Zulum, We have your reservation, just not the room [Archive]

View Full Version : Zulum, We have your reservation, just not the room

AnyMan

18th May 2008, 10:55 PM

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
The long and short of it is that the folks at Zulum were dishonest and rented our room out from under us.

We reserved and paid for a king beach front room months in advance. Since we had used a third party booking service, we followed up with an email 1 month before our stay and received confirmation from the manager that everything was fine with our reservation.
When we arrived, everything was not fine. Instead of being upfront that there was a problem, they simply checked us into a double (not king) beach front located in the attic space above the room we booked. I am 6’2” which meant I could only walk directly down the middle of the room, where the peak of the roof was. Also, I did not fit on the full sized bed.
When we pointed out that this was not the room we reserved, they first said they could not be responsible for what the third party booking service told us. When we produced a printout of the emailed confirmation from the manager, we were told he no longer worked there and they could not honor what we had been told by an ex-employee one month earlier. They also went on to explain that they rented the room we had reserved to people who were going to stay for a longer period of time than we were. Basically, they cancelled our reservation because they found someone that wanted to rent the room for more than the 4 days we had already paid for.
Finally, after the situation deteriorated more, the manager became involved in the discussions. It turned out it was the same manager that had confirmed our reservation. The same individual we were told no longer worked at the hotel.
This was a bad situation that was handled very poorly. During the check in process it was obvious there was some sort of an issue with the reservation, but instead of explaining that there was a problem, they tried to trick us into accepting a different room. Once they were "outed", their refusal to take responsibility for the situation was infuriating.
If you have a reservation there, I would be concerned that it will not be honored. I wish I could tell you how to make sure your reservations are honored, but I can't. We asked several times what we should have done to make sure our reservation had been honored, but they refused to answer the question.
Thanks for letting me rant, but Zulum is to be avoided!!

TnTWalter

19th May 2008, 02:34 AM

That stinks! Please tell me you ended up somewhere else that was wonderful?

DougSR

19th May 2008, 05:27 AM

Thanks Anyman. When a problem arises honesty is generally a good policy and when someone can't admit they even made a mistake...well that is just wrong.

minniemex

19th May 2008, 06:11 AM

That really is bad. I have no answer for your question - how can a person be sure that they are going to get what they paid for?? Is there a chance that the third party you booked through can get you some compensation?? I understand that doesn't change the horrible mess you had, but maybe it might be something Zulum will understand?? Who did you book thru??

PhyllisB

19th May 2008, 07:14 AM

Yikes, that sounds dreadful. After all of the reports of them being slow to get back to people, too, it is sounding like they have some serious customer service issues. Thanks for filling us in on the details.

I hope you have also written or talked with the booking agency--they ought to know this is going on as well, because they will be stuck in the middle every time this happens and may want to reconsider doing the booking for them.

Where did you end up?

think

19th May 2008, 07:54 AM

Sorry to hear about your bad experience :mad: Thanks for letting everyone know. I was originally looking at booking my stay there. Glad I didn't.

letele

19th May 2008, 08:07 AM

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience! I too was originally looking at Zulum...glad they were booked for the week I'll be there!

AnyMan

19th May 2008, 09:25 AM

We booked through LocoGringo because we could not get a reply directly from Zulum (foreshadowing?). LocoGringo has told us they refunded 100% of our money but I have not checked our credit card yet. LG was very apologetic. The only issue with LG was that there was no way to contact them on the weekend which is when we arrived.

We ended up at Nueva Vida de Ramiro for two nights and Casa de Miel for two nights so we did pretty well finding a place to stay in a pinch.

DougSR

19th May 2008, 09:27 AM

That is very cool of LG. Those guys are great to work with.

I'm interested to hear about Nueva Vida de Ramiro. It looked like a sweet little (growing) place.

mgsipa

19th May 2008, 10:14 AM

I think there are quite a FEW things we can do, starting with none of us staying at Zulum in the future and letting them know why. Management at Zulum can easily be sent a link to this thread where they can see that people do talk about it long after an incident, not only the day of the incident. The Internet is a very powerful tool.

When I got hurt on Copal's beach due to their staff's negligence I took Copal on by myself and got 6 of my 7 day stay reimbursed. It was a battle for a while, but my mention of my willingness to talk about the incident on TripAdvisor had a lot of leverage.

When things like this happen we can also take a petition and as a group email a resort manager asking for restitution for the damaged vacation. I know, it's a few minutes out of each of our own days, but I think that as a group we can help each other as the need arises.

DougSR

19th May 2008, 10:20 AM

I've already emailed them...

"I'm a frequent traveler to Tulum. In fact, I was there last week. Based on this person's experience and post on Tulum.info you can bet I will NOT be staying at Zulum.
http://www.tulum.info/showthread.php?p=24580#post24580 (http://www.tulum.info/showthread.php?p=24580)"

TnTWalter

19th May 2008, 10:24 AM

I 'almsot' stayed in Nueva Vida Horizonte Perdido. Looked fabulous. I went back and forth and back and forth. LOL.

