Barcelo Hotel: An Open Letter to Aruba's Tourism Industry After a Bed Bug Fiasco

Have you ever checked into a hotel expecting paradise but walked into a nightmare instead? Join me as I relive a vacation marred by a series of unfortunate events at Barcelo Hotel Aruba, and the heartfelt letter I felt compelled to write to Aruba's Minister of Tourism and Public Health. This episode peels back the curtain on the glossy facade of the hospitality industry, shedding light on the disturbing reality of a deceptive room upgrade that led to a bed bug infestation and relentless plumbing issues. Listen as I dissect the hotel staff's unsettling reactions, from shifting blame to handing out token compensations, and reflect on the unsettling consequences these experiences have on trust and expectations in vacationing.

It's not just a recount of grievances but also a rallying call for transparency and service excellence in the hospitality realm. As we navigate through a guest's grueling encounter with bed bugs and the hotel's lackluster response, you'll hear the fight for dignity and the pressing need for hotels to uphold high standards in customer care. But it's not all gloom; the final notes of our conversation strike a chord of resilience and optimism. We discuss how even in the face of adversity, the act of spreading joy, helping others, and aiming for betterment can be transformational. So tune in, as we aim to not just inform but inspire a ripple effect of positive change that transcends our personal travel experiences.

To see the letter sent and pics at:

www.carmensuarez.com 

Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.

Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.

Transcript

Carmen Lezeth: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy. This is Carmen Lezeth, your host, and this is another episode of Carmen Talk. Today we're going to do things a little bit different. I'm going to read a letter that you can also find on my website at Carmen Suarez dot com, and I will talk a little bit about it at the end of the reading. So here it goes. Dear Mr Minister of Tourism and Public Health of Aruba, I have decided to write you a letter concerning my recent stay at Barcelo Hotel Aruba. Please know that I never write bad reviews. If I write any reviews at all, I write only complimenting, praising reviews of companies. Unfortunately, I will be writing bad reviews for this hotel and its customer service. But first I want to make sure you and the consulate of Aruba are aware of the issues.

Carmen Lezeth: 1:01

Last October I attended a funeral. There I met old friends who invited me to their yearly trip to Aruba. This is a trip they take every year 15 friends and for the most part they only stay at this all-inclusive hotel. Everyone has roommates to share the cost. I stayed with my childhood best friend, joanne, and sent her the first deposit of monies via bank transfer of $800, so she could put down a deposit. Later, when I arrived at the hotel on March 20th 2024, I paid the second half of my bill on my own credit card of $763.09.

Carmen Lezeth: 1:35

Issue number one To start, the person at the front desk lied to us and told us that she had given us an upgrade and put us in a room we had not booked. It only had one bed and was not the Lanai Garden room with two beds that we had originally booked. After having to deal with that issue, the woman at the front desk then gave us the room we had booked, room 2124, with the Lanai Garden room view. I thought all was well. Issue number two that first night I decided to lay down, then hang out with everyone else.

Carmen Lezeth: 2:10

I was exhausted and, since I had flown in from California, I wanted to just rest. So about 8.30 pm I went to our room and laid in bed and fell asleep. When Joanne returned after 9.30 pm, I awakened and saw one bug on the white sheets. It was flat and looked a bit like a small roach to me and although I was alarmed, I thought it was just one bug. When I opened the covers, there were at least 30 of these brown, red bugs all over the sheets and I freaked out.

Carmen Lezeth: 2:37

Joanne started calling housekeeping and I took all the sheets off the bed, rolled them up and threw them into the hallway. It would be a while before housekeeping came, but when they did they spoke in Papamiento, a language I don't know, but because I am Latina, I picked up some of what the housekeepers were saying. I asked in Spanish what they were saying and one of them did speak Spanish fluently. It was much easier to have a conversation with them. Then I asked them what the bugs were, since I had never been to Aruba and had never experienced such a thing in all my travels, and they said the bugs must have come in when we opened the Lanai patio doors. Before I continue, I now know these are bed bugs. I did not know that then, not until much later.

