0:00

Hey everyone , welcome to All About the Joy

0:02

. This is Carmen Lezeth , your host , and this

0:04

is another episode of Carmen Talk . Today

0:17

we're going to do things a little bit different

0:20

. I'm going to read a letter that

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you can also find on my website at Carmen

0:24

Suarez dot com , and

0:27

I will talk a little bit about it at

0:29

the end of the reading

0:31

. So here it goes . Dear Mr

0:34

Minister of Tourism and Public

0:36

Health of Aruba , I have decided

0:38

to write you a letter concerning my recent stay

0:40

at Barcelo Hotel Aruba . Please

0:43

know that I never write bad reviews . If

0:45

I write any reviews at all , I write

0:47

only complimenting , praising

0:49

reviews of companies . Unfortunately

0:52

, I will be writing bad reviews for this hotel

0:54

and its customer service . But first

0:56

I want to make sure you and the consulate

0:58

of Aruba are aware of the issues . Last

1:01

October I attended a funeral . There

1:03

I met old friends who invited me to

1:05

their yearly trip to Aruba

1:08

. This is a trip they take every year

1:10

15 friends and for the most

1:12

part they only stay at this all-inclusive

1:14

hotel . Everyone has roommates

1:16

to share the cost . I stayed with my

1:18

childhood best friend , joanne , and sent

1:21

her the first deposit of monies via bank

1:23

transfer of $800 , so she could put

1:25

down a deposit . Later , when I arrived

1:27

at the hotel on March 20th 2024

1:29

, I paid the second half of my bill on

1:31

my own credit card of $763.09

1:34

. Issue number one To

1:37

start , the person at the front desk lied

1:39

to us and told us that she had given us an upgrade

1:42

and put us in a room we had not booked

1:44

. It only had one bed and

1:46

was not the Lanai Garden room with

1:48

two beds that we had

1:50

originally booked . After having

1:53

to deal with that issue , the woman at the front

1:55

desk then gave us the room we had booked

1:57

, room 2124 , with

1:59

the Lanai Garden room view . I

2:02

thought all was well . Issue number two

2:04

that first night I decided

2:06

to lay down , then hang out with

2:09

everyone else . I was exhausted and

2:11

, since I had flown in from California , I

2:13

wanted to just rest . So about

2:15

8.30 pm I went to our room and laid

2:17

in bed and fell asleep . When Joanne

2:19

returned after 9.30 pm , I

2:21

awakened and saw one bug on the white

2:23

sheets . It was flat and looked

2:25

a bit like a small roach to me and although I was alarmed

2:28

, I thought it was just one bug . When

2:30

I opened the covers , there were at least

2:32

30 of these brown , red bugs all over

2:35

the sheets and I freaked out . Joanne

2:37

started calling housekeeping and I took all the

2:39

sheets off the bed , rolled them up and

2:41

threw them into the hallway . It would be a while

2:43

before housekeeping came , but

2:45

when they did they spoke in Papamiento , a

2:47

language I don't know , but because

2:49

I am Latina , I picked up some of what

2:52

the housekeepers were saying . I

2:54

asked in Spanish what they were saying

2:56

and

3:02

one of them did speak Spanish fluently . It was much easier to have a conversation

3:04

with them . Then I asked them what the bugs were , since I had never been to Aruba and

