Booking drama
I called back to the privilege club as we never did receive our confirmation. They sent a confirmation immediately when I called but it had the wrong dates on it. I called back to get this corrected and again they immediately sent a new confirmation. When I reviewed the new confirmation I noticed it stated there were 2 adults and 0 children travelling. I called back yet again and this time they finally got it right so I was happy with my confirmation. I then called to book my airport transfers. They had me send them our flight itinerary and then they sent me a voucher we were to give to the driver when we used them. I noticed they had the original incorrect dates and some random bizarre flight details on my travel voucher so I called back again and they sent another copy with the corrected dates and flight details.
At this point I must say I did not have very much confidence with this organization. I am by nature a worrier and I had myself pretty worked up over everything but then decided to just go with it and hope for the best. I can't lie though that the thought didn't cross my mind at least a dozen times that there was a good chance we'd arrive, not have a ride, and likely not even have a room.
Airport Transfers to Resort
The charge for our airport transfers through the club was $78 US round trip prepaid. This rate was per traveler and we were a party of three. I asked how we find our driver and they said to just look for someone holding up a sign. We kind of expected someone to be holding up a sign with our last names or something like in the movies but saw no one holding up anything.
We got a little confused when we arrived because we were waving our transfer voucher around and trying to beat off all the drivers trying to grab our bags. They were offering $40 to take us so I'm guessing we might have been able to haggle a little lower. I kept saying we had a ride arranged and already paid for so no thank you. Hubby was saying there's no one here holding up a sign so we should just make arrangements with one of these guys but I said that I was told they would be there so I'm going to go looking first. I'm not sure at the Punta Cana airport why all these vultures are swarming you at the luggage unload points but if you go to the doors there is a much more orderly line of drivers all holding up their proper signs.
There were a few there that were very smartly dressed holding up very official looking privilege club signs (no specific names) so we approached one and showed him our travel voucher. He then took our luggage and set off at a very speedy clip away from the airport to the parking lot. We were speed walking to keep up but he did get quite a bit ahead of us. At this point I'm thinking "great! we just had our luggage stolen" but it was all good and he was just in a hurry. The vehicle he was driving was a very new mini-van that was all professionally labelled with whatever transport company he worked with.
We are chatty people so tried to talk up the driver a bit but he didn't seem too interested in any banter. He very efficiently drove us directly to the privilege club lounge doors at the Punta Cana main lobby and unloaded our baggage setting it along the wall outside along with a lot of other baggage that was waiting there. He did really need that travel voucher so we gave it to him and he was off.
Privilege Concierge "Pre Check In" Service
As a reminder from my last post, I was told a concierge would contact us about a week prior to our arrival. They told me they would provide me with information on available excursions as well as ask us for our a la carte preferences. As I waited for this contact I was busy researching away on our upcoming trip; mostly on tripadvisor. In the forums on tripadvisor there are some regulars to this resort that had a lot information such as email addresses to the hotel concierge to request room and a la carte preferences up to 10 days in advance. In fact, on the bahia principe resort website they make mention of this fact as well. I waited patiently for this pre check in to occur. At the 5 days before departure date mark I phoned in again asking for this. They then told me that the pre check in service doesn't usually contact you until 3 days prior to your arrival but if I want they could contact the resort to contact me right away. I said yes please.
Within a couple hours I received an email from the privilege club resort concierge(s) with a couple attachments asking fur us to provide names, birthdates and passport numbers for the travelers to aid in a speedy check in. I also stated that if there are any other requests or reservations to be arranged please let them know an they will do their very best to satisfy our needs and preferences.
One attachment contained specific member benefits for this resort:
PRIVILEGE CLUB MEMBERS EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS:
LBP ESMERALDA
LBP AMBAR
GBP PUNTA CANA
- Personalized Privilege Concierge Services (from 8am to 10pm)
- Privilege Lounge, located closed to the Punta Cana and Esmeralda lobby (from
8am to 10pm): Private check-in; Concierge services; Unlimited Internet
Connection; Free international calls; Daily newspapers; Games and Library.
- Privilege Beach, Ambar and Esmeralda, with exclusive services from 9:30am to
5:30pm.
- Premium Drinks included in the Privilege Lounge and the Privilege Beach.
- Access to all the complex facilities and services: Ambar, Esmeralda, Punta Cana
and Bávaro; including pools, bars, restaurants and any other facilities.
