Iberostar Cozumel dock fees!!!!!

[jfcl01]

I'd like to offer a few details about the incident to give at least a few of you a wider perspective. While I can see BillinDenvers perspective on the financial reality and reasonableness of resorts charging pick up fees, there are other considerations in this particular situation.
I was on the dive boat referred to in Christi's post-when we were attempting to pick up those 2 divers. In my opinion, that scene was appalling. Those 2 divers were return customers of the IB who had been sitting on the pier, by themselves, for at least half an hour, with all their dive gear, clearly waiting to be picked up by a dive op other than the house op. NO ONE from IB approached them to let them know they would not be allowed to board their awaited boat when it arrived. When we did arrive, 3 staff in security garb suddenly showed up and got between the divers and the end of the pier, exchanging words with our boat's DM and captain. The timing was remarkable. They were watching, which means they had time to handle the situation another way. They essentially formed a physical barrier to prevent those divers from interacting with us. Is that a good way to treat guests? Show them you value them as customers? I thought it was remarkably controlling of and disrespectful towards those divers. Again it would be different if they'd been told ahead of time.
Think about what it would be like to have been those divers-you go on vacation, return to your favorite resort, are there for several days-plenty of time for the IB to know you are diving with some other op, and plenty of time for the IB to tell you that they want a small fee from you for allowing another op to pick you up....and you are subjected to that scene by the people you are paying to host you for several more days. What is the cost of doing business like that? If your resort is going to dictate-either actively or passively-with whom you dive, they need to tell you that when you make reservations.

 

[cicopo]

Armed with that info I'll be writing a message to the current manager. I've already been in touch with the previous manager who has stayed in touch with me & had kept me up to date on improvements knowing I'd pass the info on using Tripadvisor. What you've described would be more than enough for me, had I been 1 of those divers, to cause one hell of a scene. If that's the way they want to treat repeat customers, they won't be seeing me again. That's as ugly a way to handle a situation as it gets, right out there in front of other guests, staff, and the people on the boat who have stayed elsewhere. I doubt those people will be booking the Iberostar either.
Sure there's a cost to maintain the pier, and according to the former manager it's considerable, but the majority of the boats used by the small ops are also small boats. Dressel's fleet are the one doing the majority of the damage, both due to size & number of times per day that they use the pier.
Now for me personally I'd simply walk north past the property line towards Alberto's and either walk, swim, or get on with a beach landing, but that's me. There's nothing on me or in my dive bag that can't get wet.

 

[PNW Dive Girl]

This issue is betyween the resort and the diver. It's not right or fair to charge an operator a flat fee no matter how many divers they pick up. What if EVERY resort started doing this? Those operators would go out of business. If the diver is responsible for the fee, they can choose to stay elsewhere or pay it, and they would know in advance (I hope). The manner in which the IB handled this incident is appalling! What about a little notice to the op AND to the guest? Are they charging other activities, ie fishing as well?

 

[georoc01]

What it would mean is that you would have to go to your operator of choice's pier to meet them before diving. Many other islands work that way. One of the conveniences of Cozumel is that many of the hotels are on the way to the dive sites, which makes pick up easy for the operators.

 

[pidgiepoo]

Now that I've heard first hand how those 2 divers were handled, I will definitely be looking to stay elsewhere... even though I have been loyal to IB for years. It's a shame IB has to act this way, because they really have a great resort and a very good AI. It was wonderful to be picked on the pier, jump in the water 5-10 minutes later, and be on some of the best reefs in the world.
So sad that it's changing like so many other things in this world. Maybe IB will reconsider their policy when they see all the bad reviews. I hope so because I hate to see them loose business for just a few bucks.

