PALACE RESORTS - STAY AWAY!!!!

[Lizna]

Dear future brides to be!

I am writing this post to warn all brides who are considering having their destination wedding at any Palace Resort. My recent wedding at the Moon Palace, while the day of was gorgeous - there were way too many problems that apparently not only happened to me and my guests but to other brides/guests of Palace Resorts.

Here's our story:

We have gone through many challenges with this wedding including the recession which affected some of our guests' ability to attend and the Swine Flu that deterred MANY of our guests from coming. Despite these uncontrollable factors, we still managed to have 25 guests attend our wedding. Through a room contract, we booked 10 rooms equivalent of 44 nights of stay, with an additional two rooms booked through Time Share, an additional 14 nights stay (totalling 12 rooms booked, 58 nights of stay). Given the amount of business we provided to Palace Resorts through the room bookings and the wedding packages we chose (i.e., the top level - Diamond Collection and the top level DJ package chosen), we expected the best level of service for us and our guests.

Unfortunately, this was NOT the case for two of my guests. Upon arrival to Moon Palace, they were informed that they had only paid for 50% of their stay, equivalent of two nights paid per person. When in fact, the full payment was taken by June 2, 2009 (our deadline to book the rooms through the link Palace Resorts provided us). Both guests provided Visa statements to the clerks at the desk to show proof of payment ($760 USD each). In addition to this, they had contacted their respective VISA companies who had indicated that the payments did infact go through and that the statements they showed were in fact updated and no refunds have been made through Palace Resorts. Our travel co-ordinator in the US also gave confirmation numbers to show that payments were in fact made. Given the amount of effort and stress my guests went to proove they had infact paid for their stay, my guests were succumbed to the following:

1. Locked out of their rooms after 2 nights of stay (both room keys were disabled)

2. Constant voice messages to come to the front desk to rectify the situation

3. According to one of my guest's VISA company, Palace Resorts attempted to use her card 12 times for the amount they claim they were owing. The Visa company had to put a BLOCK due to this fraudulant activity.

4. Demanding that they pay for the remaining amount and will refund it when they found the paper trail.

5. Spending everyday of their vacation stressing, emailing, phoning respective individuals (Visa companies, Miami Office, travel co-ordinator) to rectify this situation

My guests had come to Cancun despite the recession and swine flu in hopes of attending our wedding and having a stress-free time - an expectation everyone has when they go on vacation! Being the bride and groom, this put an added stress on us worrying about our guest who were unable to fully take part and enjoy the festivities of our wedding.

In the end, the paper trail that Miami office had lost was in fact recovered and/or the proof of payment my guests had provided on the day they arrived was accepted on their last day in Cancun! I am very disappointed with Palace Resorts considering they have a huge reputation for your impecable service - can go to such lengths to make their guests feel miserable and stressed out.

There was no formal apology to me and my husband or to my guests. I have come to find out that more fraudulant activity by Palace Resorts have been occuring since our time in Mexico. Please, please don't use Moon Palace or any Palace Resorts for your destination wedding. It will save you and your guest a HUGE heart ache.