- Unlimited a La Carte restaurant dinner reservations with reservation.
- Private transportation through the hotels with our Privilege Club golf carts
(from 9am to 10pm).
- 20% discount on Spa services, massages and treatments (not applicable to
water systems, braids, product retail, special promotions or wedding services)
- 10% discount on excursions (Soltour)
- 20% on photo packages does not apply to individual sessions and wedding
photos.
- 20% discount on motorized water sports and excursions with Scubaquatic (not
applicable for Parasailing and Speedboats). Reservations must be made
through the Scubaquatic office at your hotel.
- 15% discount in the Bahia stores does not apply to internet and calling cards
(attached listing of stores in which the discount is applied).
- 20% discount in cash & 10% discount by credit card at the store “Cosita Linda”
Located at the Punta Cana Lobby & “7 Camicie” Located at the Bavaro Lobby
- Safety deposit box free of charge.
- 24 hours room Service.
- Late check-out (subject to availability).
Another attachment contained a list of the available a la cartes at the resort.
I replied right away with a reiteration of my room requests that they asked me for when I booked the room as well as our reservation requests. Beyond the above list stating the discount I could receive on excursion no info was provided for this like I was told it would be. I did try to search on the internet what may be available through this Soltour company but was unsuccessful.
The privilege club lounge at the Punta Cana lobby was very professional looking but when we arrived it was also very busy. It did take a few minutes before we were greeted but not anything major. They have a kids lounge with a couple computers that my 9 yr old went to right away and the bartender brought him a virgin cocktail (a Mickey Mouse) that made him feel pretty special. The staff were busy attending to others but they did invite us to have a drink and relax until there was a staff member available to attend to us. While we waited, we happily grabbed a drink and took in the atmosphere both in the lounge and outside. The lounge is located very close to the main Punta Cana lobby and is quite majestic.
When it was our turn we were invited to sit at a table and a staff member brought out a package with all of our information. This package contained our wrist bands, a map of the resort, a kid's club brochure, our a la carte reservatiosn, keys to our room, and a copy of the club benefits the pre checkin concierge had sent. The reservations that were made for us were not for the time I requested with the pre checkin concierge and only for half the restaurants. I almost think they set things up on their own judgement and didn't even pay attention to my requests. She put on our wrist bands .... very snazzy black with gold privilege club lettering for the adults and a different color for our nine yr old. She explained our benefits as well as gave as a brief overview of the map. This resort is a complex of five resorts and is very large. She told us the club golf carts were available for us to use and gave a list of numbers to call if we needed anything. We did arrive before the official check-in time so they told us the cleaning staff was working away at getting rooms ready for new guests. She offered to take us to the main Punta Cana buffet to grab some lunch while we waited but we weren't hungry yet so opted just to wait at the lounge ... this is where I think we may have caused the next couple of bumps in our stay...
Our room
I didn't think of this until much after the fact but the club has a Saturday to Saturday booking schedule. Saturdays are their hell days! I learned later that the whole resort was pretty much at capacity so it was just a gong show for all the staff. Here we sat happily sipping on our bevies, not in any rush to do anything; but we were taking up one of their orientation tables and more and more guests were coming in. Their goal was to get the guests efficiently and happily expedited to their rooms.
The lady that had been looking after us came rushing up after about a half an hour and took back our package with a happy exclamation that a room had become available. She scratched out the room number on our package and switched out our original room keys for this one that was ready for us. She then walked to the door and had one of the many golf carts and drivers for the privilege club that were waiting outside load up our bags and send us on our way to our room. This driver was very friendly and chatted us up on the way there and did most of the luggage handling, escorting us and our luggage directly to our room. Our excitement got pretty high that we were on our way to being nicely settled.
The room was on the main floor (I requested not on the main floor) and had a single king size bed when we were travelling as a family. The main floor thing wasn't a deal breaker but we weren't at all pleased at having to share a single bed. Hubby quickly tried to rectify this by calling one of the many numbers given to us by our checkin gal. Within five minutes a lady from housekeeping came by with sheets that she put on the couch for the kid to sleep in. We tried to explain to her that that's not what we wanted ... we were needing two beds ... but her English was pretty poor. Instead of arguing with her when she just wasn't understanding we just let her do the task that had been assigned to her and let her carry on. I was thinking we may not be able to get this rectified for this day so we were set up just in case. By this time hubby was getting pretty irate. I had planned a terrible flight itinerary and we were tired and cranky, we had the stress at the airport with our transfers, and his finger had been stung by something and was swelling up something fierce. The bickering was getting high so I said I would just take care of it and told the boys to put on their swimming trunks and head for the beach - we'll meet up in two hours.
