TXRanch

Just got back from an well-known island, where our >$600/night lux resort informed us upon arrival that there would be no Internet (wired or wireless) in any room. Turns out it was down for several weeks and the owners still didn't determine how they would fix or upgrade the system. The only web access was main reception Wi-Fi or a single wired PC, and it was agonizingly slow as all guests had to come to the area to get access. And it was crowded the entire time in the small area. My wife and I both need to be on the grid for work when traveling - even on vacation - so this was a major inconvenience and time suck during our 4&4 on prem.

Upon arrival, we were upgraded like two or three categories to a huge suite without asking. And we were on a highly discounted, last minute rate with a free night and $100/day F&B & Spa credit.

But still, I think we would have booked a different property had we known about the Internet issue. The occasional work both of us had to complete online took 2-3x the normal amount of time by having to go to the main reception area, then fight for meager bandwidth, diminishing the vacation time we had.

Now the question - should we complain to either the hotel and/or the travel broker? We didn't at the time with the hotel because 1) there was nothing the resort could do at the time except, perhaps, throw more credits at us 2) we were already upgraded to their best available room cat and 3) we couldn't book another property. But we still think the hotel's web site -- and the broker's reservation system -- should have informed travelers that the Internet was down across the entire property. It surely would have shaded our decision.

Forum feedback is welcome, especially if you've experienced something similar.

RichardInSF

Welcome to FT, TXRanch! I suspect that to get meaningful comments, you're going to have to be specific about the hotel where you experienced the problem. That's the only way that folks who have already stayed there, potentially the most useful responders, will know to chime in.

If you do that, I can edit the thread title to indicate the specific place which will also attract more relevant responses.

RichardInSF, moderator, luxury hotels

mike_la_jolla

Hmmm. I agree with Richard that more detail is required since the answer depends on the location. If, for example, the 'well known island' was Hawaii, I would have just put my cell phone into hot spot mode and have been done with it. The answer is perhaps different if we are talking about Lizard Island.

Without more detail, my answer is probably 'not much'. I've had lots of trouble with internet at high end hotels.

Raffles

When you arrived you would have known it would be down for your whole trip. You could easily have moved resorts - if you'd called a few GM's of nearby resorts and explained, they would have matched your rate I guess as it is good marginal income if their rooms are empty. By choosing to stay you have weakened your case for compo, and of course you have suffered no financial loss.

behuman

Internet can be and unfortunately still is a pain at many places.

If it is charged at an extra cost and not working properly, the case is easy and I just ask the charge to be waived.

In your case having been upgraded and treated with all possible attentions, you did the right thing not taking it further. You should let us know the name of the resort for advice. If there was mobilephone reception there, they should have given you an USB stick with a SIM card to connect (Aman does that in Sri Lanka).

The worst internet connections I experienced were always at top boutique places in Australia and the fact that all is so perfect makes it difficult to complain.

Perhaps luxury will soon be NOT having internet connection at all . That sounds stupid, but when Aman initially decided not having TV's in their rooms it was a similar thing. It might be the ultimate luxury having to learn NOT to communicate all the time.

RTW1

And the internet wasn't completely down as your title implies.... the time to ask for "compensation" would have been while you were there.