Carmen Lezeth: 3:22

But lie number two was telling us that it was our fault. However, it didn't make any sense, the lie that they told, since the bed they were changing the bed I stayed in was the one farthest from the patio doors. Joanne did not have bugs in her bed that we could see. Her bed was closest to the patio doors. If the hotel is so concerned with bugs coming in from the patio. My next question is why do they not have screen doors Either way? It was very confusing. It was very disorienting. It was our first night there and that's what happened. Please know that this lie continued on for a couple of days with different people. It continued with the front desk staff until another housekeeper came into the room and said that actually, what might have happened is that the room hadn't been cleaned for days because no one was staying there and that the exterminator had been there that morning and that's possibly why the bugs might have found their way into the bed. That was line number three. But, to be clear, I do not believe this housekeeper was meaning to lie. She did not see the bugs that night, so she was just using logic to determine what might have actually happened. She was a new and different housekeeper from the women that came the night before.

Carmen Lezeth: 4:38

Issue number three At this point I had been out at the beach swimming, enjoying the sun and not realizing how burnt my own skin was getting. Although I'm annoyed by the situation with the bugs in the hotel room, I'm still trying to enjoy our stay. However, then the toilet becomes an issue and is clogged. We call the front desk and they send someone up hours later who says it's been fixed, and yet the following day the same thing happens. So much so that both me and Joanne have to go use the public bathroom early the following day to brush our teeth, to wash our face, as to not disturb some of our other friends who are sleeping in other areas of the hotel. The plumbing issue gets so bad that the sewage is now coming up in the shower stall. The maintenance person who comes up this time admits he needs to get a supervisor and that it is not a simple fix. Finally, one day before I'm about to depart from Aruba, we are moved into room 2118, which is just a few doors down.

Carmen Lezeth: 5:40

Patricio Dragon, who is the general operating manager I think that's what his title translates to in English met with us and kept offering us a fancy dinner in the royal level as some sort of compensation. To say I was less than pleased with that as compensation for all our troubles would be an understatement, but I stayed calm. Patricio also admitted that it was highly unlikely that the bugs came from the patio, jumped over one bed and only landed in the bed furthest from the patio doors, then realizing that Joanne would be returning to Barcelo. In the fall, he offered her and only her an upgrade to the royal level. There are so many things wrong with this, but there's still more. There's still more that happens now.

Carmen Lezeth: 6:25

At this point, my experience in Aruba was mixed at best. I was uncomfortable in the room, but I kept thinking that I had made a mistake in staying out in the sun so long. I was itchy, my skin was dry and I was having a hard time with all of it. Come to find out only days later, when I returned home, that my body was actually covered in bed bug bites. Nine o'clock in the morning I contacted my doctor and it was confirmed. It is only in the last week that the bed bug bites that were covering 30% of my body have finally healed. I had bumps and scabs, and so much itching and scarring it was disgusting. So let me reiterate what the problem is here Not having our correct room when we booked it back in November ready, and then lying to us about an upgrade, when the actual room was one bed that faced the parking lot.

Carmen Lezeth: 7:13

Of course, in retrospect now I realize that this woman at the front desk might have known that the garden lanai room had an issue, but that's just me projecting issue, but that's just me projecting. But that was the first problem with this hotel situation. Secondly, the lack of urgency in moving us out of a room that was infested with bed bugs. Blaming us as the guests for a bug infestation, as if opening up the lanai doors for five minutes when we first came and saw the room and then closing it, is ridiculous, as if bugs would jump from one bed to another. But even still, if that's going to be your argument, why not have screen doors on the lanai doors right? The lack of urgency in moving us and are fixing the plumbing issues right away. That's a whole other ballgame. Instead, it was three days, three days later, that we were moved and that alone should be enough for a formal apology and full reimbursement.