I located the privilege club lounge at Esmeralda. She was pretty busy as well so I did have to wait for a bit. I then explained the situation and she was very empathetic. She called to the front desk to ask for a room with the parameters we needed. We had to wait for a call back and 15 minutes later she got one. She had one of the other staff cover and went to the front desk to get the keys to this new room. She then took me to this room to inspect to make sure it was satisfactory and it was perfect. It was on the second floor, two beds and as an added bonus .... was wicked close to the beach!
So in the end ... we got a room, it was in a good location, and it accommodated all our requests. I can't say at all what our original room would have been like since that was changed. On tripadvisor I had been reading that people (non club members) would get a welcome mickey of rum and a couple t-shirts. We didn't. There was nothing to do with our room that was any different than any other vacationer would get so I saw no privilege with the room; mind you we weren't using an actual membership week but a preferred week. We were very happy with this room and with the Esmeralda resort. We did have a couple maintenance issues but they were dealt with very quickly and efficiently by the maintenance staff.
At booking time the person we talked to mentioned that we could request a PS3 if one was available but with all the other issues I didn't even bother going there.
Privilege Club Lounge
At the Punta Cana resort complex there were two club lounges; one at the main punta cana resort and one at the esmeralda. From what I hear they are also building one at the amber in the near future. To get from our room to the esmeralda lounge would maybe take 3 minutes. It was very convenient.
These lounges even look privileged from the outside. The wall from the outside is all glass but a dark, tinted, mysterious glass which is a very different look from the rest of the resort as there aren't very many walls anywhere.
You enter the lounge to a nice air conditioned coolness. Everything inside looks slick and modern.
The main punta cana lounge is quite a bit larger than the esmeralda one. There is a sitting area where you can visit or just sit with a book or your laptop. In the main lounge there is a situp bar ... in the esmeralda lounge there is a mini fridge and a liquor cart. Good coffee and all the fixings are available. There is also a kid's lounge area in the punta cana lounge with a wii and two internet connected computers ... as well as a few toys for the really young ones. Any time I popped in this room was pretty empty.
Both lounges have free wifi for guests to connect their devices to for internet as well as a number of computers. They also both offer free international long distance calling.
The resort itself provides one hour a day of internet per room when you are in the lobby and anything more is at a charge. At the esmeralda you were still in range of the club wifi if you were right in the front lobby and sometimes in the buffet that is located right above the lounge.
We found the free internet to be a big plus to our membership. The one hour a day offered by the resort wouldn't have been enough for us but we didn't have to go the route of paying more for internet as the lounge offered enough "online" for us.
There was always a snack tray available with pretty fancy looking hors d'oeurves as well as a fruit tray, perhaps some deserts, etc. Plus, they did have slightly better selections of alcohol. Technically, I would argue that some of their hard alcohol selections were a bit off from top shelf but it was of a better quality than offered at the resort bars for the most part. If you are reading from the USA I'm not sure your alcohol there but for example, a top shelf vodka in my mind would be Grey Goose. The lounge would have Smirnoff which in my mind is on the low middle. Overhearing from other guests though, some of the rums they had were of the very best and very expensive quality. Myself I am a beer drinker and they offered cans of presidente ... both light and regular. I came and grabbed a few quite often as the cans were very much preferable to the cups of draft from the resort bars.
The staff in the lounge was also very friendly and accommodating. They made you feel special. Any issues, reservation changes, arranging for rides ... they can help.
We ended up spending a significant amount of time in this lounge (maybe all total a couple-few hours a day). Gave us the opportunity to talk to other privilege members.
Privilege Club Beach
From my understanding there is also a privilege beach in the ambar area but we only saw the esmeralda one.
I have decided we are beach people over pool people. This is only our second trip but both times now we haven't chosen to be at the many available pools very much. While we were staying here we were at the beach a lot and in particular we pretty much stuck to the privilege beach area. Again in this area I was drinking canned beer rather than cups. As well, the bartenders in the area were very attentive and only rarely would you need to go fetch your own drink. Even when you did have to fetch a drink, the area is quite small so it's not very far. There were also staff going by with a broom sweeping of the loungers.
