Following an exclusive Cayman Marl Road story that Le Soleil d’Or luxury resort was closed down indefinitely, we received numerous social complaints that they were refusing/slow to issue refunds for pre-paid booking for 2018.
Several persons reached out to CMR via our Facebook page and informed us that they had made future reservations to stay at the luxury resort on Cayman Brac. Whilst disappointed that they would not be able to do so they expected a full refund of their booking. However, Le Soleil d’Or was refusing to do so and/or extremely slow to respond.
One page visitor noted that:
Yeah we were pretty bummed they just canceled our honeymoon on us. Reservations on the islands appear hard to come by as many of them are already booked out past February/March. No refund of our money yet either…..or answer to any emails sent to them.
She further explained that she had booked the trip for the couple's honeymoon some time ago and had paid the reservation in full along with the airfare from Seattle. The trip was almost $5,000 not including inter-island travel expenses. They received a cancellation email stating
We sincerely regret to inform you, due to a number of unexpected Technical issues at the end of the le Soleil d'Or annual Maintenance/Refurbishment period, that we are left with no choice but to cancel your reservation at Le Soleil d'Or from February 7, 2018 to February 14, 2018.
Despite promising a refund none was forthcoming. Cayman Marl Road contacted the resort several times during the course of this week asking what the policy was and why customers were having such a hard time. The resort contacted this customer back offering some alternative beach house as an option but with several limitations including no access to the restaurants and bar.
However, since there was initially no mention of that option in the first cancellation email the guests had already started making arrangements to cancel their entire trip. Apparently, there are no other available accommodations on the Brac during that time.
The tourist expressed frustration at the entire incident:
The whole thing is weird and incredibly frustrating. We saved up for a long time to splurge on this hotel for our honeymoon and now they are holding our money hostage which renders us unable to try and secure other arrangements for this important trip.
Another social media poster reached out to us to say they had likewise received no refund.
We have not gotten a refund either for our trip that was going to be in April. (and no returned messages either). We ended up filing a complaint with our credit card company.
CMR reached out to The Minister of Tourism, The Honourable Moses Kirkconnell, and the Director of Tourism, Rosa Harris, but received no response from either party. We also reached out to the opposition shadow minister, Mr. Arden McLean, who agreed this was not a good look for the islands and that he would reach out to the ministry directly.
We also made several calls to the management at the resort. Despite no call back from them either they did find our Facebook page and posted that refunds had now been issued. We are uncertain if everyone is receiving a refund but at least the two persons who publicly complained are now being sorted out.
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