3:06

had never experienced such a thing in all my travels , and they said the bugs

3:08

must have come in when we opened

3:10

the Lanai patio doors . Before

3:13

I continue , I now

3:15

know these are bed bugs

3:18

. I did not know that

3:20

then , not until much later

3:22

. But lie number two was telling

3:24

us that it was our fault . However

3:27

, it didn't make any sense , the lie that

3:29

they told , since the bed they were changing

3:31

the bed I stayed in was the one farthest

3:34

from the patio doors . Joanne

3:36

did not have bugs in her bed that we could

3:38

see . Her bed was closest to the patio

3:40

doors . If the hotel

3:42

is so concerned with bugs coming in from the patio

3:45

. My next question is why do

3:47

they not have screen doors Either

3:50

way ? It was very confusing

3:53

. It was very disorienting . It

3:55

was our first night there and that's

3:57

what happened . Please know that

3:59

this lie continued on for a couple of days

4:02

with different people . It

4:04

continued with the front desk staff until

4:06

another housekeeper came into the

4:08

room and said that actually , what might have happened

4:10

is that the room hadn't been cleaned for days because

4:13

no one was staying there and that the exterminator

4:15

had been there that morning and that's

4:17

possibly why the bugs might have found their way into

4:20

the bed . That was line number

4:22

three . But , to be clear , I do

4:24

not believe this housekeeper was meaning to lie

4:26

. She did not see the bugs that night , so

4:29

she was just using logic to determine

4:31

what might have actually happened . She

4:33

was a new and different housekeeper from

4:35

the women that came the night before

4:37

. Issue number three At

4:40

this point I had been out at the beach

4:42

swimming , enjoying the sun

4:44

and not realizing how burnt my

4:46

own skin was getting . Although

4:48

I'm annoyed by the situation

4:50

with the bugs in the hotel room

4:52

, I'm still trying to enjoy our stay

4:54

. However , then the toilet

4:57

becomes an issue and is clogged

5:00

. We call the front desk and they send

5:02

someone up hours later who says it's

5:04

been fixed , and yet the following day

5:06

the same thing happens . So much

5:08

so that both me and Joanne have

5:10

to go use the public bathroom early

5:12

the following day to brush our teeth

5:14

, to wash our face , as to not disturb

5:17

some of our other friends who are sleeping in other

5:19

areas of the hotel . The

5:21

plumbing issue gets so bad that the sewage

5:24

is now coming up in the shower stall . The

5:26

maintenance person who comes up this time admits he

5:28

needs to get a supervisor and that it is not

5:31

a simple fix . Finally , one

5:33

day before I'm about to depart from Aruba

5:35

, we are moved into room 2118

5:38

, which is just a few doors down

5:40

. Patricio Dragon , who

5:42

is the general operating

5:44

manager I think that's what his

5:46

title translates to in English met with

5:48

us and kept offering us a fancy dinner

5:50

in the royal level as some sort

5:53

of compensation . To say I was less

5:55

than pleased with that as compensation for all

5:57

our troubles would be an understatement , but

5:59

I stayed calm . Patricio also admitted

6:01

that it was highly unlikely that the bugs came from

6:04

the patio , jumped over one bed and only

6:06

landed in the bed furthest from the patio

6:08

doors , then realizing that

6:10

Joanne would be returning to Barcelo . In the fall

6:12

, he offered her and only

6:15

her an upgrade to the royal

6:17

level . There are so many things

6:19

wrong with this , but

6:21

there's still more . There's still more that happens

6:23

now . At this point , my experience

6:26

in Aruba was mixed at best . I was uncomfortable

6:28

in the room , but I kept thinking that I had made a

6:30

mistake in staying out in the sun so long . I

6:33

was itchy , my skin was dry and I was having a

6:35

hard time with all of it . Come

6:37

to find out only days later , when I returned home

6:39

, that my body was actually covered in bed

6:41

bug bites . Nine

6:43

o'clock in the morning I contacted my doctor

6:45

and it was confirmed . It

6:48

is only in the last week that

6:50

the bed bug bites that were covering

6:52

30% of my body have finally healed

6:55

. I had bumps and scabs , and so

6:57

much itching and scarring it

6:59

was disgusting . So

7:02

let me reiterate what the problem is here Not

7:04

having our correct room when we booked it back in November

7:06

ready , and then lying to us about an upgrade

7:09

, when the actual room was one bed that faced

7:11

the parking lot . Of

7:13

course , in retrospect now I realize that this

7:16

woman at the front desk might have known that the

7:18

garden lanai room had an issue , but

7:21

that's just me projecting issue , but that's just me

7:23

projecting . But that was

7:25

the first problem with this hotel situation

7:27

. Secondly , the lack of urgency

7:29

in moving us out of a room that was infested

7:32

with bed bugs . Blaming

7:41

us as the guests for a bug infestation , as if opening up the lanai doors

7:43

for five minutes when we first came and saw the room and then closing it , is ridiculous