We enjoyed breakfast there and saw a few people coming to place orders to be delivered to their rooms...that would be awesome!

I was not a fan of the fencing around the property though and the beach chairs looked a little uncomfortable but not a big deal...

Would love your opinions and reviews on those properties and ......

Do you have a trip report brewing for us?? I'd love to see pics of both properties.

:beerchug:

DougSR

19th May 2008, 10:27 AM

AnyMan

19th May 2008, 11:30 AM

Thanks everyone for you sympathy and email action regarding Zulum.

Nueva Vida was great. We stayed in Alma del Mar (or something like that) which was right on the beach (near the fence). Since the cabana sit up on stilts, the fence was not an issue at all with respect to the view. Additionally, there are many gates so getting through the fence was not an issue either. The staff was great and very responsive. As many others have mentioned, the restaurant is on the other side of beach road so it is a little warm and not all that convenient.

I would definitely recommend it to others and stay there again.

Salome

19th May 2008, 05:11 PM

We already have reservations (through a third party agency) for next week. I contacted the agency with the information and they reassured me that they would refund my money if our reservation was not honored.

We will take our chances, but I guess it would be good to have a back-up plan just in case.

Thanks for the information. Hopefully we will not have the same problem.

DougSR

20th May 2008, 11:32 AM

AnyMan

21st May 2008, 07:17 AM

That is not the one we stayed in.

Here is a pic of ours - it is south of the one in your picture.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll235/anyman_bucket/PICT0028.jpg

Here is a link to more pictures of the inside.

http://www.nuevavida.com.mx/almadelmar.html

DougSR

21st May 2008, 07:43 AM

Those seemed really nice. I would love to stay there don't get me wrong.

Lynnette

21st May 2008, 08:51 PM

Salome

1st June 2008, 06:30 PM

We just returned, and had exactly the opposite experience with Zulum!

Unfortunately, I misread the final reservation that we made and arrived one day early.

The staff was extremely accomodating and understanding.

The first night we were put in an ocean front room on the ground floor (not what I had originally asked for, but I am the one who made the mistake with the dates).

The next day they moved us to the second floor of the same building. The move was simple and smooth with their help.

We were very happy with the service and amenities at Zulum, and would definitley recommend them to anyone who wishes to have an enjoyable relaxing stay in a beautiful facility with top notch staff!

I believe that a hotel should not be written off simply because of one negative review. We were nervous about our stay after the initial negative post, but I am happy to say that our experiece was completely positive.

We loved Tulum and the tranquil feeling of the beach and town....

We just returned today, so I will post pics and a bit more detail later!

AnyMan

1st June 2008, 10:42 PM

I am glad you had a good experience Salome.

I would normally not write off a business due to one bad experience. We are exactly the type of people that would write off one bad review and stay there anyway. That said, this was not a case of simply poor service in my opinion.

Zulum made a choice to rent out our room (prepaid) to someone who was willing to stay longer (read as pay more). What really got us was how Zulum dealt with the situation. Claiming they were not responsible for what LocoGringo told us, telling us that they were not responsible for emails sent by former employees, telling an employee no longer worked there when it was actually the current manager, telling us they did not have time to document they would be refunding our money . . .

In a strange coincidence, my brother-in-law and his family stayed there in April for a couple of nights on their way to Belize and had a good experience. On the return trip they stayed again but were not nearly as satisfied. On the way down they had made an internet reservation and Zulum allowed them to put 5 people in a room. On a return trip, Zulum charged them substantially more and refused to give them the same rate again. They also demanded that they rent an extra room because they did not allow 5 people in a room. They finally did allow the 5th person, but would not supply a cot as they did before. As a result, one person had to sleep on the floor!:mad: These two stays were only a week apart.

I think you are taking a big gamble staying there. With all of the other tremendous options on beach road, I would not risk my vacation.

Jack

AdGuy

2nd June 2008, 08:05 AM

Hi Jack (wait...am I allowed to say that on a travel site?),

First off, that just downright sucks about your experience with Zulum. The line "no good deed goes unpunished" comes to mind as it seems you did everything right (went through a reputable booking agent, reserved far in advance, paid upfront, confirmed your reservation, brought your paperwork) and, yet, still got hosed! :eek:

I also agree with you that it was less about the reservation being messed up and more about how staff decided to deal with the problem. I fail to see how they could have handled this more poorly! Whiel it's good to see that some visitors don't have a problem, the reality is NO guests should experience what you went through. With so many other great spots, I can't say I'll be staying at/recommending Zulum.

Thanks for sharing your experience,

Gale in KY

2nd June 2008, 08:32 AM

Just to add, I would make sure that Kay and Gary (owners of LG)get this story from you personally...they need to know exactly what happened here, as this is not the kind of experience they want any of their customers to have..and hopefully they can correct it in the future so it doesn't happen again.

I know you are a member of LG..I would PM Gary..Kay has a block on her email and pm's status for obvious reasons..but let Gary know (he is also Zorro..lol).

AnyMan

2nd June 2008, 11:41 AM

Thanks Lee and Gale. My wife has been in contact with LG.

