who is affected by Fantasy Island’s refusal to accommodate them.

It’s not exactly the trip we were expecting, but somehow I believe it will be so much more. Rich has been quite a stand-up guy through this whole nightmare and he has really saved the day for us. I cannot find the words to express the extreme gratitude I feel toward Rich for saving us from being kicked to the curb. Anybody who says he is not doing his absolute best to salvage an unimaginable situation is not telling the truth. I really do not want to get involved in any of this other than to relate my own personal experience, so there it is.

‘Diva

If the money never made it to FI I can understand them not honoring the reservations And I'm not sure our assumption that FI should honor commitments make by their agent is law in Honuras. I doubt Henry is paying all costs for you and 16 guests out of his own pocket. That money is the money you already paid. I can understand your loyalty as you worked with him but to me it appears that his keeping the money is the reason your reservations are not being honored.. I have no horse in the race. That is just my guess from what you have presented. I just have a difficult time believeing that Henry, out of his own pocket, "in order to make things right" is paying for some 100 guests that have been affected to stay at another resort (Sounding like a $50,000. dollar hit). Sorry, this is difficult for me to swallow. I have stayed at Fantasy Island and enjoyed it, but usually I go to another close by resort. I hope you and your family have a great time.

 

[CajunDiva]

Cajuncru Very sorry to hear about your situation. We all know how much you loved the place. Please reconsider your future with FI as you are their greatest cheerleader. You would make a great agent yourself. Remember the guys in the dive shop are who really matter.

Thank you for the kind words. Trust me when I tell you that the guys in the dive shop are uppermost in our minds at all times. We love those guys and want nothing but the best for them. They are like family to us and I pray that they will have a long and happy professional life at Fantasy Island.

We also love the resort. Yes, there are a few glitches here and there, but as long as the price is kept low enough to compensate for them it is definitely worthwhile. You are correct...I have been their greatest cheerleader for a very long time and I meant every word I said. Fantasy Island has been a part of our lives for the past 10 years and we have created memories there that will last a lifetime.

As for the future...trust is crucial, and we just don't have it. But we will always maintain our love for our dear friends and our great memories.

 

[herbdb]

We spent a week at FIBR in Dec and had a great time, but I won't book with them again after this incident. If they have a problem with their booking agent that is their problem and they need to solve it without putting guests in the middle.

What they are doing is just wrong and a really stupid business decision. Coco View is right across the channel. I'll look there next time.

 

[BDSC]

If the money never made it to FI I can understand them not honoring the reservations And I'm not sure our assumption that FI should honor commitments make by their agent is law in Honuras. I doubt Henry is paying all costs for you and 16 guests out of his own pocket. That money is the money you already paid. I can understand your loyalty as you worked with him but to me it appears that his keeping the money is the reason your reservations are not being honored.. I have no horse in the race. That is just my guess from what you have presented. I just have a difficult time believeing that Henry, out of his own pocket, "in order to make things right" is paying for some 100 guests that have been affected to stay at another resort. Sorry, this is difficult for me to swallow. I have stayed at Fantasy Island but usually I go to another close by resort. I hope you and your family have a great time.

I'm right there with you on this one. It just makes no sense at all that if the resort (FI) was paid their money in full from Rich, that they would all of a sudden decide not to honor the reservations. It just doesn't add up.

I know at one time FI was offering some really incredible deals to go there. I remember seeing the deals at the 2010 BTS expo. Their prices were well below what others were charging. But from what I have read a lot of improvements are being or have been made to the place. I also have read that the price was going to have to go up. So I wonder if Rich was still selling these spots at an old reduced rate to get lots of folks to sign up. Maybe he was told to start charging $ABC but kept charging $XYZ. That would sort of make sense if the resort was saying that folks needed to pay an additional $500 each.

 

[flareside]

... If they have a problem with their booking agent that is their problem and they need to solve it without putting guests in the middle.

What they are doing is just wrong and a really stupid business decision...