7:45

, as if bugs would jump

7:47

from one bed to another . But

7:49

even still , if that's going to be your argument

7:52

, why not have screen doors on the lanai doors

7:54

right ? The lack

7:56

of urgency in moving us and are fixing the

7:58

plumbing issues right away . That's a whole other

8:00

ballgame . Instead , it was three days , three

8:02

days later , that we

8:04

were moved and that alone

8:07

should be enough for a formal

8:09

apology and full reimbursement

8:11

. But here's the thing Neither

8:14

one of us were ever asking that the

8:16

biggest problem with Barcello Hotel in Aruba

8:18

is the lack of honesty and true customer

8:20

service and true hospitality . And

8:23

from what I've now read about bed

8:25

bugs because I've now become sort of an expert

8:27

these bugs can live for a year

8:30

without feeding . That entire

8:32

wing of that hotel should be cleaned and fumigated

8:34

. And now , because of how the hotel has

8:36

reacted , I do not

8:39

believe for one moment that they have taken care of this issue

8:41

. I may have brought

8:43

them back with me it's possible

8:45

that Joanne has as well but

8:47

we won't know for at least a full year . If

8:50

they had just been honest from the beginning , we could have done

8:52

our best to prevent cross

8:54

contamination . No one else should ever be

8:57

put in this position again . So the evidence

8:59

. Let me tell you what the evidence is . Unfortunately

9:02

, because I was so freaked out and trusted

9:04

the hotel , I didn't think of taking pictures

9:06

of the actual bed bugs , or , as

9:09

the hotel likes to call them , bugs from the lanai

9:11

that might be the new euphemism . I

9:14

have never stayed at any hotel with

9:17

an inability to handle an issue , so

9:19

I was not prepared to be lied to by so

9:21

many people . I also have never encountered

9:24

a hotel that did not want to help

9:26

its guests and keep them happy . But

9:28

again , I only stay at actual five-star

9:30

hotels . So this may

9:33

be part of the problem . With

9:35

this letter and my reviews on all the

9:37

sites that I will put up momentarily

9:39

, I want to alert the public that when going

9:41

to Barcelo Hotel or any hotel owned

9:44

by Barcelo Group , they should

9:46

not trust that the staff and or any people

9:48

in charge , would actually tell

9:50

you the truth or do their due diligence to

9:52

help you as a guest . I did

9:54

, however , take pictures of my body when I returned

9:56

and forwarded those to the hotel

9:58

. I also have receipts for an office visit

10:01

at my doctor's . I also have two housekeepers

10:03

who came to my home to clean the entire

10:05

space . Once I realized what had occurred , joanne

10:08

and I both threw out clothing , suitcases

10:10

, shoes , bedding , to prevent the possibility

10:12

that we might have brought home bedbugs . She

10:15

lives on the East Coast , I live here on the West Coast

10:17

. That's two homes that could have been contaminated

10:19

. I bought bed covers , bed bug spray

10:21

and have spent all this time dealing with this

10:23

issue . Not to mention that for the longest

10:26

time I have not been able to sleep

10:28

well because I keep waking up in the

10:30

middle of the night thinking there might be bugs in my

10:32

bed . Thankfully that has

10:34

gotten . In the middle of the night thinking there might be bugs in my bed . Thankfully