I just checked out tripadvisor and saw that some else (i swear this is not me using an alias) had trouble there just trying to get the rate that was advertised on the website.:eek:

Thanks, Jack

ziggy

2nd June 2008, 03:31 PM

I find experiences like yours to occurr more frequently in MX than in the US. We would never expect a reservation of ours to be changed to accomodate a guest who will be staying longer, during the low season, to our detriment. Last week we were in Playa Del Carmen and we were a little disappointed that the hot water never got hot. We were not told until we complained that the hot water heater was broken. It's almost like they fear that if they admit to a problem we will insist on a refund or partial rebate and they don't want to put themselves in that position.

The most important thing in Mexico is the Peso. Money is scarce and noboday wants to give it up and everyone wants to maximize revenue as much as possible, sometimes even it means being dishonest or lying.

I always feel the street vendors will "yes" you to death until they get your money. Then you're on your own. I just use this as forewarned is forearmed and govern myself accordingly. I understand that economic pressures are more severe in Mexico and guide myself appropriately.

Finally, as with most posters on this thread, I think the way to fight back is exactly as people have recommended, economically by boycotting the property and submitting reviews indicating the reality of what goes on there. I feel for you and sympathize with what you went through.

mike

8th June 2008, 04:27 PM

So sorry that happened, and we will not stay or recommend Zulum based on your experience. You can count on Kay to make things right and refund your $$. NV looks great to me, but I agree, the fence should go!!

I stayed in nueva vida last year for my honey moon, had the best vacation ever. The cabaña was great and so was the staff.
I think maybe the fence has something to do with the fact that they take care of sea turtles. they are part of a program to help them. When we were there we were lucky enough to see baby turtles being liberated in the sea. I suppose the fence might stop the turtles from nesting inside the property and the nests being damaged. I'm not really sure. But the view from the cabaña we stayed in was not interrupted by the fence.

Lynnette

9th June 2008, 06:22 AM

I wonder if the fence also helps with beach erosion there. It might depend on their location on the dune. Fence or no fence, NV will be my first choice on our next trip.

DougSR

9th June 2008, 06:34 AM

I wonder if the fence also helps with beach erosion there. It might depend on their location on the dune. Fence or no fence, NV will be my first choice on our next trip.

The fence isn't really near the water. I talked to a guy who stayed there and he loved it.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s153/Stars_Fan/Picture130.jpg

Lynnette

9th June 2008, 06:53 AM

Doug....from recent photos it looks like Suenos has lost a bit of beach and vegetation...possibly from Dean. Did Elizabeth mention anything about that to you?

mike

9th June 2008, 10:10 AM

I wonder if the fence also helps with beach erosion there. It might depend on their location on the dune. Fence or no fence, NV will be my first choice on our next trip.

I think this might have something to do with it too. I had forgoten about this, but I remember every morning the staff of nueva vida cleaned the algae off the beach and some of it or all was left by the fence, then covered with sand, i was told it was done to create a dune. the beach is wide in front of nueva vida.

DougSR

9th June 2008, 10:36 AM

Doug....from recent photos it looks like Suenos has lost a bit of beach and vegetation...possibly from Dean. Did Elizabeth mention anything about that to you?

No she didn't. But the beach erosion at Suenos was much less than Cabanas Tulum. I would walk way out into the ocean compared to CT.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s153/Stars_Fan/Picture252.jpg

DougSR

9th June 2008, 10:38 AM

By the way, Dean did take out a lot of vegetation. I compared the photos of Los Lirios with what we got when we were there in September and I was really amazed. It's coming back though.

Lynnette

9th June 2008, 12:05 PM

By the way, Dean did take out a lot of vegetation. I compared the photos of Los Lirios with what we got when we were there in September and I was really amazed. It's coming back though.

Yeah...vegetation does come back fast. From your angle the beach looks fine to me at Suenos....and there's our palm, although a bit buried in the sand. It used to be above the sand far enough to see the whole trunk...great place for a photo op! I forget how beautiful the azure water is!!!

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s153/Stars_Fan/Picture252.jpg

DougSR

9th June 2008, 12:12 PM

Something Jorge and I talked about in depth was is use of the dune leading up to the actual Suenos property. Pretty intellegent guy. Instead of leveling the sand down to the water, he purposefully left the dune. As you know, it's about a 3 or 4 foot drop down to the beach and will protect his hotel when the hurricanes come through. Places like Los Lirios leveled the property down to the water and then built a wall. I can tell you that wall got demolished when Dean came in.

The addition of vegetation on Jorge's dune will help keep it in place when a storm surge hits.

PhyllisB

9th June 2008, 12:40 PM

Yep, it's that kind of thinking that saved us when Wilma came through. Suenos was one of the first hotels to reopen after Wilma in '05, and we talked about that back then with them too. Smart folks they are!!!!!

I do think the beach itself seems smaller (not from the pix, but from when we walked by last Nov) -- feels like Tita gained some beach and Suenos lost some. And the fence that was put up did some damage to the dune, I think. But with a little sprucing up it'll look like as good as new!