Iberostar Cozumel dock fees!!!!!

[jfcl01]

I'm not at all sure I follow you. You are saying that because I feel that a resort who has paid an enormous amount of money to build a dock should be able to charge you for the use of it, that I'm bashing Christi? I did no such thing. I stated an opinion differing from your clearly self serving opinion and now you are bashing me for disagreeing with you, and making up this lame reason for it. Weak.

For the record, of the half dozen dive ops I have dove with in Cozumel, every one of them wave as cheerfully at me as I do at them when I see them on the dock or in town, with the exception of the one you mention. I say good things about all of them in here, with the exception of the one you mention who treated us poorly in comparison to the others. If you believe I have some sort of agenda then have out with it little guy and let's discuss it. As is, you brought a topic up for discussion and I disagreed with you....welcome to the internet. Not everyone is here to stroke your ego. You feel a sense of entitlement because your living is attached to property you don't own. Antonio meet the world of business.....and welcome. You will find that most of the Drama Queen acts (like your pleading for email campaigns on the net) typically have little affect. I'll be quite shocked if this one does either. By the way, how goes the email campaign for the other docks charging fees? Yeah...I know...but by all means full speed ahead, I'm sure this time you will convince them that you are entitled to compete with them while using their property for free.

Did you really just call him "little guy"?
And in an earlier post, you told us how you would whoop 3 guys in a foreign country?
Geeze.
For the record, I would gladly pay to fly to down to Coz and watch you show those three Mexicans a lesson. In Mexico.
Dude, you are F*cking hilarious.

 

[cicopo]

I don't understand the need to bash other members or dive ops over this so I'll say my piece & keep reading so I know just what I want to know about when I write the current manager. Having stayed there myself plus having sent them a lot of customers, mostly through my previous involvment with Tripadvisor I consider the use of the pier at ANY all inclusive as part of the package. IF a hotel or resort won't include free use of the pier that should appear in their advertising considering it's a dive & watersports destination. People book fishing charters in advance too, and expect to be picked up at the pier just like the divers are. At any other vacation destination I've been to the hotel or resort had shuttle busses and the local transportation wasn't controlled by a taxi union like in Cozumel, and the resorts are spared that expense which has to be taken into account.
Moving on to the real issue, resort GUESTS (I'm not sure someone who pays should be considered a guest, in my business I consider them my boss) were blindsided by both a change in policy AT THE LAST MOMENT, and from the sound of things VERBAL ABUSE. I've never tried either approach in my 24 years of self employment but I know how I react when it's pointed my way. If one All Inclusive thinks it's a good way to recover costs the others will, and I can accept that, but I expect them to put it in their advertising, and if I overstep the rules while there I expect, NO DEMAND, that staff treat me with respect while informing me where I've gone wrong, and I also expect them to help me resolve it. Management seems to have timed this to come into effect at peak season, without notice, and from all accounts handled it in the most embarasing way possible, especially for the very person they get paid by.
Every guest gets a Welcome package when they check in, which included a grounds map, and a list of the restaurants, meal times, dress codes etc. IF they were trying to implement this policy in a friendly way they could have also included a notice of the pier fees, and your options since it was done without prior warning. These are the real issues, not entitlement to recover maintenance costs by passing them on in such a way as to increase business by the on site op, which in turn increases the resorts cut of the daily take. I really don't care which way this ends, but it will play heavily on whether or not I recommend the resort (or any other which charges) to those I know want to dive while vacationing in Cozumel. Pier fees should be made known, and be the divers problem, not forced onto the independant ops who can't possibly know how many divers they might pick up next month & the month after that.

 

[jpomerantz]

 

[pidgiepoo]

Just got an answer from DWM on how they are handeling the fees...
I asked this question-- are you still picking up people at the Iberostar dock since they started charging dock fees?--
Dive with Martin---Yes, Pidge, we're still picking up. You pay your $3 on the boat and then we offset it by not charging the $2 per day marine park fee.
Sounds like a good way to handle it to me.It only costs each of us $1.00/day more and DWM takes both the dock fees and marine park fees out of the $3.00. No hassel for us and all the fees get paid in the end. Would still like to find a way to drop the dock fees, but at least a good compromise has been figured out IMO.

 

[ggunn]

I've slogged through this whole thread and I really don't see a bad guy, though I see some badly handled situations. I think the Iberostar should just be up front about it and tell all of its guests that there is a $3 (or$2, or whatever) per day per person for use of the dock (docks are expensive and they just had to replace theirs) for everyone, whoever they dive/fish with. Add it to their guests' room bill just like if they had a drink at the bar and signed for it. Have their security guys get the guests to sign a sheet rather than try to muscle folks at the dock (which is going to turn out bad regardless). The furor is not over the $3, but over who has to pay it and who doesn't and the Iberostar's methods of enforcing the charge.