10:36

that has gotten much better . The initial remedy for this situation

10:39

at first Joanne was asking to

10:41

just have her next trip upgraded to the royal

10:43

level for herself and the other couple that will be

10:45

attending in the fall . So four royal

10:47

level guests in total for her already

10:50

booked can't get your deposit back from hotels

10:52

rooms in the fall . The

10:54

hotel refused and only gave her one

10:57

upgrade . I asked them only

10:59

to pay for the two housekeepers that

11:01

had come . The morning I came home and

11:03

, after confirming with my doctor to clean

11:05

this home from top to bottom this

11:08

is not a normal thing I do so I asked

11:10

my client's housekeepers to

11:13

help me and they did . The

11:15

last thing I wanted to do was possibly spread

11:17

anything to any of my

11:19

clients that I work for because I work

11:21

in their home offices or

11:23

in their production offices . I asked

11:26

Marcello Aruba to reimburse me $165

11:29

for each housekeeper , each

11:31

housekeeper totaling $330

11:33

. Housekeeper

11:38

each housekeeper totaling $330

11:40

. Of course , the hotel refused and is not compensating me at all and

11:42

, worse , denying that there were any bed bugs . And , as you can see from

11:44

the emails from them below , they somehow

11:46

are compensating Joanne with one

11:48

upgrade when she returns to the hotel in

11:50

the fall , but are not compensating me

11:53

for anything . I was in the room

11:55

. I was the one bitten . I also

11:57

dealt with the bad plumbing issue . In

11:59

an interesting contradiction , they admit something

12:02

went wrong enough to compensate one

12:05

person for something but not the other

12:07

. That just makes no sense . So

12:09

something happened enough to make amends

12:11

, but only partially . This

12:13

is horrible logic and even worse

12:16

, customer service . So now , what do

12:18

I want ? What have I wanted all along

12:20

? I don't want to say the

12:22

minister's name incorrectly , so my

12:25

apologies . I don't want to hack his

12:27

name , but what I want now is

12:29

to make sure that Barcella Hotel

12:31

is pressured into making sure no one ever

12:33

has to deal with that level of customer service

12:35

ever again . I want to make sure that guests

12:38

, at whatever level they pay for an all-inclusive

12:40

trip , are treated with respect , dignity

12:42

and not lied to about bugs coming in from

12:45

the lanai , jumping over beds

12:47

and kept in a room that is infested with bed

12:49

bugs or any bugs . Urgency

12:51

is of the utmost importance in this situation

12:54

. I am also asking that customer service

12:56

training be implemented to people like Patricio

12:58

Dragong and Servin Leftop

13:01

I don't know how to say his name either , so I apologize

13:03

or her name who is someone I did not

13:05

meet but , based on their quote-unquote investigation

13:08

, clearly did not take the time to talk to either

13:10

me or Joanne , or the housekeepers

13:13

and other staff members that I

13:15

am still in touch with because we exchanged

13:17

phone numbers . It

13:19

is the lies that keep driving me insane

13:22

. It's why I can't let this go

13:24

. I live in Santa Monica , california

13:26

, two blocks from the beach . I work in Hollywood . To

13:28

say that money was not my motivator

13:30

is an understatement . I

13:32

had initially asked for compensation for two

13:35

housekeepers I had to employ to help clean

13:37

my home . If the hotel had behaved

13:39

in a way that seemed logical and was more concerned

13:41

about what had occurred , instead of trying to save

13:43

a few bucks , thinking that I would

13:46

humbly go away , this would be over

13:48

with because I would trust that they

13:50

would have done their due diligence to correct

13:52

all the issues . But now I am positive

13:55

. This is not the case . In the big scheme

13:57

of things , I am fine . I

13:59

will never stay at Hotel

14:01

Barcelo any

14:04

Barcelo group hotel in the future

14:06

. However , I think most people who save

14:08

their money to go on a trip may not have

14:10

the resources , time and monies to pursue

14:13

things in the same manner that I do . Many

14:19

would be embarrassed by the situation and feel humiliated , and even though I may have felt

14:22

a bit of all of that , I am blessed that anger and my sense of community and protecting

