Guests of Sunscape, Secrets & Residencias Reef
- Thread starter Christi
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gopbroek
Contributor
I think some of the resorts are looking at the cruise ship model of attempting to contain the guests within their economic bubble and pushing them to use their in house dive OP or other ‘excursions’ for which they have a piece of. I can see this progressing to hotels charging guests for using other OP’s, whether there is a pier or not. Or worse yet a hotel refusing lodging to guests that use another dive OP.
OP
Yes Gordon - thank you! Those who are already booked at the hotel and have confirmed reservations already to dive with us.
Those staying in Residencias Reef - please contact the owner of your unit if staying there. Supposedly the owners have purchased a block of pier passes for RR guests - if they provide the passes/bracelets, we will pick you up - we simply will not be purchasing passes.
Gdog
Contributor
Im so glad AI isnt my thing!
Christi is correct about RR. This is what the owner of the unit we rent from was told.
I already arranged with the hotel so they can give me tickets so we can have in the security shack. The tickets are $2 usd per person and they will be able to go into the pier.
I already arranged with the hotel so they can give me tickets so we can have in the security shack. The tickets are $2 usd per person and they will be able to go into the pier.
OP
UPDATE: I have arranged a meeting with the GM of Secrets and several dive shop owners for next week (although it looks as if it will be postponed for the following week). The $2 fee is not the issue for us as operators because we can pass it on the the divers. BUT it is an issue that guests of the hotel, paying a premium to stay there cannot use the pier for complimentary access to board their operator of choice. The hoops we as operators have to jump through to provide a service that is a courtesy to guests there is the second issue.
Our objective is to "fight" for the hotel guests. We have also requested that they present a valid and legal copy of the pier concession agreement they have. Piers are federally zoned property and the only way to gain exclusive usage rights is to have a concession agreement, which are extremely hard to get. If the fee is eliminated for guests, we won't even have to address the jumping through hoops issue.
Dave (Aldora) - I sent you an email (and a text message to Memo) inviting you to the meeting - we hope you can join us. You have a strong voice and your's or Memo's presence would be appreciated. The more united we show them we are, the more power we will have. If we give in to this, other hotels may start following suit and this will be a never ending battle as well as huge stain on our Tourism friendly island.
I also sent Steve (3P's) a message to invite him.
I suspect that guests of Reef Residencias will still be assessed the $2 charge, but the owner of the rental units will be responsible for providing thoe to their guests. I can actually understand that they do not want non-guests having free access to their pier.
To put things in perspective; You as a guest of an all-inclusive hotel are paying for all-you can eat food, alcohol, shows, activities, the pool, towels, maid service, etc. regardless of whether you enjoy these amenities or not or how much you use them. Some people will use all of the amenities, others will use none and then there is everything in between. These things are costs of doing business for the AI and are as such built into their pricing structure for the guests. The pier is absolutely no different. If you are going to be an oceanfront AI resort on an island whose primary draw are the crystal blue waters and watersports activities ranging from ocean swimming, kayaking, to snorkeling, fishing and scuba diving - then the pier and maintenance of such is just like any other amenity and should be treated as such. Funds for maintenance can easily be allocated and also built into the pricing structure and operating budget - it is not rocket science.
Our objective is to "fight" for the hotel guests. We have also requested that they present a valid and legal copy of the pier concession agreement they have. Piers are federally zoned property and the only way to gain exclusive usage rights is to have a concession agreement, which are extremely hard to get. If the fee is eliminated for guests, we won't even have to address the jumping through hoops issue.
Dave (Aldora) - I sent you an email (and a text message to Memo) inviting you to the meeting - we hope you can join us. You have a strong voice and your's or Memo's presence would be appreciated. The more united we show them we are, the more power we will have. If we give in to this, other hotels may start following suit and this will be a never ending battle as well as huge stain on our Tourism friendly island.
I also sent Steve (3P's) a message to invite him.
I suspect that guests of Reef Residencias will still be assessed the $2 charge, but the owner of the rental units will be responsible for providing thoe to their guests. I can actually understand that they do not want non-guests having free access to their pier.
To put things in perspective; You as a guest of an all-inclusive hotel are paying for all-you can eat food, alcohol, shows, activities, the pool, towels, maid service, etc. regardless of whether you enjoy these amenities or not or how much you use them. Some people will use all of the amenities, others will use none and then there is everything in between. These things are costs of doing business for the AI and are as such built into their pricing structure for the guests. The pier is absolutely no different. If you are going to be an oceanfront AI resort on an island whose primary draw are the crystal blue waters and watersports activities ranging from ocean swimming, kayaking, to snorkeling, fishing and scuba diving - then the pier and maintenance of such is just like any other amenity and should be treated as such. Funds for maintenance can easily be allocated and also built into the pricing structure and operating budget - it is not rocket science.
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Good luck with that, Christi! If their issue truly is the money, it seems only logical that they will listen to reason if it means they will collect more of it. If their issue is a passive aggressive effort to keep other ops other than their preferred ones from providing services to their guests, your pleas will fall on deaf ears. If their issue is corporate stupidity, then all bets are off.
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