One of the first things Kevin “Coop” Cooper told me when we met up yesterday to ski at Kirkwood is that it’s “just” Kirkwood, thanks very much. No clever tagline.
It doesn’t need one. Kirkwood is … well, Kirkwood. It’s that Northern California resort that gets all the snow, that stands for adventure, and that attracts a certain clientele. A clientele that’s all about the mountain.
[continue]
That’s what Laura Bradmeyer says a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hotel did to her parents when they tried to check in recently. A receptionist told her father the hotel wouldn’t honor his reservation.
“He was told that no women were allowed,” she remembers. “My parents were not charged anything, but they were turned away.”
Eventually, her parents found a room in a different hotel. But Bradmeyer wonders: is the resort allowed to tell guests to leave because of their gender or sexual orientation?
[continue]
Like many resort hotels, the Marriott San Juan Resort and Stellaris Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico, adds a fee to its daily room rate to cover amenities such as bottled water, a casino coupon, local phone calls and wireless Internet.
[continue]
Nicholas and Katherine Welch didn’t have a good honeymoon. Actually, that may be something of an understatement. It was dreadful.
The Welches thought they’d done everything right. They visited St. Lucia, which is one of the most popular honeymoon destinations in the Caribbean. It’s also a gorgeous island. And they booked through a reputable all-inclusive resort, Sandals.
“We had a horrible experience that will remain with us for our whole lives,” Katherine Welch wrote to me. “Please help us.”
[continue]
When Chuck Berg tried to maneuver his way back to the Le Méridien in Phuket, Thailand, on a recent visit, he ran into a little problem: a rock on the side of the road, which dented the side of his rental car.
Berg thinks Le Méridien should cover the $175 deductible because the accident wouldn’t have happened without an unfortunate series of circumstances to which the resort’s employees contributed.
Today’s “can this trip be saved” case will force us to draw a line between a hotel’s liability and a guest’s personal responsibility. And I should warn you, this is not an easy one.
[continue]
Chris and Shelley Harper had hoped for a week of R&R with their two young children at the Riu Tequila, an all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. But instead, Shelley ended up in the emergency room with apparent food poisoning.
I won’t bury the lede, as they say in journalism. She made a full recovery. The Harper’s bank account, however, is $1,849 poorer. (Wow, those Mexican hospitals are not cheap.) Who is responsible for her hospitalization, and who should pay?
Those are excellent questions, to which the Harpers still don’t have an acceptable answer.
[continue]
The Langham Huntington, Pasadena is billed as a five-diamond “iconic landmark hotel” at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. You can’t get a room next weekend for less than $200 a night.
But Joanne Pratt won’t be checking in to the Langham any time soon. During her last visit, she had an accident — I’ll let her explain what happened in a minute — and she wants me to help make things right.
[continue]
