the times of kryptoniteglows

So I booked what looked like a good deal to Freeport, Bahamas for a little unwinding at the end of the semester. I was able to get a Star Alliance flight down to Florida (no direct flights from up here) and picked the cheapest hotel because all I really need is a bed and shower. This happened to be the 2 1/2 star Island Palms Resort, checkout doesn’t say anything about additional resort fees to be paid at the hotel (yea I went to Vegas last year ) and the reviews don’t say anything about getting robbed or stabbed, so I book it. It comes out to $332 for the flight and a 5 night stay. It seems pretty cheap, but not really a screaming deal since I could get a cruise for around that or slightly more and that would include things like meals.

Fast forward a day or so later, the buddy who told me about the great price in the first place, says he has noticed a $15/night per person fee for the Island Palms Resort. Look at the reviews on Expedia and there are a couple of people saying they got hit with a $15/night fee, so I go through the checking out process again to make sure I didn’t miss mention of this fee there, nothing about it though I do see that the price details already list a “Tax & fees” line that equals $15/night already being included in my total. Well, seems like I paid it and shouldn’t really worry. Unfortunately it bugs at me and checking with the hotel confirms an ADDITIONAL $15/night fee for staying there.

Seems like that would have been something important to tell someone booking a room there, in my case it results in my trip costing 23% more! Interestingly enough, checking the same hotel on different sites like Orbitz and Priceline, show the additional $15/night fee extremely clearly. I mean really clearly, it’s listed at least twice in the hotel description and again next to the total price, indicating you pay it at the hotel.

If other sites list the fee, it seems like an error on Expedia’s part and since I paid them, I call them up to hopefully get things resolved. I get connected to rep and they don’t know about the fee (because it’s NOT listed on their website) , he says he’ll call the hotel , and puts me on hold. He comes back a little later and says he couldn’t confirm the fee because the hotel manager leaves at 5. Obviously, I want to get the matter resolved then, otherwise I would not have called then, so I push a little more on the issue. He offers a $50 coupon for future use on Expedia, really not acceptable since my $75 is more than $50 and my money is worth more than a limited and probably exclusion filled coupon. I ask to speak with a supervisor, hoping they have the power to fix things.

There is quite a wait, but I get transferred to his manager. It’s a woman by the name of what sounds to be Donny or Don? Whatever, she points out that a “resort fee” is listed under the hotel details page though it does not list the price. Of course I stick to my point that the information about a resort fee was not listed during my checkout, I certainly shouldn’t be expected to check obscure links to what is incomplete information anyway. I point out that Orbitz has the information listed very clearly on their site and it is also displayed when checking out. We probably go back and forth on that for way to long. She tries to offer me the $50 coupon again (they must hand out these things like candy), waiting to see what happens when I go to the hotel, and even canceling the hotel. Well, I have a nonrefundable flight that is really no good without a hotel to stay at… We get to switching a hotel, not exactly an ideal solution, but I recalled the price difference wasn’t that much more for the next hotel in the price list. I ask for the price of the next cheapest hotel and she provides me with the most economical option that happened to cost $236 more! Yes, she said “economical”, nice that she didn’t call me a cheapass, but price difference isn’t going to fly if I’m already complaining about $75. Eventually we end the call because we really weren’t getting anywhere.
Following day I use their contact form to type up my issue and link to some screenshots of their website obviously being inconsistent.
1. Looked up one of the Vegas hotels with a resort fee, it is listed quite clearly next to the total price.
2. The taxes & fees line when booking at Island Palms Resort, which happen to be $15/night.
3. The price details of another hotel in Freeport which doesn’t have any additional taxes (inferring I must of already paid the resort fee and should not be paying it again at the hotel).
This auto replies with a case id, so later in the day I decide to call to see if I can get a rep to help me. I cannot remember what I talked to her about because I was transferred to her supervisor, Tyrone. He sure made an impression and not a good one. I guess they have a file on me as he mentions he sees my conversation with Don yesterday. He keeps cutting in and out, which odd as I no trouble speaking to his rep before. I move closer to the window and speak even more loudly, but apparently it was not helpful as I lose the call. It wasn’t even like the call was breaking up, but more like he was muting it on purpose to mess with me. Anyway, he just didn’t seem all that competent, one of his lines was that we advise you to take a credit card to cover incidentals. Like WTF? I don’t know why that comes into play, but you need a credit card or deposit when checking into a hotel normally…. And he also mentions that there are taxes on everything. Well, coming from the Delaware area, taxes are not commonplace for me at all.

I get the tier 3 support number from a friend with the same issue, which apparently routes to their US corporate offices. First time I call in, apparently their computer systems are down. Rep advises me to call in an hour. I give them several hours and try to call in again, I’m waiting for a very very long time to get though. I talk to a woman who seems to know what I am talking about as soon as I mention Island Palms (so obviously I am not the only with this problem, this was NOT user error), unfortunately we also do not really get to a resolution here either. Main points are these:
-She reiterated that resort fee is listed in their obscure link, she will “advise” them of my complaints of incomplete and inconsistent information.
-She says the page is the responsibility of the hotel.
-She is not really able to explain what/where my taxes & fee portion of my payment went. Just that they are taxes and fees, it is the hotel’s.
-She did offer me to switch hotels and this time there was availability at a cheaper hotel, so the difference that I had to pay would only be $35.
I kinda of wanted to take it, but at the same time I felt really conflicted about giving this company that is screwing me, more money. It’s like rewarding them for bad behavior. I ask her to comp it for all this trouble, she shoots me down point blank and says they will not do anything of the sort. I get kind of close to paying for the change, but she couldn’t assure me there would be no additional fees. That ticked me off, apparently they do not know nor do they stand by what they sell. We end the call because I really felt overwhelming strongly about not giving them more money for this bad behavior.