So what you are saying is that TI should continue to put up guests without getting paid(*) for it? Would you consider putting up guests and letting someone else keep the money(*) a 'smart' business decision?

(*) assuming that's the case here as we really don't know the whole story.

 

[herbdb]

If I was in the position of having a problem with a contracted booking agent, I would fire them, honor the bookings and take action against the agent. Putting guests in the middle is short sighted and will likely hurt them in the long run.

Trust is a fragile thing. Most of us sacrifice for our dive trips, we are not going to take a chance on someone who does not honor bookings that were paid in full. A disagreement between agents and resorts should stay between them.

 

[CajunDiva]

Trust is a fragile thing. Most of us sacrifice for our dive trips, we are not going to take a chance on someone who does not honor bookings that were paid in full. A disagreement between agents and resorts should stay between them.

AMEN! You have summed up this whole situation in a nutshell...I applaud your wisdom.

I completely agree with your comment that trust is a fragile thing. It seems that others are quick to speculate or rush to judgement when they actually have NO CLUE about the facts. That is unfortunate, but we are all human.

I have been very open and honest about my feelings about Fantasy Island Resort and the employees who work there. Everybody knows I love them dearly. I think it is time I was also open and honest about something else...Rich Henry. I don't think many of you know much about him and I want to make sure and set the record straight about the kind of guy he is. First of all, he will be VERY unhappy when he reads this. He doesn't like it when people brag about him and he certainly doesn't do it himself, so most people don't realize what a great guy he is.

Rich has been involved with the dive industry for quite some time. He has sat on two DEMA sub-committees to promote positive marketing in the industry. He has received three Core Awards from the Council on Retail Excellence at the DEMA awards party for his efforts in promoting positive retailing and professionalism in the industry. He has received an award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in appreciation of his service. He has received an appreciation award from the United States Air Force, who gave him one of the flags that once flew over Saddam Hussein's palace in Baghdad for his commitment to working with active duty and reserve duty USAF members and their families. He has received four excellence awards from NAUI. He has received the Gold Star Award from the Make-A-Wish Foundation for his efforts with that organization.

Need I continue? Honestly, this is just a start. Rich is a stand-up guy and a guy that has proven he is trustworthy. As herb said, "a disagreement between agents and resorts should stay between them". But that doesn't mean others should speculate or assume things about the individuals involved. Please leave it between them and let them work it out on their own terms.

 

[herbdb]

I met Rich on my trip to FI and I really liked him. I don't know the nature of the dispute, and would urge others not to jump to conclusions without the facts.

 

[flareside]

If I was in the position of having a problem with a contracted booking agent, I would fire them, honor the bookings and take action against the agent. Putting guests in the middle is short sighted and will likely hurt them in the long run.

Trust is a fragile thing. Most of us sacrifice for our dive trips, we are not going to take a chance on someone who does not honor bookings that were paid in full. A disagreement between agents and resorts should stay between them.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the issue of trust. But the issue that remains that just because the bookings were paid to the agent in full doesn't mean that they were paid to the operator in full and that is an issue we will clearly never have the truth over. (...or if they were paid in full but were sold by the middleman well below the operator's agreed minimum price or whatever the case may be.)

Depending on how much the operator is (potentially) being shorted however, when you multiply that number by how many people go through this resort in a period of several months, you may easily be talking upwards of half a million dollars. That's not something too many operators can just suck up in the name of trust or wait years for a resolution in court. Employees have to be paid and in a timely manner or else you are going to have a lot of very hungry and unhappy guests when the rooms aren't clean, the foods not on the table, and the boat doesn't leave the dock. And that will put a company out of business far faster issues of trust.

CD: While this has been a rather upleasant experience, would you rather have had it occur up front while you still had time to remedy it or after you arrived where you're stuck. At this point, it appears that TI is dealing with a bad situation rather poorly but still in a better manner than the latter option. Simply eating the cost of what could amout to hundreds of bookings is not likely an option that will allow them to stay in business.