Resorts we should avoid?

[Skittl1321]

And the Secrets/Sunscape GM Armando sent out a sliding scale on May 27th:

The minimum fee for up to 40 passengers per month is $ 66 dollars Americans at the exchange rate of
the day. This payment is made directly administration offices of my client and / or
bank transfer.

Hmm, I wonder what we'll end up having to pay. Maybe we pay the $3 to Alison, and she thinks she has enough customers to pick up all month that it works out? I hope we don't have to pay the full $66 cause we booked the hotel with the information from her that it would be $3 per day Oh well, over the cost of the vacation, what's another $30...

Still, I think this should be charged to the diver by the hotel, NOT the op.

 

[cvchief]

Still, I think this should be charged to the diver by the hotel, NOT the op.

They find doing that annoys their guest. Better to charge the Op and let them eat it or annoy their diver.

I am thinking we at some point should boil this down to a sticky with something like 'before bookimg a room at these hotels, check with your preferred dive op."

 

[Skittl1321]

with something like 'before book a room at these hotel, check with your preferred dive op."

Although- if the information you have is correct, then checking with my op didn't help me.... that wasn't what I was told.

 

[Mossman]

Hmm, I wonder what we'll end up having to pay. Maybe we pay the $3 to Alison, and she thinks she has enough customers to pick up all month that it works out? I hope we don't have to pay the full $66 cause we booked the hotel with the information from her that it would be $3 per day Oh well, over the cost of the vacation, what's another $30...

Or she could pick up 40 divers over the course of the month, charge $3/head, and make a $54 profit.

 

[cvchief]

Although- if the information you have is correct, then checking with my op didn't help me.... that wasn't what I was told.

Well you don't know that anything is a problem for you yet, right?

 

[Skittl1321]

Or she could pick up 40 divers over the course of the month, charge $3/head, and make a $54 profit.

Which probably makes dealing with the book keeping of getting $3 extra per day worth it... If that's what she's doing, I'm okay with it. I don't think the ops are exactly making people millionaires. It's worth $3 per day to get picked up. It's like $20 each way to get to the marina if they stop offering that.

Maybe I don't have a grasp of how much business they have, but I don't think it is likely a small boat operator would have 40 people staying at the same hotel over the course of a month.

 

[Mike]

The minimum fee for up to 40 passengers per month is $ 66 dollars Americans at the exchange rate of
the day. This payment is made directly administration offices of my client and / or
bank transfer.

Well at least it's at the real exchange rate and not 10:1.

 

[Christi]

Well, that is just as good. Charge your divers and let them decide and boycott the flat fees. That would make it viable for a small op.

You didn't get a letter from old Andres at the El Cid saying on June 14 saying that on June 15th they would begin invoicing you 3 dollars americano for every diver every day?

And the Secrets/Sunscape GM Armando sent out a sliding scale on May 27th:

The minimum fee for up to 40 passengers per month is $ 66 dollars Americans at the exchange rate of
the day. This payment is made directly administration offices of my client and / or
bank transfer.
1) increase in passengers brings an increase in the right to use and goes as follows

50 passengers / $ 70 dollars.
60 passengers / $ 80 dollars.
70 passengers / $ 90 'dollars.
80 passengers / $ 100 dollars.
100 passengers / $ 110 dollars.
110pasajeros / $ 120 dollars
120 passengers / $ 130.dollars,
130 passengers / $ 140 dollars
140 passengers / $ 150 dollars
150 passengers / $ 160 dollars as take maximum.

---------- Post added July 21st, 2013 at 12:03 PM ----------



I agree with Christi on that. What I would suggest to you is if you are choosing a hotel, pick one that has a pier you are entitled to use as part of your booking there. These hotels do not allow you to use their pier as part of your stay there, so basically you are staying at a hotel without a pier.

And MMTN, don't try to put words and my foot in my mouth. I will do that all by myself eventually!



Add: the letter are being handed out at the docks on pickups, so if you haven't been to El Cid lately, you may not have received it yet.

I have picked up at El Cid since then - haven't received this - but they were guests of the hotel.

Have also not received this letter from Secrets/Sabor/Reef Residencias - my divers have simply been paying the pier fees to the gaurd.

Charging a flat fee is absurd though. If I paid a flat fee to every pier, I would have no choice but to raise prices across the board - even then, it would be an expense that would not cover itself. Can you imagine?

I now pay $100/month + $2 per diver to use Aldora pier (mpt to mention the significant extra fuel is to pick-up and drop-off there) - then if I add:

$66/month for Secrets
$60/month for Iberostar

That's $226 USD before we've even left the dock - and if I only pick-up 2 divers in the month from Secrets? It's simply a cost we cannot and will not cover! It would be a different story if WE were booking the hotel as part of a package, then of course pier fees would be included - but when a diver chooses his/her hotel and then chooses their operator, it cannot be expected for the operators to cover that.

 

[ggunn]

So that is a distinction without a difference. You won't participate, because you already participate? Close enough. We will claim you as part of the great silent majority then. And you can feel like you aren't changing the way anything in Cozumel happens. :wink1:

As for SCC, I would propose that is different. Their policies don't disadvantage small ops over big ops in a way that could change the face of diving in Cozumel. They treat all other ops the same. They are more an op with a hotel right?

I would not participate in any case. The resorts have a right to conduct their business in any way they see fit. If I wanted to stay at a particular resort, whether or not they charged a couple of dollars a day dock fee would not be a factor in my decision. If my op of choice cannot or will not pick up there, and it's a big deal for me, I have the option of staying somewhere else.

I do not see any difference between SCC's policy and that of the other resorts; they all seek to discourage competition for their resident ops. If the Iberostar changed their policy from charging a dock fee to not allowing any other ops to pick up at their pier at all, would that be better?

I do not see any of this as changing the face of diving. But like the taxi fare brouhaha, it's a non-issue for me.

 

[cvchief]

Well at least it's at the real exchange rate and not 10:1.

Actually, contrary to the cries of 'Oh, pesos are the official currency,' they price their fees in dollars and give you a fair rate in pesos should you choose to pay in the 'other' currency...

---------- Post added July 21st, 2013 at 02:29 PM ----------

I would not participate in any case. If my op of choice cannot or will not pick up there, and it's a big deal for me, I have the option of staying somewhere else.

So, if you find out you can't dive with your op, you might change hotels. I am still going to have to mark you down for a "YES" on the forms....

I do not see any difference between SCC's policy and that of the other resorts; they all seek to discourage competition for their resident ops. If the Iberostar changed their policy from charging a dock fee to not allowing any other ops to pick up at their pier at all, would that be better?

I do not see any of this as changing the face of diving. But like the taxi fare brouhaha, it's a non-issue for me.

SCC = No one uses dock. Equal.

Iberostar = Flat fee and it hurts small ops with less divers to spread the cost to. Unequal.

And I hope you are right. I would quote Christi saying she doesn't pick up at Iberostar. If ALL the resorts follow suit, how will she stay in business. If Christi and ops like her go out of business, you WILL see a difference in the face of Cozumel diving, I submit. Again, though, you don't have to believe me. Listen the the Dive Ops.

Or perhaps changing to larger, more corporate ops is not an issue for you. Hey, some people swear by Dressel, right?