Summer time = vacation time. Vacation time should be a time to relax, enjoy your family, share amazing experiences and explore a new place. Getting a "great deal" on a vacations *should* be the icing on the cake. Well, ladies and gentleman, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This is the stuff a Saturday Night Live skit is made from, people.
Our headache experience began with having to re-book our vacation. Now, I am to blame for this part, and lesson learned. One of the "marketing people" was extremely rude, accused me of voilating the terms of thier agreement, and would not listen otherwise. I should have known from this point that nothing would fare well from using this company. However, when bringing this up during our "one-on-one" experience with the sales girl during the "high pressure sales" pitch, she informed us that their "marketing group" was not affiliated with them. Ok. I have worked in sales. Numero uno, you do not divulge to potential buyers that any arm of your "company" is contracted out. No wonder one hand does not know what the other hand is doing with this company.
Which brings us to the nightmare of checking in. My family stayed at a "resort" in MB. This condo complex had a myriad of problems of it's own, which will be filed in a seperate report. However, we had some very exhausted children in tow. Bickering, tired from the drive, ready to settle in and simply hit the pool. But nothing is ever easy, is it? We were told by the Festiva Reps at check in that check-in was at 3pm. No problem. Get to the place, nope. Check-in is at 4pm. And the clerk said, "Yeah, Festiva tells it's customers that check in is at 3pm, but it is really at 4pm."
In addition to the lack of communication between the resort and Festiva, we were not told about the $100 security deposit that had to be plunked down upon check-in. The member of the "marketing company" they use also told me on the phone that I would have to pay taxes when I arrived, stating "they are only like, 10-12$ a day." Therefore, I was not expecting to pay, in addition to a $100 deposit, an additional $70 in taxes and fees, which does not equate to the 5-10% entertainment tax in accordance to SC law. The clerk I checked in with also went on to tell me that he was happy I was at least told about some taxes, because Festiva "never tells people about that and they always get mad."
You would think that this is the end... It is not. I was also told by the marketing rep I spoke with, who really was a very nice man, just uninformed by the company they were contracted out of (Festiva) that I would recieve a $50 credit to my card once I attended the lovely 90 minute tour of the property. At the end of the excrutiating presentation, where the sales people were rude and unconvincing, we recieved a $50 visa card. This was not a credit to my account as promised.
At the end of the initial booking phone call, the confirmation specialist mentioned a three day, four night trip to Orlando, "just for booking this trip." This was never mentioned again by anyone from Festiva, which is fine, because I will never do business with this disorganized company again, nor will I refer any of my friends, and will make it my job at least for today to spread the word.
Festiva, here are a few suggestions:
Communicate with the companies you work with, and train your sales people not to let potential buyers know you probably don't have anything to do with your marketing team.
Communicate with the properties you work with so that people aren't angry initially with you when they come into the presentation.
The property that we were shown on the tour put the property we were staying in to shame. So... This makes me think that booking a vacation using the adventure club is like a game of Russian Roulette. Sometimes you might get lucky and stay somewhere very nice, other times you might get a place with a dirty shower, a hot tub that has no water in it, and a delayed check-in.
Lesson learned. If it walks, talks, and looks like a "too good to be true" experience, it probably is.
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