Six Days of Rest and Writing

Best Hospitality And Hotel Management Schools In The World For 2019: #5- International School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University

Part of my family lives in the Hamptons, NY, Palm Desert, California, Boca Raton, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Three of those areas are warm and sunny during the New York winter. I have a six-week break from my teaching schedule at the ISTHM at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck/Hackensack New Jersey (ranked #5 hospitality school in the WORLD).  So why am I freezing my body hanging around NYC? Staycation time with visits to the theater, restaurants, museums, family, and friends is the easy and obvious answer. So when thinking about spring-break time in mid-March I decided to go somewhere warm and start writing the story of my almost 84-year life. Since no offers of press trips were on the horizon, I decided to check out Travel Zoo that led me to Travel By Jen and Nicole Weinstein. Six days, non-stop Delta flight, transportation to and from the Grand Sirenis Resort Casino & Aquagames Punta Cana, single room and all-inclusive food and drink- $1,250 (I added trip interruption, cancellation insurance thru my Amex premium card since I booked December 23^th for a March 13^th departure & I am almost 84). I also carry yearly travel medical insurance that covers everything, including hospitals, doctors and even medical evacuation back to NYC when I am more than 150 miles away from home (also thru my Amex card). My Medicare & supplement do not cover me when away from NYC.

My Delta flight left early.  I spent 1 hour in the Delta Lounge relaxing and eating lunch, thanks to my Amex premium card for free entrance. Since I walk with a stick (not a cane- need to stand up straight- neuropathy and arthritis) I rarely wait in any line. I do not use a wheelchair because I need to exercise. For 14 years I have done senior yoga at home. Twice a month I do physical therapy (thanks to mediocre & AARP supplement for 25 sessions a year). Twice a month I have a very strong massage with a local salon where I negotiated a great price.

In addition to the buffets, both near the lobby and by the pools, there are specialty restaurants including Mediterranean, Italian, American, Japanese, Tex-Mex, Brazilian and French. Those were first come and had an appetizer, main course, and dessert, plus wine. There were also 14 bars where all you can drink was part of the program. After stuffing my face the first night and the next day for breakfast I realized I would gain 5 pounds so I switched to the specialty restaurants for dinner. I really loved the Japanese, French and Mediterranean diners.

The hotel recently reopened in December 2018 after a complete renovation. There are 32 buildings and 817 rooms. Many of those rooms are time-shares. There were lots of salespeople pushing the private club idea with separate areas and transportation around the resort. Several pools for adults and kids, beach (never tried), gym (once), tennis and paddleball courts, spa ($42 for a manicure- I passed), small casino & disco (skipped) kids club, and an outdoor theater with nightly shows, first for kids and then adults. I watched two shows that could have been from the 1960s in Las Vegas. Loud music, smoke, and flashing lighting effects, dancing and singing. I spent a few hours resting at the waterpark that seemed ideal for kids.

The hotel was about 70% occupied with what seemed like hundreds of young children (it was school vacation time). There were very few Americans and not a lot of college-age spring breakers. Russians, South Americans, Germans and Canadians seemed to be everywhere.

But let’s go backward for a bit. At the end of January, I attended trade day at the NY Times Travel Show. My first stop was at the Dominican Republic booth. I spoke to the director of the tourist board- Lucien Echavarria and her assistant Andreas Jimenez. I explained that I PAID for my trip and only wanted advice for sites near my hotel to add to my articles. The rum producers responded to me but it was too long a trip for these tired bones. I emailed February 7, 13, 17 and 19^th. I called the office at least 6 times. I was told Lucien was on vacation and finally did speak to Andreas who promised to take care of everything. I was always polite and even visited the NYC office to get maps & booklets for my trip. What exactly does this office do? My last e-mail was on March 13^th- “I am at the Delta lounge at JFK waiting for my flight to Punta Cana. Since no one has had the courtesy to call or write me back I will enjoy my rest and start writing my life story. Enjoy the rest of your life. I will enjoy mine.”  So yes, I’m a bit annoyed at being so systemically ignored. 

I asked for (and received) a room close to both the pool and the dining areas and on the first floor. Problems- No toilet paper, 1-bed pillow for my comfortable king bed and the large screen TV did not work. They brought toilet paper (how does housekeeping not notice that there is no toilet paper when cleaning the room?) and pillows. It took five visits to change the remote batteries and try to fix the TV problem. It worked about 75% of the time. (I wanted to watch CNN & the local Miami stations).  Everyone is sweet and polite. Several hosts, as well as guests, helped me carry my plate to my table and a few always-said hellos whenever they saw me at a meal or at the pool. 

But middle management needs lessons in customer relations. I witnessed a family from Canada who had one of their 4 towels removed while they were at lunch. The hotel wanted to charge them $20 to replace the missing towel. After a ½ hour someone from management lectured them (I was only 10 feet away) and finally gave them the extra towel. The family decided NOT to purchase a time-share. I don’t blame them. I never had a problem and left both my towel and everything except my cell phone and room key on my lounger when using the pool or having a meal nearby.

So I focused on rest, write, eat, swim, and drink lots of water, lemonade, and wine. The last morning, I stopped at the hotel desk to remind them of my late checkout. It was set up by the travel company and printed on my itinerary. Middle management told me they had no record of the request. I showed them my itinerary with late checkout noted. They finally said okay (but remember, the hotel was not full). It took the front desk 15 minutes to reprogram my room key that was set to stop working at Noon. Again, the staff needs retraining. HINT- they can always bring me back as their guest for a training session. 

But I still had a relaxing, sun-filled, and food rich time. I would recommend the hotel, especially if there are young people in the party.