The location was pretty good. The esmeralda area is fairly large and then the privilege area is in between the esmeralda area and the main punta cana/bavaro area. Because it is in between it is fairly close to both of the event areas on both beaches. It is also extremely close to building 90 in the esmeralda complex if you are fortunate enough to stay there (we were in building 92 which is still plenty close).
Also it is less populated so you didn't need to fight for good seating nor play the towel game to be satisfied with your location.
We did see the staff chase out non-members on a regular basis.
Golf Carts
During the day if you wanted to go anywhere you could just go to the esmeralda lobby and there were privilege club carts and drivers readily available.
In the evening when you were trying to get to your reservations and especially the shows it was less convenient. Talking to the staff they'd get on the phone right away to call someone to take care of you but sometimes there was a bit of a wait. We learned after the first time not to leave it to the last minute but the public trams are actually quite an acceptable alternative if your having any troubles.
After the shows or your supper reservation it was more of a problem. We were told there were phones located everywhere that we could call for a ride but we didn't notice any - not that we looked very hard. On the way back we ended up walking sometimes and other times being picked up by a cart. It is a large resort complex but a 15-20 minute walk for us wasn't too much of a biggy.
Other Benefits
The unlimited a la cartes probably would have been a bigger benefit at most the other resorts but at the esmeralda you get that anyways.
I've never gone to a resort spa before but decided to splurge on myself. With the discount it ended up being some really high end services for the same price you could get a questionable massage at home. Very pleased :)
The store discounts you do need to mention it. Also, I learned a good lesson for future trips. Since we stuck to the esmeralda portion for the most part, I saved up my souvenir shopping for the bigger shop at the main punta cana lobby when we checked out. We checked out a bit early and headed there. I did my shopping and when I mentioned my discount was sad to learn that the shops need to key the discounts against the appropriate room. We had already checked out of the room so the system wouldn't allow the discount. Personally I think this is a flaw in the system but it's an easy enough one to work around.
We actually were happy to mostly stick around the esmeralda area so we didn't avail ourselves of any excursions or watersports this trip so I can't comment on that benefit.
That pretty black wrist band let us go anywhere we wanted to in the whole resort complex. The staff do pay attention to what wrist band you have on and I witnessed them having to argue with many other guests to leave the area they were not allowing in. Not for us. We could go wherever the heck we felt like and there was no problem. That in itself made a person feel "Privileged".
Airport Transfers from Resort
This part wasn't as smooth in my mind as getting to the resort but not really bad either. Probably the worst of it is my own nerves. We were there well ahead of time as we were going to do our shopping at that location before leaving. This was another of their "hell days" as they have a lot of people leaving in close proximity to each other being the club is a Saturday to Saturday booking. When it started getting to within two and a half hours of our flight I was ready to go but there weren't any cars available. There was however a co-ordinator in the front of the main punta cana lounge that had everyone's names with when they needed to go. Again my worrying probably got the better of me. When it got to be to about 2:05 before our flight and a 30 minute ish drive to get to the airport I started feeling a bit panicky but then a driver showed up and got us there. It ended up being in plenty of time so I'm thinking these guys probably know what they are doing since they do it all the time. We made it on the plane and home with no troubles after that so all in all ... stress for nothing.
In Summary
I'm going to give a rating out of 5 (5 being the best and 1 being the worst), as well as a very brief overall review, and finally a recommendation to the privilege club for remedy for each of the categories I listed above just in case they read this.
Booking drama rating (1/5)
I'm not sure where the disconnect is happening but the people doing the booking don't seem to know what's actually going on so inaccurate information is being given. As well, I see no excuse to not send a promised confirmation after I've given them a sizable amount of money and then when they do to have the dates wrong.
I have no specific recommendations other than "GET IT TOGETHER". I'm giving a 1 rating rather than a 0 on the pure fact that we did end up having a vacation. The time I spent figuring out our travel itinerary was enough of my personal time to spend on this trip. I shouldn't need to spend multiple phone calls and emails to double check your work as well. You start adding up the cost of my time to the cost of the package and this is turning into a very expensive vacation!
I am not berating my booking agents here either as I'm guessing they are informing us on only what they have been told. Some big changes need to happen here!
Airport Transfers to Resort rating (4/5)
Although this didn't happen as smooth as I would have liked, had the booking people told me what to expect a little better I think it would have gone perfectly.