Carmen Lezeth: 8:12

But here's the thing Neither one of us were ever asking that the biggest problem with Barcello Hotel in Aruba is the lack of honesty and true customer service and true hospitality. And from what I've now read about bed bugs because I've now become sort of an expert these bugs can live for a year without feeding. That entire wing of that hotel should be cleaned and fumigated. And now, because of how the hotel has reacted, I do not believe for one moment that they have taken care of this issue. I may have brought them back with me it's possible that Joanne has as well but we won't know for at least a full year. If they had just been honest from the beginning, we could have done our best to prevent cross contamination. No one else should ever be put in this position again.

Carmen Lezeth: 8:58

So the evidence. Let me tell you what the evidence is. Unfortunately, because I was so freaked out and trusted the hotel, I didn't think of taking pictures of the actual bed bugs, or, as the hotel likes to call them, bugs from the lanai that might be the new euphemism. I have never stayed at any hotel with an inability to handle an issue, so I was not prepared to be lied to by so many people. I also have never encountered a hotel that did not want to help its guests and keep them happy. But again, I only stay at actual five-star hotels. So this may be part of the problem. With this letter and my reviews on all the sites that I will put up momentarily, I want to alert the public that when going to Barcelo Hotel or any hotel owned by Barcelo Group, they should not trust that the staff and or any people in charge, would actually tell you the truth or do their due diligence to help you as a guest. I did, however, take pictures of my body when I returned and forwarded those to the hotel. I also have receipts for an office visit at my doctor's. I also have two housekeepers who came to my home to clean the entire space.

Carmen Lezeth: 10:05

Once I realized what had occurred, joanne and I both threw out clothing, suitcases, shoes, bedding, to prevent the possibility that we might have brought home bedbugs. She lives on the East Coast, I live here on the West Coast. That's two homes that could have been contaminated. I bought bed covers, bed bug spray and have spent all this time dealing with this issue. Not to mention that for the longest time I have not been able to sleep well because I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking there might be bugs in my bed. Thankfully that has gotten. In the middle of the night thinking there might be bugs in my bed. Thankfully that has gotten much better.

Carmen Lezeth: 10:37

The initial remedy for this situation at first Joanne was asking to just have her next trip upgraded to the royal level for herself and the other couple that will be attending in the fall. So four royal level guests in total for her already booked can't get your deposit back from hotels rooms in the fall. The hotel refused and only gave her one upgrade. I asked them only to pay for the two housekeepers that had come. The morning I came home and, after confirming with my doctor to clean this home from top to bottom this is not a normal thing I do so I asked my client's housekeepers to help me and they did. The last thing I wanted to do was possibly spread anything to any of my clients that I work for because I work in their home offices or in their production offices. I asked Marcello Aruba to reimburse me $165 for each housekeeper, each housekeeper totaling $330. Housekeeper each housekeeper totaling $330. Of course, the hotel refused and is not compensating me at all and, worse, denying that there were any bed bugs. And, as you can see from the emails from them below, they somehow are compensating Joanne with one upgrade when she returns to the hotel in the fall, but are not compensating me for anything.

Carmen Lezeth: 11:54

I was in the room. I was the one bitten. I also dealt with the bad plumbing issue. In an interesting contradiction, they admit something went wrong enough to compensate one person for something but not the other. That just makes no sense. So something happened enough to make amends, but only partially. This is horrible logic and even worse, customer service.

Carmen Lezeth: 12:17

So now, what do I want? What have I wanted all along? I don't want to say the minister's name incorrectly, so my apologies. I don't want to hack his name, but what I want now is to make sure that Barcella Hotel is pressured into making sure no one ever has to deal with that level of customer service ever again. I want to make sure that guests, at whatever level they pay for an all-inclusive trip, are treated with respect, dignity and not lied to about bugs coming in from the lanai, jumping over beds and kept in a room that is infested with bed bugs or any bugs. Urgency is of the utmost importance in this situation. I am also asking that customer service training be implemented to people like Patricio Dragong and Servin Leftop I don't know how to say his name either, so I apologize or her name who is someone I did not meet but, based on their quote-unquote investigation, clearly did not take the time to talk to either me or Joanne, or the housekeepers and other staff members that I am still in touch with because we exchanged phone numbers.

