Fantasy Island

[jac8724]

All of this craziness is sad to hear. My friend and I had such a good time at FI the first week of December. It was right after the management swap. Rich was a great booking agent, he even brought my gear down cause we lived close, and the staff and food at FI was above expectations. I would book through Rich again, especially after hearing how he honored the previous poster's trip reservations, and made things right.

FI is a beautiful resort, with a nice setup, but they need to work out a few kinks apparently. Like honoring long-time customer's reservations!!! Not cool.

 

[DandyDon]

It's easy to speculate on what might have happened, but business is business. We will never know what did happen, but here are a couple of hypothetical speculations....

1: Rich decides that he is not making enough money for all of his work, travel, expenses, risk, etc. so he goes to FIBR and says something like: "Ok I have 150 bookings for you @$1500 each = $ $225,000 less my 10% commissions - but with all I am doing to get you the business, I really need 15%. So how about I send you $191,250 instead of $202,500? You want the bookings right, and you'll still be making money. Otherwise, I can sell these bookings to the other resort." So FIBR says "Nope!" Then Rich sells them to the other resort for $195,000 - more than he wanted to pay but less than he was contracted to pay, and he looks like a hero.

2: Or it could have been FIBR saying "We're paying you too much for too little. Instead of your 10% commission, we're going to let you keep 8% - so instead of $202,500, send us $207,000, you can keep the $18,000 and continue as our booking agent (until we want to cut you to 6%)."

Those are just two obvious possibilities. There are certainly many others, but we'll never know. It could have been 20%, or a matter of someone's wife, or whatever. We'll never know.

 

[DMI]

Well Don,

I don’t know what to say other that your comments are as you say “speculations”. Unfortunately you could not be farther off from the truth and I would ask you to look at the original press release that was put out and I think you would have a better idea of what is going before speculating. At this point as stated in our press release the resort has been paid in full and we are taking a tremendous loss by their actions and are working with our contacts in the industry to find a resolution for anyone affected by the actions of Fantasy Island Resort. Again I really do not want to air all of the details in such a public forum and do appreciate your input but this is not the time or place for speculations.

Rich

 

[DandyDon]

Well Don,

I don’t know what to say other that your comments are as you say “speculations”. Unfortunately you could not be farther off from the truth and I would ask you to look at the original press release that was put out and I think you would have a better idea of what is going before speculating. At this point as stated in our press release the resort has been paid in full and we are taking a tremendous loss by their actions and are working with our contacts in the industry to find a resolution for anyone affected by the actions of Fantasy Island Resort. Again I really do not want to air all of the details in such a public forum and do appreciate your input but this is not the time or place for speculations.

Rich

Sorry, I have not seen a press release that says the resort has been paid in full. So you paid them, got receipts, they took the monies, but now won't deliver as contracted and paid? You were not still holding any monies?

 

[DMI]

"There appear to be many issues behind the scenes going on that are affecting suppliers, agents and numerous others from getting paid. Unfortunately they are now putting the guests in the middle of their actions. While the guests reservations have been paid in full the resort is currently trying to get the guests to pay again at their booked rate or pay a reduced amount on top of what they booked their reservation at.
If you feel that you may be effected by this and have a upcoming reservation at Fantasy Island resort please contact our office so we can discuss the options that we, several resort owners on the island and the Minister of tourism have put together for those effected."

You will see it on the first page of this thread posting number 3.

Rich

 

[BettyfromToronto]

This is very sad to see. I booked in October with the old Privilege booking agent in Texas and got a great rate due to a special promotion on some rooms ($300 off the rack rate). I paid 50% then before I even knew there was going to be a change in management on Nov 1st. When that happened I must say I was a bit nervous but the reservation stayed as it was and we paid the remaining 50% on Dec 31st to the old booking agent and it was honoured by FI.

We arrived in February and had a great trip. I'm surprised now that FI expects customers to pay $500/person after they have already paid in full. Our LDS was there too that same week as us and they originally were paying $2049 for the trip and then closer to the date it went up to $2249. I'm not 100% sure but I think those people who had already paid had to cough up the extra $200 because FI asked for it. Ours didn't change so it just made our savings even bigger.

Also before arriving at FI I booked and paid for the AOW for my hubby through Rich and all was well with that too. Even when we had some problems with some additional courses we booked on site. Rich showed up in the middle of our trip and took care of all of that with Darren (Dive Shop Manager) and the instructor.

FI is a great place and I hope this gets settled soon.

I will also like to hear the trip report when CajunDiva gets back as this is one resort that is sold as a package from Sunwing here in Toronto. Not sure if it will be cheaper than booking air & hotel separately.

