Iberostar fees

[getwet2]

Thanks, Canucklehead.

 

[Caryn]

I know we've killed this to death, but if anyone is still reading this thread, I'd just like to say that the $1 fee may have been charged to the dive operation, but I do not believe they passed it along to us, as I pulled their fees off their website and that was exactly what I was charged, before they even knew where I was staying.

The $1 deco fee that Dressel charged was explained to us as mandatory. However, we were told it was a contribution, which is fine. But I don't like to be told its mandatory if its not. (It was not a disguised dock fee, because it was charged only when we dove with them.)

Lastly, while I'm sure DAN is great, I encourage divers to check with their own health insurance as well. I was told the deco chamber is covered on my HMO. I even checked with a supervisor. They said any medical treatment required is covered. Now, I guess their definition of required could vary, but probably not if really needed. Anything anyone else could contribute to tell me otherwise? Because so far I've been relying on this.

 

[mtnredhed]

To reiterate, I just came from there, and nobody was collecting fees or checking who pulled up. They had a "guard" whose main purpose was checking to make sure you had a band for the Iberostar (and he wasn't consistently there either). I saw Dive Palancar, Dive House, Black Shark, DeepBlue, plus fishing and snorkel tours pick up and drop off (in addition to dressel). We were in 1104 so we got used to all the diver traffic and had a good look at the pier

Dressel isn't bad per se, just expensive and boring. They're just not geared to experienced divers, and the DM we used for the one trip we did with them, was little more than a baby sitter.

I also think the the star was too far from town, but the family liked the AI thing.

 

[Christi]

To reiterate, I just came from there, and nobody was collecting fees or checking who pulled up.

Trust me, they are checking who is getting on outside operator boats and how many, whether you noticed it or not! They don't necessarily want you, the guests to know that they are "penalizing" you for diving with an outside op because they know people are angry about it. Some of the operators don't even know it yet because they haven't received their bill yet!

I agree, $1 is not much, but it is the principle. As a guest there, you should be able to dive with whomever you want without consequence.

 

[Caryn]

Christi, if its a public pier, will the dive op "have" to pay the bill when they receive it? Or can they just ignore it?

 

[ggunn]

Trust me, they are checking who is getting on outside operator boats and how many, whether you noticed it or not! They don't necessarily want you, the guests to know that they are "penalizing" you for diving with an outside op because they know people are angry about it. Some of the operators don't even know it yet because they haven't received their bill yet!

I agree, $1 is not much, but it is the principle. As a guest there, you should be able to dive with whomever you want without consequence.

I guess I just don't get it. Surely the $1/diver is not enough money to impact the resort's economy appreciably. If they don't want the divers to realize it's happening, then they are not using it to try to influence their behavior, i.e., to "encourage" them to use their own op. Are any outside dive ops refusing to serve the resort's guests because of this fee? If not, then there's another non-reason.

If all the fee is doing is pissing people off, and if it's not doing the resort any significant economic good, then WTF are they doing it for? I don't get it. It sounds like some sort of pissy political thing, and it seems to me that Cozumel is way too small an island for that to be good for anybody.

 

[Christi]

Christi, if its a public pier, will the dive op "have" to pay the bill when they receive it? Or can they just ignore it?

VERY good question!

First, the pier technically is ot public property, but the beach is. Anyone can pull up to thebeach and pick up customers there and there's not a thing they can do about it.

Another operator on the island, who has been here a LONG time and who knows everybody and has ALOT of connections told me they cannot legally charge us unless they can show documentation proving that they have the concession for the pier. Which I'm sure they would produce if pressed on the issue, authentic or not.

Keep in mind that the Iberostar is a Spanish owned hotel. Generally speaking, they seem to think they are above the law and the "rules" don't apply to them.

Point is that they can and will make it difficult on outside operators until the guests of the hotel complain enough.

 

[Christi]

I guess I just don't get it. Surely the $1/diver is not enough money to impact the resort's economy appreciably. If they don't want the divers to realize it's happening, then they are not using it to try to influence their behavior, i.e., to "encourage" them to use their own op. Are any outside dive ops refusing to serve the resort's guests because of this fee? If not, then there's another non-reason.

If all the fee is doing is pissing people off, and if it's not doing the resort any significant economic good, then WTF are they doing it for? I don't get it. It sounds like some sort of pissy political thing, and it seems to me that Cozumel is way too small an island for that to be good for anybody.

Gordon,

All I can say is that the Iberostar does alot of things that make no sense and don't do any good except piss people off. I can only speculate on their motives for the fee.

They make commissions or fees from the volume that Dressel does. IF they can get more people to dive with Dressel, it helps their bottom line. They may also feel that $1 per day per diver will help maintain the pier. WIth the amount of people who stay there and dive with outside operators, maybe they feel this is significant dinero to cover this so they don't have to take is out of their own pocket.

Who knows? Like I said, tey do alot of thinsg that make no sense, and you are right, there are some politics involved as well.

 

[ggunn]

I didn't realize that the Iberostar is Spanish (as opposed to Mexican) owned. That explains the name, which never made sense to me before; Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula of Europe.

 

[redacted]

Gordon,

They make commissions or fees from the volume that Dressel does. IF they can get more people to dive with Dressel, it helps their bottom line. They may also feel that $1 per day per diver will help maintain the pier. WIth the amount of people who stay there and dive with outside operators, maybe they feel this is significant dinero to cover this so they don't have to take is out of their own pocket.

Who knows? Like I said, tey do alot of thinsg that make no sense, and you are right, there are some politics involved as well.

Maybe their tequila supply room is too full and they want to increase the population of non-divers who will better take advantage of AI offer.