First, I used to be a member of Travel Advantage Network. We had a great experience through TAN when we stayed in Branson. Sometime in my mebership was sold to Global Connections, with the promise of access to more resort areas.
We planned on a trip to the Pocono Mountains in PA in July. I filled out a form with two requested locations that I had seen on the TAN website. After no response, I called Global Connections and was referred to a booking agent for the East Coast. Everytime I called her, I got her voice mail. She would call back in a few weeks after my call. When I finally got to speak to her, she told me the two properties I had requested were not on Global's listings. Really!!! How can an agency be called Global Connections if they are restricted. She booked us into a place called the Carriage House, near the Mount Pocono Inn.
As we drove from Texas to Ohio, I made it a point when we stopped for a few days at a relative's house to call the Carriage House to confirm, as indicated on my written receipt from Global Connections. Two days before our scheduled arrival in the Poconos, I called the Carriage House. They had no reservations for us. I called the booking agent and, you guessed it, got her voice mail. There was an emergency membership number in Kansas to call and I called that number. The individual was very helpful. She found out it was policy not to send the reservation request to the property until the day before. Had I waited until the next day to call, I would have been told that my reservation was confirmed.
Upon arrival (we were early), we looked around. From the outside, everything looked nice. I asked one departing guest "How was it?" He replied, "I've seen better places." We returned later that day and checked in. We were told that we had two rooms connected to make a suite. We went to the adjoining building, where our rooms were located, climbed stairs wirh our suitcases to the top floor and found our rooms. Using the old fashioned room keys, we entered to a small room with a kitchenette on one wall and a bath and shower across from that area. There was a small table and four chairs, a sofa, and a TV in this room. Through a connecting door, we entered the second room, which was larger. This room also had a kitchenette (with a non-working refrigerator), a table with four chairs, and a sofa and TV in this room. There were no beds in either room.instead, both rooms had a Murphy bed, a bed that pulls down from a closet on the wall. And the beds were not queen size. They were doubles. We stayed a week, only having breakfast there and sleeping there. We had no maid service one day, and greasy towels delivered on another. The only restaurant on the property was closed for the summer. Needless to say, we were a little pissed.
When we got back to Texas, I made copies of the pictures I had taken and sent them to the complaints department at Global Connections. I received a prompt phone call, indicating that Global was going to send a voucher to us in the amount of $210.00, which was the booking fee. I could use this voucher for any trip in 2012. Unfortunately, we are going to Japan to seeour son, daughter-in-law, and brand new grandson in July. That's our vacation. I made a counter-offer. I wanted the $210.00 in cash instead. Global balked until I indicated I was fully prepared to contact the BBB, the State Attorney General in Kansas and the State Attorney General in Texas.
I told the representative that the next vacation I book through Global better be 1000 times better than the last one. Global assured me that they were dealing with the property in the Poconos and all but gauranteed that my next vacation with Global will be much better. We'll see. We still have 9 weeks left on this membership, for which we pay a maintenance fee of $358 a year, plus $210 to book. Big mistake on my part. I am still considering a lawsuit against Travel Advantage Network and Southern Journeys. Southern Journeys hosted the presentation.
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