 

[PBenitez]

Well the press release could say the sky is red, and it doesn’t mean it is. It's TIME2DIVE telling the story they want the public to know. Fantasy Island Beach Resort has NO PAYMENT for the bookings made by TIME2DIVE... That’s how TIME2DIVE can send the customers to other properties. They cannot force the resort to honor bookings they have not paid for.

There are 2 things to consider prior to make any judgment:
1) If TIMETODIVE really had paid the bookings they requested to Fantasy Island, the hotel wouldn’t have any reason to dismiss the bookings nor cancel the contract. And this is not accurate either; The hotel is not rejecting the bookings, is just requesting the payment. The hotel is happy selling rooms. The hotel has availability for those bookings. The hotel contacted the customers and informed them about the situation, urging them to contact their agency to please verify the payment status of their reservation, in advance, to avoid any awkward or inconvenient situations at the moment of their check in. It was the Hotel who resigned the relationship with TIMETODIVE, not the other way.

2) The hotel is concerned about its customers. It has gone through major renovations lately (rooms, common areas, new equipment, more boats, furniture, etc) to live up to the expectations of the clients staying at the property, and to provide them with the facilities they deserve to enjoy a good diving vacation. That is a lot of hard work and a lot of money invested, so again it doesn’t make any sense to simply throw away all that hard work by not honoring bookings, breaking promises and disappointing people who has chosen and have faith in Fantasy Island for their next vacation. Why would any business do anything like that?

Fantasy Island is not rejecting customers, nor not honoring bookings that were paid for (that's pretty illogic). It's was just requesting the proper payment for each booking, as any company does.

Unfortunately the hotel cannot receive all those bookings for free because an independent vendor/associate/provider is breaking their promises (not honoring contracts). Let’s think that the hotel could afford to give away the accommodation to “some” customers, but how many? There were several reservations of big groups booked for 7, 14 nights (not only with first payments, some almost fully paid to TIME2DIVE)… that is a lot of money. The hotel is in contact with the customers affected trying to help every customer in this situation evaluating each and looking for the best way to affect the guest the little possible.

I agree with you (Rich/DMI) in one thing: a public forum is not the place to say some things, but TIME2DIVE continues circulate this “TIME2DIVE version” of the story, creating confusion and bad publicity to Fantasy Island. So it’s fair to let the people know the other version of the story.

As for CajunDiva, I’m very sorry that you and your family are under this situation. It’s unbelievable that you, working hand to hand with Rich are going through this situation. In fact, you paid your stay at Fantasy Island to TIME2DIVE, the only fair thing to do is find you accommodation in Media Luna, because Fantasy Island never received the payment. TIME2DIVE did. No property would accept a booking that is not being paid for.

Things as they are, people are going to believe several different things, and time and work will put everything and everyone back into place again.

Fantasy Island will continue to work hard to improve facilities, services, promotions and to regain the trust of those clients that have had unpleasant experiences in the past and also to satisfy all clients who want to have a good diving vacation at Fantasy Island.

Patricia

 

[DandyDon]

PBenitez, I see on your profile that you are the Sales Manager at FIBResort. You might put that in your Sig so it appears on future postings.

So we have claims of "We paid vs They did not pay." We will never know the full story I am sure.

Glad that Rich is accommodating travelers and I hope all are happy with that outcome. It beats canceling flights and filing claims with credit cards, I suppose - but still not right. Eh, I've had worse tho.

 

[miketrance84]

I am also involved with this fiasco. I was supposed to go next month to Fantasy Island with my wife. The first email I received was from the resort requesting payment and saying they would not honor the reservation. I tried to contact the resort stating that payment has been made, with no response. I then received an email from Fantasy Dive travel.

This email provided a phone number and asked me to call right away. I contacted Rich and was informed of the situation. He offered to provide proof of payment to the resort. He also offered to move me to a different resort, at no cost to me. I took his offer instead of trying to battle with the airlines because I already had a flight booked. I don't trust the condition that Fantasy Island will be in and if it will even still be in existence by my arrival date.

I honestly don't know what happened with Fantasy Island and Rich's company. What I do know is this; Rich offered to help me when repeated attempts at Fantasy Island have failed. Rich moved my reservation to a different resort so my vacation wasn't ruined. It doesn't make much sense for Rich to cancel bookings and change resorts for no reason. It does make sense to me (pure speculation) that Fantasy Island is going broke, and looking for more money.

If Rich was an authorized representative, Fantasy Island should honor my booking regardless of payment. It is an issue that should be between their two companies, and the customer shouldn't be put in the middle. Only one side seems to care about that, Rich's. Fantasy Island could care less about my vacation, as they are the ones that put me in the middle and failed to offer anything except a demand for payment. I am sorry but “Fool me once shame on me but fool me twice……”

I will never spend another dollar with Fantasy Island. I cannot afford to wonder if my reservation will be honored a few weeks before departure. My new resort Media Luna seems to be an upgrade (based on trip advisor and other sites), and if it's good, I will be booking with Rich in the future and posting more here.