 

[CozumelAntonio]

After 2 days of beach pick up, one of our clients had a bad fall on the rocks, and because of wave surge we also had a close call with the boat propeller. These clients were not informed (as we were not informed) of any dock fees at the time of booking, AND they had a Private Boat, 3 tanks, for 6 days, you do the math. So after the close call we had to make a decision, as walking to the boat is not how we like to take care of clients, we ended up offering a lessened fee (yes we haggled) and for the sake of our client (and boat) paid the IB dock ransom, just that one time, as again we had not been able to inform the client at the time he booked. We certainly did not want to, and will no longer do so, but in that crunch, had no choice, for the safety of our client and boat.

 

[MMM]

Antonio, have you thought about sending this info to Undercurrent? They tend to like this kind of stuff. And they reach a very broad audience of experienced divers.

 

[billindenver]

I'd like to offer a few details about the incident to give at least a few of you a wider perspective. While I can see BillinDenvers perspective on the financial reality and reasonableness of resorts charging pick up fees, there are other considerations in this particular situation.
I was on the dive boat referred to in Christi's post-when we were attempting to pick up those 2 divers. In my opinion, that scene was appalling. Those 2 divers were return customers of the IB who had been sitting on the pier, by themselves, for at least half an hour, with all their dive gear, clearly waiting to be picked up by a dive op other than the house op. NO ONE from IB approached them to let them know they would not be allowed to board their awaited boat when it arrived. When we did arrive, 3 staff in security garb suddenly showed up and got between the divers and the end of the pier, exchanging words with our boat's DM and captain. The timing was remarkable. They were watching, which means they had time to handle the situation another way. They essentially formed a physical barrier to prevent those divers from interacting with us. Is that a good way to treat guests? Show them you value them as customers? I thought it was remarkably controlling of and disrespectful towards those divers. Again it would be different if they'd been told ahead of time.
Think about what it would be like to have been those divers-you go on vacation, return to your favorite resort, are there for several days-plenty of time for the IB to know you are diving with some other op, and plenty of time for the IB to tell you that they want a small fee from you for allowing another op to pick you up....and you are subjected to that scene by the people you are paying to host you for several more days. What is the cost of doing business like that? If your resort is going to dictate-either actively or passively-with whom you dive, they need to tell you that when you make reservations.

You've got to be kidding. That is a train wreck of poorly handled business. There is no excuse for treating someone like that, especially a client of your resort. This type of behavior I'll not defend and had three security wanna be's treated me that way...they had better be well trained.

 

[pidgiepoo]

You've got to be kidding. That is a train wreck of poorly handled business. There is no excuse for treating someone like that, especially a client of your resort. This type of behavior I'll not defend and had three security wanna be's treated me that way...they had better be well trained.

Glad to see you've changed your opinion of the situation now that more facts are in. I can understand how Antonio felt when he saw his customers get hurt walking in the rock-filled water toward his boat. I've walked through those rocks before, and it's a difficult process trying to get out to the sandy bottom without falling. Can't imagine doing it with gear.

 

[billindenver]

I haven't changed my opinion. The resort owns the pier, mom and pop dive ops don't have a right to make a living from it for free and refusing to pay less than two dollars a day for it while charging clients 4 times that for a BC rental is ridiculously short sighted.

However, Iberostar's handling of the situation was ignorant. They should have made the client aware that the dive op was refusing to pay it. They should have given the diver the option to pay it. They should have told the diver prior to the boat arriving that they would not be allowed to use the dock without paying a fee because when the dive op was advised of the fee, they refused to pay it and staged an email internet campaign whose intent was to piss off the resort, discredit the onsite dive op and harass the manager.

I said that Iberostar handled it poorly...but then so did the dive op. He flat refused to pay the fee and attempted to organize some sort of harassment of the resort to get his way. He basically dared Iberostar to do something about it while he continued to pick up his clients from their dock despite their warning. That warning was even posted HERE...they said they would stop him from using their property. He didn't believe them and dared them to do it. They did it. What they did was stupid, but then what he did was equally stupid. If I were one of those divers, I would be pissed at Iberostar and the dive op.

By the way, the maintenance of a pier is not due to the boats docking on it...it's the ocean that does the damage. The sea is a beautiful thing, but it's a very harsh environment.