At the end of that call, I was pretty mad and could feel my skin burning. Even had a minor nosebleed, that is how stressed I was by the whole situation. Eventually I calmed down, decided I would just take the +$35 hotel while could, so I call their normal support line, thinking it would be a quick change. While the rep I talked to was helpful, she could not make the change due to the coupon I use for the package deal, so she called up their help desk. It takes a long while and they are not able to take care of it either. So I get transferred to her supervisor who probably contacts their tier 3 support, which I should of just called directly. All in all, it takes over 55 minute to make this change, but to their credit, the rep/supervisor would return to the call every so often while I was hold letting me know they were still there and just holding for the internal line.

I really was not happy about giving them more money, but I felt a ton of stress lifted after I got that change made. Talk to the friend again, that gave me the tier 3 number and find out he was able to get the issue resolved with Expedia and even got a nice coupon that was more than $50! I get his ref number so they know I am not blowing smoke and waited over 30 minutes before anyone answered their tier 3 line. The man I talked to, basically said that they handle things on a case by case basis, so even with the reference number, they could offer me nothing in the way of compensating me for my troubles and they consider the matter resolved.

I should pursue things on principal, but it’s not worth the stress of dealing with Expedia. Plus they are going to put me over my cell phone minutes for the month. I get nothing for wasting 4.5+ hours with them on the phone and giving them $35 more of my money. I hate to think of where I would be if availability didn’t open up at the more “economical” hotel or I got hit with this surprise fee while checking in.

Moral of the rant: Expedia will gladly take your money, but they will absolutely not help you with any issues, even errors on their own site.

The weather finally turned around and it was a nice day for once. Though I didn’t do much in the way of rides. If I recall correctly I watched the Jedi Training, then Tiana’s showboat julblee thing, and then the High School Musical thing. The latter wasn’t really worth watching but it was part of my “do everything” checklist.

I of course went on Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and rode to the pirates lair. That would have been an awesome place to have watched Fantasmic. I think I read that “tip” but forgot

I also waited for what seemed like forever to meet Tinkerbell in pixie hollow and Mulan in the Princess Fairie. There were 3 chracters in each of the areas, but I forgot their name or didn’t know who they were. There were PhotoPass photographers with each of the chracters so that made things easier and quicker, well at least when it was my turn. The little kids would have long chats with the chracters and their parents would take many photos of their own.

Somewhat understandable, some of the PhotoPass photographers aren’t very good. Particularly the first pictures I had taken where it was cloudly outdoors so they used a bit of flash. I look like a very pale caucasion in them! Ick! Though the others came out better and some photos haven’t shown up online. I hope they are just being slow and not missing… I usually just did the photopass camera because I was going to get the CD. It’s only about $60 which isn’t to bad. The cd at Disney world is about double though. They let you add some borders online or the chracter’s autograpgh, which adds a special little touch to the pictures. It would be nice if they let you add ride photos to the photopass, but that would just be to good

Just checked a bag for $20 at the airport and the stupid bag prevented me from getting on an earlier flight! I should of just carried it on

However after the flight, I’ll at least be premier with united and get waived baggage fees for the next year. Not sure where I’ll go to actually utilize this “benefit” though. Maybe Disney world?

Finally seeing some of the Californian sun but it did keep going back into hiding along with bringing some light showers. Nothing compared to yesterday of course.

Saw Aladin yesterday, the genie was much more flamoboyant than I remember. Show seemed to be “up to date”, they were making jokes about the Tiger Woods incident…

Today I caught the pixar parade, the Christmas parade, fantasmic, and the believe fireworks. Fireworks were good, wished they weren’t so late. I had poor seating/viewing for fantasmic so it didn’t seem that good to me.

Tomorrow is the last day, just got to catch the high school musical parade, tiana’s julblee, and the princesses to complete my checklist of going to all the rides/attractions. And the monorail too.

And the bad thing about not getting a rental car is that I’m waiting an hour for the bus this Sunday evening because I was like 1 minute late… Doh! However, if I drove and parked, I would be waiting similar times for a tram and then getting out of the parking garage. I might of been a little more on time if I had a bus schedule but alas I haven’t been able to find one. I should of printed one at home or heck, just review the one I saved on my laptop. I recall seeing the bus only coming every 60 minutes during certain hours/days on it.

Since I’ve been out for nearly 16 hours… I really need a shower

Well the plan yesterday was to go early and get on those rides that normally have long wait, go back to the hotel, and then come back in the evening for the fireworks.

However once you get to Disney, it is hard to leave. I stayed until after 9 only to find out the fireworks were canceled. It rained all day so my jeans were soaked by the time I got back to the hotel. They still weren’t dry this morning.