 

[Mike]

Well the press release could say the sky is red, and it dozen’t mean it is. It's TIME2DIVE telling the story they want the public to know. Fantasy Island Beach Resort has NO PAYMENT for the bookings made by TIME2DIVE... That’s how TIME2DIVE can send the customers to other properties. They cannot force the resort to honor bookings they have not paid for.

There are 2 things to consider prior to make any judgment:
1) If TIMETODIVE really had paid the bookings they requested to Fantasy Island, the hotel wouldn’t have any reason to dismiss the bookings nor cancel the contract. And this is not accurate either; The hotel is not rejecting the bookings, is just requesting the payment. The hotel is happy selling rooms. The hotel has availability for those bookings. The hotel contacted the customers and informed them about the situation, urging them to contact their agency to please verify the payment status of their reservation, in advance, to avoid any awkward or inconvenient situations at the moment of their check in. It was the Hotel who resigned the relationship with TIMETODIVE, not the other way.

2) The hotel is concerned about its customers. It has gone through major renovations lately (rooms, common areas, new equipment, more boats, furniture, etc) to live up to the expectations of the clients staying at the property, and to provide them with the facilities they deserve to enjoy a good diving vacation. That is a lot of hard work and a lot of money invested, so again it doesn’t make any sense to simply throw away all that hard work by not honoring bookings, breaking promises and disappointing people who has chosen and have faith in Fantasy Island for their next vacation. Why would any business do anything like that?

Fantasy Island is not rejecting customers, nor not honoring bookings that were paid for (that's pretty illogic). It's was just requesting the proper payment for each booking, as any company does.

Unfortunately the hotel cannot receive all those bookings for free because an independent vendor/associate/provider is breaking their promises (not honoring contracts). Let’s think that the hotel could afford to give away the accommodation to “some” customers, but how many? There were several reservations of big groups booked for 7, 14 nights (not only with first payments, some almost fully paid to TIME2DIVE)… that is a lot of money. The hotel is in contact with the customers affected trying to help every customer in this situation evaluating each and looking for the best way to affect the guest the little possible.

I agree with you (Rich/DMI) in one thing: a public forum is not the place to say some things, but TIME2DIVE continues circulate this “TIME2DIVE version” of the story, creating confusion and bad publicity to Fantasy Island. So it’s fair to let the people know the other version of the story.

As for CajunDiva, I’m very sorry that you and your family are under this situation. It’s unbelievable that you, working hand to hand with Rich are going through this situation. In fact, you paid your stay at Fantasy Island to TIME2DIVE, the only fair thing to do is find you accommodation in Media Luna, because Fantasy Island never received the payment. TIME2DIVE did. No property would accept a booking that is not being paid for.

Things as they are, people are going to believe several different things, and time and work will put everything and everyone back into place again.

Fantasy Island will continue to work hard to improve facilities, services, promotions and to regain the trust of those clients that have had unpleasant experiences in the past and also to satisfy all clients who want to have a good diving vacation at Fantasy Island.

Patricia

Let me give you a little public relations advice.

You keep saying this isn't the place (a public forum) to air out the details... and then you post and air out the details, albeit in a very cryptic way that doesn't paint Fantasy Island in a good light. I'd advise you to either stop posting or simply post something along the lines of -

Fantasy Island had to terminate it's relationship with XYZ due to unethical and illegal behaviors that resulted in them booking clients without sending Fantasy Island Payments.

As a result of the unscrupulous methods of XYZ there appears to be unfortunately 100 or so people who have been duped by XYZ. Fantasy Island Resort is doing everything possible to rectify the situation for these people, including reducing the rates by $500 to rectify the issue that XYZ created and to keep these valuable customers satisfied with Fantasy Island and ensure they return for many more years to come.

If what you say is true, you got screwed by trusting this company to represent you, ultimately the public looks to you to solve the problem and for you and this other company to settle your problems privately or legally.. I'd think your company would be smart enough to realize that repeat business is the lifeblood of any dive resort and you have to do whatever it takes to protect it, even if it means taking a short term loss now that will be recouped many times over later.

Whatever the problem is or was between you and them, the perception I see is that Fantasy Island is screwing themselves by the way you're handling this situation and letting it get out of hand. You're going to be getting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bad PR in the following months from disgruntled customers who are switching to another resort and will likely never do business with you again, and tell everybody they know not to do business with you.

Just my advice for what it's worth, but you guys need to have a meeting and get your heads on straight, times running out based on what I've read so far and you're about to face a tidal wave of bad PR. I'd stop posting excuses and stories about logic and start posting solutions of how you're going to take care of the two most valuable assets you have - Your reputation and your customer base.