 

[cvchief]

Is this all a bit of a vicious circle? If they charge the operators, either the ops pass the cost on directly or they eat it. If they eat it, it goes on the books as a cost of doing business. When they set their prices, that cost in some fashion it is in everyone's bill.
I guess the other side is if the resort doesnt have this new revenue, it has to increase prices on everyone, *assumedly*. However, after a tragic sunfish accident in Antigua that involved my wife unexepected swimming in the middle of a sailboat ride:blush:, I am not as interested in the non-motorized water sports. Maybe they should lower the price the everyone's stay and charge rent for the hobi? They do that for motorized right? Of course, it says on the adverts, non-motorized included, so I KNOW no free see-doo.
I just don't like the hidden cost thing. If they clearly said the dock wasn't free that's a little better. It might actually become a selling point for other AI, "including free use of the dock." I did send the emails, because I personally felt that IB was less 'all-inclusive' if the dock wasn't considered a non-motorized water sport, so to speak. They need to advertise the direct cost, so one can compare resorts. Same for dive ops if they pay it. $3 a day more if you stay at IB. If no one 'hides' the cost, hopefully the market will balance it out then. Then other AI can advertize free dock use.

 

[billindenver]

Just got an answer from DWM on how they are handeling the fees...
I asked this question-- are you still picking up people at the Iberostar dock since they started charging dock fees?--
Dive with Martin---Yes, Pidge, we're still picking up. You pay your $3 on the boat and then we offset it by not charging the $2 per day marine park fee.
Sounds like a good way to handle it to me.It only costs each of us $1.00/day more and DWM takes both the dock fees and marine park fees out of the $3.00. No hassel for us and all the fees get paid in the end. Would still like to find a way to drop the dock fees, but at least a good compromise has been figured out IMO.

A good company will always find a way to balance the books and keep the client happy. Most, though from this thread certainly not all, divers on cozumel will not be too bent out of shape over an extra $21 a week. I would say that virtually none of those paying Iberostar's rates would notice such a charge. We paid more than that for internet access at Iberostar, a charge that also wasn't mentioned on their website but a minor fee isn't going to ruin a vacation of mine. Dive with Martin was one of the more enjoyable dive trips for us and if it were not for our addiction to steel tanks we would still be with them. Great people one and all. I'm not surprised that they took a business minded approach.

 

[matthewjen]

Just got an answer from DWM on how they are handeling the fees...
I asked this question-- are you still picking up people at the Iberostar dock since they started charging dock fees?--
Dive with Martin---Yes, Pidge, we're still picking up. You pay your $3 on the boat and then we offset it by not charging the $2 per day marine park fee.
Sounds like a good way to handle it to me.It only costs each of us $1.00/day more and DWM takes both the dock fees and marine park fees out of the $3.00. No hassel for us and all the fees get paid in the end. Would still like to find a way to drop the dock fees, but at least a good compromise has been figured out IMO.

We will be staying down the beach at residencias reef next week and using DWM also. they shared the same info with us on our pick ups, I am glad to here that they are doing there part to help customers make thier own chioce. Personnaly I do not agree with charge at all. I have dived with other operators on thier privatley owned piers and wathced many other boats come and pick up people, divers or otherwise with out a fee that I am aware of(aqua safari is a great shop). Next tues. I arrive on the island for a week, I am going to try to do my part by starting a research project on this situation. Since whe all want to get to the bottom of this I say the only way to get real solutions is to go and see first hand for myself. Wish me luck.

 

[CozumelAntonio]

Just got an answer from DWM on how they are handeling the fees...
I asked this question-- are you still picking up people at the Iberostar dock since they started charging dock fees?--
Dive with Martin---Yes, Pidge, we're still picking up. You pay your $3 on the boat and then we offset it by not charging the $2 per day marine park fee.
Sounds like a good way to handle it to me.It only costs each of us $1.00/day more and DWM takes both the dock fees and marine park fees out of the $3.00. No hassel for us and all the fees get paid in the end. Would still like to find a way to drop the dock fees, but at least a good compromise has been figured out IMO.

Unless the Iberostar has changed the information from last week, it is not $2 or $3 dollars per person per day. They want a minimum $50 dollars a month from operators, and they have made it very clear they do not want their guests to pay this.

The Marine Park fee is $25 pesos, exactly $2 dollars right now at $12.50mx for $1 USD. So I doubt $3 dollars will cover the Park fee AND the Iberostar fee, I do know that some operators here will charge divers (and snorkelers) $2 dollars per day for the park fee, then will NOT give people the wristband at all, or will give them 1 wristband and tell them "it's good all week", in which case they are pocketing the money. If you are charged $2 dollar PER DAY for park fee, then you should be getting a NEW wristband each day, and I know that is not the case with several ops.

Let's see:

20 divers dive for 5 days, each pay $10 dollars for 5 days of park fees, the Op. collects $200 dollars, gives out 20 wristbands (tells them it's good all week, put it on your BCD they say....) which cost them $40 dollars. That would leave $160 dollars, not bad extra income, you can pay the dock ransom, and still have a few bucks for whatever left over, AND you made your client believe YOU paid the dock fee.

I am not saying DWM is doing that. I do know some Ops do exactly that.

 

[matthewjen]

that may be, I have dove with several operators and have recieved a new band every day. these ops are still around today also. the attraction of having free pier pick up should be the attaction for divers to stay at the resort, that is the win right thier for the resort in my opinion. that is just my opinion, it sounds like this will impact the resort negativley in my opinion.