This is an FYI to anyone out there thinking of staying at a Sandals resort during the hurricane season. I recently came back from Sandals Montego Bay. During my trip Hurricane Ivan arrived and we were evacuated to another hotel. Sandals prides themselves on their Hurricane Guaranttee and management will tell you over & over again that you will receive a free vacation for the same duration as the one originally booked. Now that we have inquired on how to redeem our "free replacement vacation" its a completely different story.
Has anyone out there gone threw this same experience? If so, can you advise on what your turn out was.

Basically I was told to write a letter to the Guest Liaison department and someone should get back to me in 4-6 weeks.

yeah pretty much everybody that went has had that problem and it's all over the message boards. really sorry but that blue chip guarantee is a load of bs.

That stinks, because they really make a big deal out of that Blue Chip Guarentee in their advertising.

got a letter from smb today that looks like it was written before we were evacuated because of ivan. they are giving us two free nights but have imposed a great number of restrictions on us. i for one will be going somewhere else.

To: DebbieH103

Gee..why didn't I think to get it in writing before I left. Well when you have a Catagory 5 hurricane packing winds over 150mph coming at you and you have less than an hour to pack your things and leave for a safer building there is no time for anything formal. Call the 800#. ..Thanks for the input.. .. ..clueless


To: Traveler

We didn't receive our letter yet. What kind of restrictions did they put on the replacment trip? Also you said they gave you two days. Is that only the remainder of your trip? Did you leave before Ivan hit?

We left befor the himacane hit. I sent e-mails to the company asking for confirmation of what they said they would do. They put a great number of restrictions on it. Black out dates, etc. I am just considering taking my refund, calling it a life lesson and just continue going to mexico for much less and getting better service. Sometimes it just isnt worth the fight.

I am not clueless, but they are not going to be the ones to follow up.

I was there during the hurricane, I stayed through the hurricane. If you left early you got back your unused nights and 2 free nights in addition. If you stayed you get your full vacation plus air fare back, we got our letter last week stating that we will get a free vacation plus air for the same duration that we originally booked, it has to be used within a year, and there are some blackout dates. The other couple who stayed with us also got their letter last week. The 2 couples that left early got a letter stating that they will receive their unused nights plus 2 more nights. I really dont see any problem with their hurricane guarantee, I am perfectly pleased with Sandals. I agree that you could not get anything in writing while there, because it was an emergency to get everyone taken care of, and they really had no time to get letters together and hand them out to everyone, the hurricane was the more important issue at the time. I did not call or write Sandals since I have been back, but was just about to write and inquire about it, but then the letter showed up in the mail.

hey, thanks Robin. sounds like this is the missing link we needed. sounds like what happens in the event of a hurricane is that they try to convince you to leave and if you don't, THEN you get a free vacation. but if you leave, then they give you the runaround. now i understand.

I dont understand the runaround statement, it was fully stated during the meetings and info that took place during the situation, that anyone leaving would get their unused nights plus 2 more nights. We understood this right from the get go. As far as the free vacation we didnt know until after the hurricane that we would get the free replacement vacation. We did try to get out before the hurricane, but all of us were not able to get flights.

This is only Oct. and this happen only a couple months ago. They will have to be patient because there are so many, people just like them, waiting for a response. 3-4 yrs. ago we were there when a hurricane came close, it shut down all activities and we were waiting it out. It turned at the last minute. They ended up giving us 2 extra days to use whenever.

[quote="max2"]

I guess, if you're lucky enough to get out before the hurricane, you weren't there during the hurricane.[/quote]

Yes Max exactly. As I said before, it was clearly stated numerous times that if you left you would get your unused nights and 2 additional nights. Many people asked this question during the situation, and the answer was always the same. Many people left because they had small children or jobs they needed to get back to, and none of us knew how much damage they were going to get (the airport). . It could of done alot of damage to the airport and we didnt know how long it would be to get home in that case. Sandals never misled anyone, at least SMB.

My isssue is that they are putting restrictions on the return.

Traveler,
They have put restrictions on us too, black out dates, must be used within a year, and must book through Sandals. Have not called yet to get the ball rolling. Time will tell how it works out for us too. I guess when we all start calling to set up our replacement vacations, we will see then how it all works out.