concerned....not too much, just a little.. .. ..

[salandali3]

Hi All

my wife and i will be making our first trip EVER outside of the u s of a and decided to go to CSS - after hours and weeks and months of planning. we will be renewing our vows - 7yrs later (i know....we missed 5 and short on 10, lol) and cant wait to arrive in paradise.

anyways....i've been lurking around and have a tiny concern with the following:

randymon
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Join Date:May 2009
Posts:751Greetings to all:

Please understand that we are unable accept any specific room, building or floor requests in advance. Daily arrivals and departures prevent us from making any guarantees and we do not want our guests starting your stay with us disappointed that a specific room, floor or building has not been confirmed.

Not only are we trying to avoid your disappointment, but our front desk staff is taking too much unwarranted heat from arriving guests who are unwilling to accept "I'm sorry, but it is not available" for an answer.

We want your stay with us to be fantastic and memorable AND we want our staff to look forward to the wonderful role they play everyday. As a result - and I am acknowledging that this will not stop the requests 100% - we will be rejecting and/or editing all future posts that appear to be requesting specific rooms, floors or buildings.

im confused with the statement above since i thought CSS - and the Couples website - was up to par. i was thinking maybe since a website is set up and reservations are taken via the site, Couples would have a way of knowing what is booked and not booked during certain stays. my concern is that i have a tendency of calling places we book and requesting to be set up on a certain floor or a certain area. i understand that people requesting a specific room could be difficult, but if a person puts in their request months in advance, i dont see why that cant be honored. can someone at CSS confirm the above statement? dont take me the wrong way.......im sure my wife and i will have a GREAT time when we arrive.

btw - Aug 4th through Aug 11th is our stay. hey!!...if anyone wants to be a part of our renewal...let me know!!! im sure we can invite some people, lol.

[randymon]

Hi,

The fact is that only about 15% of bookings are made directly with us by calling 1-800-couples or online. The rest of the bookings are reported via emails and direct connects with Tour Operators and Travel agents.

As I have stated before, there is simply no way for us to guarantee a specific room, building or floor in advance. We will do our best to accommodate your request upon arrival.

[cleversole]

Truth of the matter is you can't get a bad room.....you will see when you get there that you will love whatever you get. Trust Randymon because this makes it easier for the staff and less disappointment.
Have fun.

[salandali3]

thanks for the reply randymon. i now understand the behind-the-scenes of booking.

cleversol - im sure we will have a great time. we have booked our renewal date and looking forward to relaxing for a week.

[gmosback]

salandali, You will get the room type u reserved, they just will not guarantee a specific room number or building. But will accomodate ur request if available. We are Tammi & Gerard & will be at CSS 8/6 - 8/14.

[Fluffin]

As someone who has been traveling the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii for the past 22+ years this policy is spot on. How would you even know what room/floor/building to ask for since you haven't been there before? Would you be doing this based on someone's recommendation from a web site or a friend?

I have never thought of requesting a specific room or even a floor in all of my travels. I even have a disability which makes walking up steps a slight issue which gets worse as I tire more easily with age....LOL . Still I never ask for anything special. We pay for a category that we will be happy with and NEVER EVER expect anything more or less!

Would a newbie request made months in advance be considered more valuable then a 10 time returnee request for the same thing but made only a month in advance?

See WHY the policy is in effect now? NO ONE is more special then anyone else.

Couples is a business. There is no way they can block out a room as being sold for even a day because it may interfere with a special request.

I wonder how many of the must have special request would disappear if a resort would start charging for them. Sure we will hold that room for you....BUT you will have to pay $100.00 for a specific floor, $200.00 for a specific room or $50.00 for a specific building. Something tells me 99% of the requests would stop.

To the OP....just go and enjoy your beautiful wife. I guarantee you will be so intoxicated by your love for her you will not care if you are in Building A top floor or Building D bottom floor. It is all good

[softail19]

Especially if you are staying at CSS, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed. We did a secret rendezvous a couple years ago and we were very surprised at the suite we got. It was a 1 bedroom with a nice veranda and 2 flat screens and minibar. We didn't have a view of the ocean but we didn't spend much time in there. They are all pretty nice I think. Have fun!

[keki60]

I understand your concern, I can not sleep on a bottom floor, This is an issue with me even at home. The few times we were put on a bottom floor I just asked for a second floor and always given a new room. ANY room would be awesome there, (If It wasn't for the floor thing with me :-)

Personally I can't imagine being rude about anything there, we are on vacation, why sweat the small stuff?
And yes if push came to shove I would take a bottom floor, I wouldn't sleep but I would take it.

