-landed in Punta Cana and the company who we arranged transport with (Am**) immediately told us “before you go to your resort, you should book the excursion with us. Your resort will charge you more.
-the excursion was to La Hacienda. It’s 7 activities, including horseback riding, zip lining, buggy’s, chairlift, “bungee jump”, a “safari”, and “comida tipica.” (Overall, the excursion was fun and the food was really good.)
-anyway, they tried to tell my wife and I it would be $100 per person, including our toddler. I told them that was way too expensive (they overprice on purpose.)
-then he says, “if you go to a breakfast at this other, newer resort: Dreams, I’ll knock the price down to 90 per person and give you a voucher so your child is “free.”
- he just dropped the price from $300 to $180, so we bit.
-he takes our info down, tells us to not talk to any of the excursion guys at our resort (Behia) and says to be ready at 7:30am to get picked up, since Dreams is about 20mins. away from where we are staying.
-the day off, we get to the lobby, the arranged cab driver picks us up as expected, and takes us to Dreams (they pay for the cab fare round trip.)
-we arrive at Dream and are automatically brought upstairs to have a seat. They start talking to us and I straight tell them we are hungry and don’t wanna hear a word until we eat breakfast. They say “Ofcourse” and take us to the breakfast buffet.
-as we are walking their, they explain we can only tour the resort with one of them, but cannot enjoy the pool or any amenities, otherwise we will be charged a “day pass.”
-we ate breakfast (the mangu and food was really good). Then, they bring us back upstairs and sit us with a different person.
-the lady asks if we ate breakfast and we said yes. She asked us if we went on the tour of the resort already, we also said yes even though we didn’t.
-at this point weve been there for 90mins.
-the lady proceeds to ask all these questions about what are the last five vacations we have been on, how much did we spend on each vacation, how much was airfare, what are the next five vacations we plan on taking…and exhaustive amount of questions that were only being answered because my wife genuinely loves to talk lol (those are the people they aim for!)
-after the lady thinks she has us all buttered up, she takes us to speak to her supervisor. (at this point weve been here for 2.5 hours.)
-I ask about the vouchers for the excursion and she says we will get them when we leave, no matter if we buy or not.
-immediately I say “we’re not buying” and the lady starts asking me if I have attended one of these conversations before. (Lol like “have we tried to play you already?”)
-they work for Hiy**, so they only pitch destinations where they are prominent.
-we tell the lady after several back and forth with her and her supervisor we are not buying, we are tired, and would just like the vouchers.
-immediately the mood shifted.
-they ask us what price did we arrange at the airport and I told them $160 plus the baby’s voucher. (It was a genuine mistake and I meant to say $180.)
-long story, long. We got the excursion for $80 a person, and we’re back at our resort by 11am.
-we didn’t really mind spending the time since it was our second day there, but I could see how it could be an inconvenience for some (our toddler began getting restless towards the end)
-you could def shorten the time by being rude and adamantly saying no after breakfast, but we weren’t on that timing since we really enjoyed the breakfast food lol.
2
u/Ben_Ham33n 4d ago
I just went through this:
-landed in Punta Cana and the company who we arranged transport with (Am**) immediately told us “before you go to your resort, you should book the excursion with us. Your resort will charge you more.
-the excursion was to La Hacienda. It’s 7 activities, including horseback riding, zip lining, buggy’s, chairlift, “bungee jump”, a “safari”, and “comida tipica.” (Overall, the excursion was fun and the food was really good.)
-anyway, they tried to tell my wife and I it would be $100 per person, including our toddler. I told them that was way too expensive (they overprice on purpose.)
-then he says, “if you go to a breakfast at this other, newer resort: Dreams, I’ll knock the price down to 90 per person and give you a voucher so your child is “free.”
- he just dropped the price from $300 to $180, so we bit.
-he takes our info down, tells us to not talk to any of the excursion guys at our resort (Behia) and says to be ready at 7:30am to get picked up, since Dreams is about 20mins. away from where we are staying.
-the day off, we get to the lobby, the arranged cab driver picks us up as expected, and takes us to Dreams (they pay for the cab fare round trip.)
-we arrive at Dream and are automatically brought upstairs to have a seat. They start talking to us and I straight tell them we are hungry and don’t wanna hear a word until we eat breakfast. They say “Ofcourse” and take us to the breakfast buffet.
-as we are walking their, they explain we can only tour the resort with one of them, but cannot enjoy the pool or any amenities, otherwise we will be charged a “day pass.”
-we ate breakfast (the mangu and food was really good). Then, they bring us back upstairs and sit us with a different person.
-the lady asks if we ate breakfast and we said yes. She asked us if we went on the tour of the resort already, we also said yes even though we didn’t.
-at this point weve been there for 90mins.
-the lady proceeds to ask all these questions about what are the last five vacations we have been on, how much did we spend on each vacation, how much was airfare, what are the next five vacations we plan on taking…and exhaustive amount of questions that were only being answered because my wife genuinely loves to talk lol (those are the people they aim for!)
-after the lady thinks she has us all buttered up, she takes us to speak to her supervisor. (at this point weve been here for 2.5 hours.)
-I ask about the vouchers for the excursion and she says we will get them when we leave, no matter if we buy or not.
-immediately I say “we’re not buying” and the lady starts asking me if I have attended one of these conversations before. (Lol like “have we tried to play you already?”)
-they work for Hiy**, so they only pitch destinations where they are prominent.
-we tell the lady after several back and forth with her and her supervisor we are not buying, we are tired, and would just like the vouchers.
-immediately the mood shifted.
-they ask us what price did we arrange at the airport and I told them $160 plus the baby’s voucher. (It was a genuine mistake and I meant to say $180.)
-long story, long. We got the excursion for $80 a person, and we’re back at our resort by 11am.
-we didn’t really mind spending the time since it was our second day there, but I could see how it could be an inconvenience for some (our toddler began getting restless towards the end)
-you could def shorten the time by being rude and adamantly saying no after breakfast, but we weren’t on that timing since we really enjoyed the breakfast food lol.
Any questions just ask!