Now that I know what I know, I would highly recommend booking your air transports through the club. Everything else aside we got where we needed to go quickly and our driver was courteous. Should we have gone private there is always the concern you could be victimized and I was quite happy to not have that concern,
As a specific recommendation to the club ... if someone hasn't traveled to a location before and is asking questions please don't give them vague information. While your there it's relaxing but getting there doesn't need to be stressful.
Privilege Concierge "Pre Check In" Service rating (1/5)
I liked the information they sent as well as the wording in the we are so excited you are coming email but after seeing the result I'm thinking this is only words with no actions nor accountability to stand behind them.
As a person that has invested in this resort chain whether that investment is through a partnership or whatever I expect the money I spent to be for high priority service. When the general public that hasn't given you $10,000 can book their a la carte reservations and room requests before I am offered, I think that is a problem. When I came, the one restaurant I wanted to for sure try was the Don Pablo. I didn't get that reservation and when I tried to get a reservation into it I was told it had been booked up for weeks. How does this even happen? As a club member I feel our requests should be given the highest priority!
When you think of it, we invested in this resort. We could go and book vacations with other resorts and not be a member but since we invested we aren't even looking at other options. I think this should be respected and appreciated.
Initial welcome rating (4/5)
The staff member that attended us was very friendly and informative. I am going to give this initial rating as 4 and hold off on any other comments for our next trip as there were many contributing factors that didn't make this go 100% smooth.
Our room rating (3.5/5)
Hmmm. This one I'm having a hard time with. I was very happy with our room but it could have been better. Also I was rushed into a second room (not sure what the first room was like but it was in building 93) into a room in building 93. Then I changed to a room in building 92 and that's the one I am very satisfied with. The thing is, I was under the impressions that the most sought after rooms were in buildings 90 - 91 ... should those ones be given preference for club members?
Doing some math on the number of rooms and what I witnessed for intake throughout the day I'm thinking we could have been treated a lot better.
As a recommendation for the club, I would prefer to wait for the perfect room rather than be rushed into the quickest room ... and as a club member I think I deserve that.
Privilege Club Lounge rating (4/5)
This I think they got pretty good. The lounges are great from my perspective in staying in esmeralda.
My only critique would be for there to be more computers as there was a queue for them a good number of the times I was in the lounge.
Privilege Club Beach rating (5/5)
This was our favorite place! As it pertains to the esmeralda I feel the location and size and service are appropriate. It's not the absolutely best spot on the beach but I feel it's a perfectly adequate compromise for all the other beach sections.
Recommendation ... keep up the good work!
Golf Carts rating (4/5)
I appreciated these but I think there could be a bit more coordination.
My biggest complaint was with finding a cart after an event or reservation but we didn't look very hard for a phone to call for one so I'll reserve judgement until a later trip. Also, now that I'm home I see the carts are available on the books for up to 10pm. I'm now wondering if maybe the shows ended after their published hours
For a recommendation ... have a couple cart at the entrance to the events for when they end. If the shows are ending after 10 pm, maybe consider extending these hour on the popular nights (Michael Jackson & Circus).
Other Benefits rating (3/5)
As we took little advantage, I don't have a full rating. I was very impressed with the spa discount. I was unimpressed that I couldn't use my shop discount after I checked out ... that one I can adjust for though easily.
Airport Transfers from Resort rating (4/5)
We got there in time but it would have been nicer had it been stress free.
As a recommendation perhaps that wonderful coordination guy with all our names and flight times could have made himself known to us a little earlier to reassure us we weren't simply forgotten rather than when in a panic I start talking to everyone for a ride.
Overall Value rating (3.5/5)
We are not worldly travelers by any means so don't have much to compare to, however when I think of what I hope to get out of a vacation that we save very hard all year to afford to do we have expectations. This investment is more than an investment in the club, it's an investment into the resort chain. I think the partnership and acknowledgement of this could be improved upon.
Also, there are some definite gaps in service which seem to be mostly focused with the pre-arrival process. In my opinion this needs to addressed as a priority as it just makes your whole club look unprofessional and sloppy. These people are our first contact when we are planning a vacation and should be able to highlight the wonderful time we will have, not cause us to second guess our investment into this club. After arrival I think all parties did an exemplary job but the front line staff booking and arranging everything beforehand didn't.
I am pleased with our membership and benefits.
Should any Bahia Principe Privilege Club staff wish to discuss, I would be happy to. I'm locked into you and want to make it better.
