Rachel Petersen Review of Margaritaville
I stayed at this property last weekend for a bache...
I stayed at this property last weekend for a bachelorette party. Our stay was enjoyable until the final morning when we discovered a gift (expensive hand-painted champagne glasses) for the bride was missing.
We searched and determined housekeeping must've taken them as they were sitting near the trash can. We called to find out where the dumpsters were, as they were truly that important to the bride that her bridesmaids would search for them. We were told that the trash from the prior day would have already been emptied.
Upon check out, we informed the girl at the front desk (whose name I wish I had gotten - she had dark hair and was working the morning of 6/12) of the situation. We believed they had been mistaken as trash and thrown away because they were boxed up and in a bag. She stepped away from the front desk and said she would call the Head of Housekeeping to investigate the matter further.
When she returned, she said that what we were purporting simply "could not be true" because housekeeping had not serviced our room the entire stay, that housekeeping records all rooms serviced. We explained that while we had not asked for a formal cleaning, each day a housekeeper would enter our room (witnessed by multiple people in our party) to provide us with new towels. And each time they asked if we would like the trash taken out, and we said yes.
The front desk agent continually insisted that our room hadn't been serviced and our story was impossible. In essence, she continually insisted that we were lying.
We were incredulous! I have worked in hospitality (including luxury hotels) for over 7 years. I have never witnessed such a startling display of insulting and disrespectful behavior from a hospitality worker.
We were on a tight timeline, so we had to leave with the issue unresolved. We pursued the matter further on our trip home - we called and spoke with another manager who said we would receive a call back shortly. When we didn't receive a call back by 6pm that day, we called again and asked for the GM to return our call the next day.
It took the bride speaking with two different people to receive any reimbursement (although they kept telling her she was wrong). Managment insisted their housekeepers had turned in $10,000 before and had no reason to believe they would take our champagne glasses. Even upper management was insisting we were lying! The bride repeatedly explained that they didn't take the glasses on purpose but were mistaken for trash. It was an honest mistake but it needed to be acknowledged and addressed. Management begrudgingly reimbursed her, but not without continually insulting her and making her feel like she was in the wrong.
As a hospitality professional, I'm appalled by the dismal level of service the management at Margaritaville provides their guests. Every single person involved in the matter should be ashamed of themselves. To call yourselves "hospitality professionals" would be a farce. I've told all of my coworkers at the luxury resort where I work (also in Florida) and I will continue to advise anyone I know not to stay at your establishment.
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