Don't Stay at Mahekal Resort in Playa del Carmen
A Story of Customer Service at Two Resorts in Mexico
I screwed up. I admit it. So why am I writing this article? The reason is that my screw affected my travel plans at two different hotels. Each hotel handled my screw up differently. One hotel was accommodating and easy to work with. The other hotel was a nightmare. Let me explain.
Recently my wife and I decided to travel to Cancun Mexico for a vacation. We booked through Hotels.com for two nights at the Mahekal Beach Resort in Playa Del Carmen, and two nights at the Copal Hotel in Tulum. A few days prior to departure, I was double checking the reservations. I had booked for the wrong dates.
The reservation at the Mahekal was still cancelable so I cancelled it, or so I thought, and booked the correct nights. Unfortunately, I had to cut the reservation short by one night. The Copal Hotel was more problematic. The reservation if cancelled was not refundable.
I immediately called the Copal Hotel. I did not get the name of the person I spoke with, but she was very accommodating and said if the room I booked was available, she would just change the dates for the reservation. She even said if the room we booked was not available she would make the adjustment if any room was available. Withing 24 hours I had confirmation by text and email that my reservation had been changed.
Thinks all was good, we jumped on the plane and headed to Mexico. When we arrived at the Mahekal Resort and went to check in, the lady at the front desk informed me that I had two reservations – one for one night and one for two nights. Even though I thought I had cancelled one reservation, I had not. I take full responsibility.
Then the fun began. I asked if I could get a refund on at least one of the reservations. The front desk person said she needed to check with reservations. She came back and told me I would have to make the change through Hotels.com. So, when I got to my room, I tried to contact Hotels.com. I could not find a phone number on the Hotels.com site, it would not allow me to access online chat, and when I clicked on “Change or Cancel Reservation” the system said that I had to contact the hotel directly, as the reservation was past the cancellation point.
I went back to the front desk and spoke again with the clerk. I told her that Hotels.com had told me to contact the resort directly. She once again checked with the reservation department and came back with the same answer – contact Hotels. Com.
While at the resort I spent at least two hours online and speaking with the front desk clerk, with Hotels.com telling me I had to contact the resort, and with the resort telling me I had to contact Hotels.com.
I even offered that the resort could give us a partial discount, or even a voucher to come stay another date, assuming a room might be available. Again, I was told it was out of the resort’s hands, and I had to contact Hotel.com.
We checked out and went to the Copal Hotel and checked in. The next day I thought I would give it one more try so I called the Mahekal and spoke to the manager who was on duty at the time. He gave me the same answer – nothing he could do, I had to talk with Hotels.com. I even made the same proposal to this manager. Give me a night or a couple of nights in the future and I would come back. Even if they gave me a couple of nights, they would probably make money from me because I think the one night we stayed we spent about $100 on drinks. However, I got nowhere. He insisted I had to talk to Hotels.com.
The day after we arrived home, I called Hotel.com and spoke with a nice customer service representative. She told me that there was nothing she could do because it was up to the resort (the same thing they had been telling me while I was traveling). However, she did say she was willing to call the resort and make an appeal on my behalf because she could see the double booking was a mistake. She put me on hold and called Mahekal. After a few minutes she came back on the line. The hotel told her that because it was not cancelled in advance of my arrival there would be no refund and they would not give any sort of credit for future travel (something they had refused to tell me when I was there in person).
It is not the end of the world. Due to my mistake, it cost me a little bit of money. But the money is not the point. I own a couple of businesses and have been working in businesses for forty years. Customers make mistakes. Businesses make mistakes. When mistakes happen, the idea should be to resolve those mistakes in a way that is a win-win for everyone. I know something about the travel business. Even in high season a resort is not normally 100% occupied, and in a resort that has restaurants, bars, a spa, and other services guests pay for, each occupied room can be expected to generate additional revenue.
The resort could easily have given me a voucher for a couple of nights at some point in the future. I probably would have booked at least one or two additional nights, and probably spent a few hundred dollars or more at the resort in services.
Now, instead, I will never stay at that resort again, and I will of course, in addition to publishing this article, have a story to tell to friends, colleagues and people I meet traveling about the foolish hotel operator in Playa del Carmen, Mexico at the Mahekal Resort who doesn’t understand the basic concepts of customer service.
Just to summarize, if you plan to go to Tulum, consider staying at the Copal Hotel. If you plan to go to Playa del Carmen, DO NOT STAY at the Mahekal Resort.