14:24

others to the best of my ability has prevailed

14:26

. I also hope that this behavior

14:28

is not indicative of how hotels

14:30

and businesses are run in Aruba . I

14:33

hope that the Department of Public Health in Aruba

14:35

and the consulate will take this matter seriously

14:37

and do its best to prevent another

14:39

person from experiencing this ever

14:42

again . Thank you for your time and

14:44

your quick attention to this matter . With respect

14:46

, carmen Lisette Suarez . So

14:49

now that I've read that entire long-winded

14:51

, very thoroughly written email

14:54

and I'm also sending it certified letter internationally

14:57

I just want to say a few other things . First

14:59

, I want to thank so many people who

15:02

not only helped me through this , but

15:04

also were encouraging me not to let

15:06

this go , and that includes

15:08

my clients , who only one

15:10

of my clients know Well now . My other

15:12

clients will know because they listen to

15:14

my podcast too , but one of my clients sent

15:17

their housekeepers right away and

15:19

were gracious and kind

15:21

, and so I want to give a shout out to them . I also

15:23

want to thank all of my friends and family

15:25

who have been encouraging and supporting

15:28

me in supporting me throughout this

15:30

whole ordeal and listen

15:32

. And , like I said in the letter , in the big scheme

15:34

of things , I'm not , you know , tortured

15:36

by any of this . What I am upset about is the principle

15:39

, is the principle of things and

15:41

how you do business and how you treat people

15:43

. And I feel

15:45

as if you know , joanne was

15:47

saying to me you know , but we had fun in Aruba

15:49

. I did not , because all I

15:52

can think about is how much I suffered

15:54

when I got back and

15:56

how much all my scratching and itching was

15:58

affecting me while I was there , and

16:00

it doesn't matter . The memory has

16:03

been clouded of any of the fun stuff

16:05

I did do while I was there , because

16:08

at the end of the day , I was treated disrespectfully

16:11

. And here's the other thing I'm going to say about

16:13

this hotel and the way in which

16:15

this hotel seemed to deal

16:17

with things they kept talking about . Well

16:20

, if you stayed at the royal level

16:22

, you know what ? I wouldn't

16:24

stay at the royal level if this is how

16:26

you treat anybody . Just because I

16:28

fly first class doesn't mean I expect

16:30

people in coach to be treated disrespectfully

16:33

or treated horribly . I

16:35

want everyone to be treated with respect

16:37

and dignity . So that was the

16:39

other part of this that kept making me angry

16:42

. Like having dinner in the royal

16:44

level isn't going . By the way , that never happened

16:46

while I was there . We didn't have that dinner . So I

16:48

don't know what that was about , but the

16:50

idea that somehow that would compensate for what

16:52

we were going through . And the lies

16:55

. And let me tell you , they were all lies from beginning

16:57

to end . The beginning , which is about

16:59

being upgraded to a different room , and actually they

17:01

must have overbooked or something must have happened

17:03

because they put us in a room with only

17:06

one bed , you know , pointing towards

17:08

a parking lot , and

17:10

I only noticed it because I went up with the bellman

17:12

with our suitcases , because

17:14

I wanted to rest , and that's how I

17:16

noticed that . So from that moment , that

17:18

was the first day we got there , and that

17:21

night was the bed bug thing . So , listen

17:23

, I hope that this letter gets

17:25

into the right hands and that people do the

17:27

right thing and that they fumigate that place

17:29

. They do better in the future . I have no

17:31

problem with things happening with emergency

17:33

situations and , like I said , I do

17:36

not ever write bad reviews

17:38

. The only reviews I ever write are good

17:40

ones , and even then I don't always do that

17:42

. But I do write letters and say

17:44

good things when I think there were things that are wonderfully

17:47

done with customer service or whatever . I

17:49

don't do bad reviews because I

17:51

think sometimes people write a bad review

17:53

when it's just one incident that happened

17:55

right , like if you go to a restaurant and you have a bad

17:57

meal or the waiter is

17:59

in a bad mood , or whatever . You should go to

18:01

a restaurant three , four or five times before

18:04

you write a review of a place . That's

18:06

what I think . I think sometimes people snipe

18:08

and get upset about all the wrong things and

18:10

then take it out on all the wrong people . But

18:12

this , this is different

18:14

. What the hotel does not understand is

18:17

that I could have been

18:19

severely hurt , and

18:21

the reason why this is so frustrating

18:24

to me is because I carry an EpiPen

18:26

, and everyone who knows me knows

18:29

I wear a medical bracelet . And had

18:31

I been somebody who overreacts to

18:33

things , or if I had been someone

18:35

who didn't know what her own allergies

18:38

were and didn't keep blowing it off like it was

18:40

the sunburn , I

18:42

