Kevin Kordosky’s girlfriend is pregnant, but thanks to the Zika epidemic, they’ll have to cancel their Caribbean vacation. Worse, they soon find out that Sandals won’t refund their money. Can I help?
SANDALS
Construction noise ruined my Sandals vacation in Barbados
When Lisa Chiarello’s Sandals vacation is ruined by construction noise, the resort offers two “free” nights. Is she entitled to more?
Not the “Sandals difference” she was hoping for
The “Sandals difference” is that this chain of all-inclusive “luxury” resorts offers “the most romantic getaways with quality inclusions.”
Help! My hotel is being renovated – and my vacation just got a lot more expensive
Question: I’m hoping you can help me. My entire extended family booked an expensive vacation at the Veranda Resort in Turks & Caicos for a week. My immediate family had stayed there last spring and we loved it. When we booked it, it was managed by Grace Bay.
We found out less than a week ago that it was being taken over by Beaches, which is owned by Sandals, was being shut down, and they were refunding our deposit (although we haven’t seen a penny of the $16,000 yet).
Beaches would not reimburse us for our flights or any expenses associated with rebooking elsewhere. Our travel insurance also would not pay for any of our expenses.
“When I walked into the room everything was covered with bugs”
If you don’t like bugs, you might want to skip this story. It comes to us by way of Allison Nawracaj, who recently flew to Jamaica for her honeymoon.
Does Sandals owe me anything for deleting my wedding photos?
This is one of the strangest cases I’ve come across in my two decades of fielding consumer complaints. It involves a honeymooning couple’s missing wedding photos, me, and another me.
Rachel Patrick’s destination wedding at Sandals La Toc Golf Resort & Spa in St. Lucia was flawless, except for one little item: her wedding photos, which were taken by a hotel photographer, were missing in action.
Travel agency whacked with $200,000 fine for offering “free” flights with Sandals vacations
The best things in life may be free, but that apparently doesn’t extend to the airfare on your all-inclusive vacation, at least according to the government.
The Transportation Department this morning fined Unique Vacations $200,000 for promoting “free” airfares in connection with its Sandals packages, when, in fact, customers would sometimes be required to pay airline fuel surcharges.
Here’s the consent order (PDF).
That’s illegal, says the government. Any advertising that states a price for air transportation or an air tour is considered to be an unfair or deceptive practice unless the price stated is the entire price to be paid by the customer to the air carrier or ticket agent for such air transportation, tour or tour component, according to the Transportation Department.