Carmen Lezeth: 13:19

It is the lies that keep driving me insane. It's why I can't let this go. I live in Santa Monica, california, two blocks from the beach. I work in Hollywood. To say that money was not my motivator is an understatement. I had initially asked for compensation for two housekeepers I had to employ to help clean my home.

Carmen Lezeth: 13:38

If the hotel had behaved in a way that seemed logical and was more concerned about what had occurred, instead of trying to save a few bucks, thinking that I would humbly go away, this would be over with because I would trust that they would have done their due diligence to correct all the issues. But now I am positive. This is not the case. In the big scheme of things, I am fine. I will never stay at Hotel Barcelo any Barcelo group hotel in the future. However, I think most people who save their money to go on a trip may not have the resources, time and monies to pursue things in the same manner that I do. Many would be embarrassed by the situation and feel humiliated, and even though I may have felt a bit of all of that, I am blessed that anger and my sense of community and protecting others to the best of my ability has prevailed. I also hope that this behavior is not indicative of how hotels and businesses are run in Aruba. I hope that the Department of Public Health in Aruba and the consulate will take this matter seriously and do its best to prevent another person from experiencing this ever again. Thank you for your time and your quick attention to this matter. With respect, carmen Lisette Suarez.

Carmen Lezeth: 14:48

So now that I've read that entire long-winded, very thoroughly written email and I'm also sending it certified letter internationally I just want to say a few other things. First, I want to thank so many people who not only helped me through this, but also were encouraging me not to let this go, and that includes my clients, who only one of my clients know Well now. My other clients will know because they listen to my podcast too, but one of my clients sent their housekeepers right away and were gracious and kind, and so I want to give a shout out to them. I also want to thank all of my friends and family who have been encouraging and supporting me in supporting me throughout this whole ordeal and listen. And, like I said in the letter, in the big scheme of things, I'm not, you know, tortured by any of this.

Carmen Lezeth: 15:37

What I am upset about is the principle, is the principle of things and how you do business and how you treat people. And I feel as if you know, joanne was saying to me you know, but we had fun in Aruba. I did not, because all I can think about is how much I suffered when I got back and how much all my scratching and itching was affecting me while I was there, and it doesn't matter. The memory has been clouded of any of the fun stuff I did do while I was there, because at the end of the day, I was treated disrespectfully. And here's the other thing I'm going to say about this hotel and the way in which this hotel seemed to deal with things they kept talking about. Well, if you stayed at the royal level, you know what? I wouldn't stay at the royal level if this is how you treat anybody. Just because I fly first class doesn't mean I expect people in coach to be treated disrespectfully or treated horribly. I want everyone to be treated with respect and dignity.

Carmen Lezeth: 16:38

So that was the other part of this that kept making me angry. Like having dinner in the royal level isn't going. By the way, that never happened while I was there. We didn't have that dinner. So I don't know what that was about, but the idea that somehow that would compensate for what we were going through. And the lies. And let me tell you, they were all lies from beginning to end. The beginning, which is about being upgraded to a different room, and actually they must have overbooked or something must have happened because they put us in a room with only one bed, you know, pointing towards a parking lot, and I only noticed it because I went up with the bellman with our suitcases, because I wanted to rest, and that's how I noticed that. So from that moment, that was the first day we got there, and that night was the bed bug thing. So, listen, I hope that this letter gets into the right hands and that people do the right thing and that they fumigate that place. They do better in the future.

Carmen Lezeth: 17:31

I have no problem with things happening with emergency situations and, like I said, I do not ever write bad reviews. The only reviews I ever write are good ones, and even then I don't always do that. But I do write letters and say good things when I think there were things that are wonderfully done with customer service or whatever. I don't do bad reviews because I think sometimes people write a bad review when it's just one incident that happened right, like if you go to a restaurant and you have a bad meal or the waiter is in a bad mood, or whatever. You should go to a restaurant three, four or five times before you write a review of a place. That's what I think. I think sometimes people snipe and get upset about all the wrong things and then take it out on all the wrong people.