could have ended up in the hospital because I could

18:44

have thought I was having a breakout of hives

18:46

. And for me , breaking out in hives

18:49

or having my throat constrict

18:51

is the reason why I carry an EpiPen . And

18:53

this is they don't know this . They are hearing

18:55

this for the first time in this podcast . If they're

18:57

listening to it , I keep thinking about families

19:00

who save their money to go to this hotel

19:02

or people who have to deal with this situation

19:04

, and to be lied to and to be treated this

19:07

way is unacceptable . Bedbugs

19:09

can happen anywhere and like anything

19:11

. It is not about the accident or the issue

19:14

that happened . It's how you choose

19:16

to deal with it that matters

19:18

. If they had dealt with this immediately

19:21

with a formal apology , with

19:23

giving Joanne and her group

19:25

an upgrade or reimbursing us something

19:28

, or just telling us we are so

19:30

sorry we think they might've been bedbugs

19:32

we have a feeling they could have been . I

19:34

know the housekeepers knew , because there is

19:36

no way , you , there's no way now . Now

19:38

that I know what bedbugs look like and why they

19:40

were brown and red and why they were

19:42

flat , like I get it now

19:44

there's no way the housekeeping staff

19:47

did not know when they came to that room that night that those

19:49

were bedbugs . So all of that

19:51

is why I'm doing this , and I hope , if

19:53

you've listened to this or if you've read this , that

19:55

you will do your due diligence when you

19:57

take your travels . Learn about bed

19:59

bugs . It's important . You don't want to keep cross-contaminating

20:02

and bringing them elsewhere , and there are really easy

20:04

steps that you can take . One of the

20:06

big ones that I didn't realize is never put your

20:09

luggage on your bed Never , which

20:11

I don't do anyway , but never do

20:13

that . And before you actually

20:15

go into a hotel , you shouldn't bring

20:17

your luggage in . You should first go in and check

20:19

the corners of all your beds , like take out the

20:21

bedding , you know , and just look at the corners to

20:23

make sure that there are . You can see the bugs

20:25

with your naked eye you actually can

20:28

, but they're not brown

20:30

and red . They were brown and red because

20:33

they had finished feasting on me . So

20:35

it's fascinating

20:37

what I've learned and you could just do

20:39

a quick Google search and learn what

20:41

you need to know and kind of the steps to take . And

20:43

I'm not trying to scare people , please , that's

20:45

not my point . I am upset

20:47

with how the hotel decided to

20:50

deal with this . I am disgusted

20:52

at their customer service and their inability

20:54

to take care of the issue

20:56

in a way that I think was appropriate

20:58

, and their investigation did

21:00

not involve me or Joanne or any

21:03

of the housekeepers that I have been in touch

21:05

with . So I am confused as

21:07

to their ability to

21:09

handle this in the proper way so

21:11

that another family or another

21:13

guest does not have to go through what

21:16

I went through . And here's the thing and

21:18

I say this respectfully I have

21:20

the means to be taken care of and

21:22

go to a hospital and go see my private

21:24

doctor and take days off

21:26

because I have wonderful clients and

21:28

heal . I don't think most

21:31

people have that flexibility , and

21:33

here's the thing you shouldn't have to , when all

21:35

you did was try to go on vacation and

21:37

have a nice time . So with that

21:39

, thank you so much for listening . I appreciate all of

21:41

you . I'm sorry it was a little bit on the negative

21:43

side , but I do want to put it out there . I hope

21:45

that you learned something through this and

21:48

again , we will be back on

21:50

next Thursday . I know we missed the live stream

21:52

this past week . We did that because I've been so

21:54

exhausted dealing with quite a few things

21:56

Not just this , but

21:59

dealing with so much but we will be back on Thursday

22:01

the live stream and the podcast . We hope

22:03

to see you again soon . And remember , it really

22:05

is all about the joy . Even in

22:07

this situation , I feel really good

22:10

and I am fine , and

22:12

this for me will also hopefully act

22:14

as a way that I've done everything I can , to the

22:16

best of my ability , to help someone

22:18

, because that can only

22:20

be . The best result for me is that

22:22

if one person reads

22:24

this letter and helps

22:26

fix this situation , or

22:29

you know , somebody decides not to stay at this hotel

22:31

because they listened to this podcast

22:34

, or they read this letter and

22:36

they choose to go elsewhere , or somebody here learns

22:38

about bedbugs and does a better job of

22:40

protecting themselves in whatever

22:43

situation they may find themselves at a hotel

22:45

, then that makes me feel better

22:47

. So again , thank you

22:49

all and we'll see you next time

22:51

. And remember it really is all about the joy

22:53

. Thanks for stopping

22:55

by . All About the Joy . Be

22:58

better and stay . Beautiful folks , have

23:00

a sweet day .