Money missing from safes at Laguna Beach Resort, Utila

[Robertcrockett]

All, I'll chime in with my .02. Troy is a major reason that Utila has become the Mecca for divers that it has become. Between Laguna Beach and the Utila Aggressor Troy has one of the finest dive ops in all of the bay islands. He also has some of the nicest and most pleasant staff I've ever had the opportunity to interact with. Although I've only met Troy a couple of times his appreciation for the beauty of the island and it's reef is apparent. If anyone understands the importance of ensuring excellence in tourism, Troy certainly does. Glad to see him present on the boards and hope he'll continue to contribute.

I agree whole heartedly with the above poster. Laguna Beach is a wonderful place to stay and a top-notch place to dive. I had the good fortune of meeting Troy when I was a guest at LB for part of my stay in Utila last august. In fact Troy took the time to find and introduce himself to me. He is a down to earth, customer oriented type of guy whom I felt showed a genuine interest in my enjoyment and satisfaction as a guest. I appreciated his interest in my stay at not only LB but Utila in general.

 

[Scubagal]

I am the owner of Laguna Beach Resort and am writing to address the issue of the safes and security.

Yes, it did turn out to be an inside job--our longest employee and head of maintenance. He was finally caught in the act. Over the course of the last 6 months we fired 3 people we suspected of taking money from the rooms. We even put him on probation at first, still in denial it was him, but it seems he was swimming across the channel during meal times--even as early as breakfast. It is unfortunate to not be able to trust your employees but it gave us a huge dose of reality. He is currently being prosecuted in the legal system.

Initially we thought the money was taken while out of the safes--it seemed impossible for someone to have a master key since they are all kept in a master safe in the office but somehow a copy was made or stolen at some point in time. We also found out the master key included for each safe opens ALL of the safes--we were led to believe by the manufacturer that each safe had a separate master key. Not so. Obviously we discovered this too late. This could be the case in other scenarios mentioned here as well.

Unfortunately this does not excuse the fact that our guests were being compromised. I sincerely apologize to any guest that felt unsafe while staying here at Laguna Beach. Although we replaced stolen money it does not allow us to overlook a major security issue. We have since removed all safes from the rooms and put a central safe in the main office for valuables. We have also changed all of the locks on the rooms. We also now have 2 watchmen on duty to cover the resort property more effectively.

I appreciate the forum and all suggestions made here and invite any new comments as well. Thank you all for your concern and I look forward to seeing you in the future.


Troy Bodden
Owner
Laguna Beach Resort
Utila Aggressor
Utila Watersports
troy@utiladiveventures.com


Side Note: We have not charged a fee for using a credit card in over 3 years. The bank charges merchants but it is now illegal to charge our customers. However, the US and European credit card companies usually charge fee for using your card out of the country as well as a conversion rate. There is the ISV tax at the bottom of our bill and then the total. If there is a charge on your credit card statement please contact your company directly.

Troy,

Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. I did a lot of soul searching before making this post. My husband and I were very appreciative that you compensated us for our loss and we are very glad to hear the person responsible was caught and is being prosecuted. I think it was a wise decision to remove the safes from the rooms as well as the other steps you have taken. The major point I was trying to get across was that this could happen at any hotel/resort given the right circumstances.

Regarding the credit card fees, this is the exact wording from our final documents from Utila Tours, Inc. No personal checks are taken at the resort. All credit card purchases at resort will be subject to a 7% bank fee. The resort accepts Visa, Master Card, and Traveler's Checks. Is the 7% bank fee the ISV tax you mention above? We paid cash to settle our account (borrowing money from our traveling companions) and there was sales tax listed on the bill. Perhaps you should revise this portion of the final documents that are sent out in the future.

All of your staff at Laguna Beach Resort was exceptional, with the exception of the head of maintenance. They were friendly, welcoming, and seemed to genuinely care that we enjoyed our stay. Our boat crew was among the best we have ever had. Again, thank you for taking the time to post.

 

[Troy Bodden]

Utila Tours is a separate company and are based in the States. I will forward this to them so they can make the appropriate changes. ISV is the sales tax for Honduras and is currently 16%.

Thanks--Troy