[KCKev]

Salandali,

I can speak from experience that the staff at Couples will do anything possible to accommodate your request when you get to the resort. Last September, we arrived one day after having a cast removed for a broken ankle, in a boot, on crutches. We requested a ground floor room when we arrived and we were able to get it.

Another way to look at the policy is like this..... If you are at the resort and are told at check in that you have the last room in your room class and you will need to move rooms half way thru your stay. Someone had requested your room when they arrive later in the week. Would that be acceptable?

This subject has been addressed in many different posts, but Couples isn't a hotel where people stay one or two days for a special night. I would suspect the average stay is 7 days. As there are arrivals and departures every day, it is in Couples (and ours) best interest to maximize their occupancy at all times. Could that be done if there were multiple requests for the "best rooms" happening every week? What would happen if two people requested the same room? There is potential that Couples could lose revenue. Which can cause rates to go up for all to cover expenses of the resort with fewer clients.

From a simple business aspect, can see why the policy is in place.

Enjoy and Safe Travels!

[Janicek]

You won't have a problem. Our room at CTI in '09 was fantastic, as was our room at CN in '10. Different, but both great. So much so that we are only 117 days from our return to CN in November ... and then to CSS for the first time in '12!

[salandali3]

gmos - thats awesome!! expect for some stranger to be yelling out "Tammi/Gerard", lol.

fluff - i like to request certain floors/areas of a location i am visiting. its not a big deal if my request doesnt get honored as i know that i will have a good time regardless. i.e - when booking a hotel, i always request to get a high floor....not a particular floor, but i always mention i'd like to be placed as high of a floor i can get on. other places i always ask to be placed as far away from "the crowds" as possible since i like seclusion/privacy. i believe you took my comment a little too far, lol....i know they cant block out rooms or kick people out if people put in a request.......blocking out rooms and kicking others out is more of a DEMAND than a REQUEST. i fully understand what a request is and what a demand is.....2 different things. oh dude....my wife and i will have a great time no matter what.....and yes.....i will most definitely be intoxicated, WOO-HOO!!!

kc - ive noticed from reading the MB, people do stay here for a while. i am actually looking forward to this stay and future stays. seems like A LOT of people are returning clients.....which speaks a lot for couples. i believe there is one couple on the MB staying at couples - each resort - for 21 days!!! how awesome is that!!!!

thanks to everyone that replied. for those visiting CSS during my stay....i will be the guest kicking and screaming on the floor when my request doesnt get honored, lmao!!! j/k, j/k. believe me....im just happy to get away from NY....a change of scenery is always great.

[yookster]

As someone who has been traveling the Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii for the past 22+ years this policy is spot on. How would you even know what room/floor/building to ask for since you haven't been there before? Would you be doing this based on someone's recommendation from a web site or a friend?

I have never thought of requesting a specific room or even a floor in all of my travels. I even have a disability which makes walking up steps a slight issue which gets worse as I tire more easily with age....LOL . Still I never ask for anything special. We pay for a category that we will be happy with and NEVER EVER expect anything more or less!

Would a newbie request made months in advance be considered more valuable then a 10 time returnee request for the same thing but made only a month in advance?

See WHY the policy is in effect now? NO ONE is more special then anyone else.

Couples is a business. There is no way they can block out a room as being sold for even a day because it may interfere with a special request.

I wonder how many of the must have special request would disappear if a resort would start charging for them. Sure we will hold that room for you....BUT you will have to pay $100.00 for a specific floor, $200.00 for a specific room or $50.00 for a specific building. Something tells me 99% of the requests would stop.

To the OP....just go and enjoy your beautiful wife. I guarantee you will be so intoxicated by your love for her you will not care if you are in Building A top floor or Building D bottom floor. It is all good

Well said!

[gmosback]

salandali, I'll know that NY accent, born on L.I., All my family is in CT. You can find us at SSB, if not yell you'll find us. I'll buy you both a drink for ur renewal, if were there for it.
Gerard

[Vickyj]

Salandali3

If you do get a room you are not happy with, let the front desk know and they will do everything they can to make it right. On our ast trip, we got a beautiful room at CTI with a beautiful view. It was on the first floor just off the lobby. I am a light sleeper, so needless to say, I got no sleep. We were also on the main walkway to the other buildings. I went to the front and although they couldn't help us after the first night, they did after the next night (the resort was full). I hated to leave the room and the view, but the next room was just as wonderful and in all honestly, we are not in the room much except to shower, change and sleep.