Carmen Lezeth: 18:12

But this, this is different. What the hotel does not understand is that I could have been severely hurt, and the reason why this is so frustrating to me is because I carry an EpiPen, and everyone who knows me knows I wear a medical bracelet. And had I been somebody who overreacts to things, or if I had been someone who didn't know what her own allergies were and didn't keep blowing it off like it was the sunburn, I could have ended up in the hospital because I could have thought I was having a breakout of hives. And for me, breaking out in hives or having my throat constrict is the reason why I carry an EpiPen. And this is they don't know this. They are hearing this for the first time in this podcast. If they're listening to it, I keep thinking about families who save their money to go to this hotel or people who have to deal with this situation, and to be lied to and to be treated this way is unacceptable.

Carmen Lezeth: 19:09

Bedbugs can happen anywhere and like anything. It is not about the accident or the issue that happened. It's how you choose to deal with it that matters. If they had dealt with this immediately with a formal apology, with giving Joanne and her group an upgrade or reimbursing us something, or just telling us we are so sorry we think they might've been bedbugs we have a feeling they could have been. I know the housekeepers knew, because there is no way, you, there's no way now. Now that I know what bedbugs look like and why they were brown and red and why they were flat, like I get it now there's no way the housekeeping staff did not know when they came to that room that night that those were bedbugs. So all of that is why I'm doing this, and I hope, if you've listened to this or if you've read this, that you will do your due diligence when you take your travels.

Carmen Lezeth: 19:59

Learn about bed bugs. It's important. You don't want to keep cross-contaminating and bringing them elsewhere, and there are really easy steps that you can take. One of the big ones that I didn't realize is never put your luggage on your bed Never, which I don't do anyway, but never do that. And before you actually go into a hotel, you shouldn't bring your luggage in. You should first go in and check the corners of all your beds, like take out the bedding, you know, and just look at the corners to make sure that there are. You can see the bugs with your naked eye you actually can, but they're not brown and red. They were brown and red because they had finished feasting on me. So it's fascinating what I've learned and you could just do a quick Google search and learn what you need to know and kind of the steps to take.

Carmen Lezeth: 20:43

And I'm not trying to scare people, please, that's not my point. I am upset with how the hotel decided to deal with this. I am disgusted at their customer service and their inability to take care of the issue in a way that I think was appropriate, and their investigation did not involve me or Joanne or any of the housekeepers that I have been in touch with. So I am confused as to their ability to handle this in the proper way so that another family or another guest does not have to go through what I went through. And here's the thing and I say this respectfully I have the means to be taken care of and go to a hospital and go see my private doctor and take days off because I have wonderful clients and heal. I don't think most people have that flexibility, and here's the thing you shouldn't have to, when all you did was try to go on vacation and have a nice time.

Carmen Lezeth: 21:38

So with that, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate all of you. I'm sorry it was a little bit on the negative side, but I do want to put it out there. I hope that you learned something through this and again, we will be back on next Thursday. I know we missed the live stream this past week. We did that because I've been so exhausted dealing with quite a few things Not just this, but dealing with so much but we will be back on Thursday the live stream and the podcast. We hope to see you again soon.

Carmen Lezeth: 22:04

And remember, it really is all about the joy. Even in this situation, I feel really good and I am fine, and this for me will also hopefully act as a way that I've done everything I can, to the best of my ability, to help someone, because that can only be. The best result for me is that if one person reads this letter and helps fix this situation, or you know, somebody decides not to stay at this hotel because they listened to this podcast, or they read this letter and they choose to go elsewhere, or somebody here learns about bedbugs and does a better job of protecting themselves in whatever situation they may find themselves at a hotel, then that makes me feel better. So again, thank you all and we'll see you next time. And remember it really is all about the joy. Thanks for stopping by. All About the Joy. Be better and stay. Beautiful folks, have a sweet day.