Earlier this year, one of our roving momrespondents (mom + correspondent) wrote about her phenomenal stay at the Beaches Turks and Caicos Resort , which was an especially big hit with her Sesame Street-obsessed son.
Not long after we published this story, a close friend opted to have us book her winter break at the Beaches Turks and Caicos. Booking the stay was simple, once we figured out the dates and the room type. The operators at Beaches were as nice as can be. The countdown to our friend's warm and sunny vacay was on!
BUT THEN.
The property will close from Sept. 3 to Oct. 15, 2019; Sept. 7 to Oct. 22, 2020; and for an indefinite period starting in January 2021.
Um…that had us a bit worried. We called the resort back and they assured us that everything and everyone was working as normal and would be during our friend's trip at the end of February. Since the reservation was non-refundable (this is often common with all-inclusive resorts), we had to just hope for the best.
THE BEST WASN'T AVAILABLE AT FIRST.
Our friends had to wait a little bit after arriving at the resort for the room, a deluxe Caribbean King, to be ready, which is common for big hotels and resorts. But when her family was finally able to get into a room, it came with not just a totally unattractive, anti-vacation mode view of a construction site and construction fencing but also, non-stop 24-7 all day and night long generator noise. Ay, yi, yi.
Ugggh. #beachesresorts #sesamestreet https://t.co/0GlxPVmw0r
— Trips + Giggles (@TripsnGiggles) February 25, 2019
Our client was P I S S E D. And the front desk was saying there weren't any other rooms. There might be a room available in a few days. U G H.
My first advice to her was to ask to speak to the manager. Oftentimes at all-inclusive resorts, your best recourse when things go wrong is to constantly ask for a manager. It's a pain, but persistence pays off. Eventually someone will listen to you.
However, as a travel agent I was also able to reach out to the managing director, the general manager and the sales director on her behalf. While the family had to spend one fitful night of sleep near the random generator, they were moved to a new room the next day and ended up having the blissful, sun-filled vacation they had planned on.
While I'd like to say the moral of the story is to use a travel agent (which is definitely true for some vacations), the real moral is that Beaches Turks & Caicos should not be selling any rooms that face this noise and construction site. And if they must, they should discount them heavily. Still, if you're keen on staying here, avoid the Caribbean Village.
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