Tour operator fails, tourists pay twice

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This article was published 17/04/2009 (6113 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Some Canadians say the sun-splashed Mexican holidays they booked through a now-collapsed travel company turned into ugly ordeals as they faced hotel managers demanding they shell out thousands of dollars or face the police.

Canadians clashed with Mexican hotel security guards Thursday when a group of 28 people staying at the Golden Parnassus resort tried to leave the premises after disputing their bill, according to one of the travellers. He said pushing and shoving ensued.

The problems started Wednesday, when Conquest Vacations Inc. suddenly announced it was shutting its doors, blaming fierce competition and a faltering economy.

Since then, the Canadians say hotels that worked with Conquest have been demanding that customers pay for their room and board, even though the tourists had already given the travel company the money.

The situation at one Cancun resort escalated as time wore on.

Christopher Lee, who has been staying at Golden Parnassus hotel since last Thursday, said that security refused to let an elderly Manitoba man and his daughter leave the premises after they refused to pay for their vacation a second time.

He said the conflict escalated to a point that the hotel wouldn’t let others leave for the airport until they paid their bills.

"If we tried to leave they would physically push us back into the building," Lee told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.

Four local police officers were called in by the hotel staff and the group of Canadians was forced to pay, he said.

A reservations manager at the hotel disputes the claim that police were involved, and said the hotel is trying to compromise, even though she said it hasn’t received money from Conquest.

"We’re talking with all the guests right now and we tell them that we’re going to (give them) a special rate," said Elizabeth Ruiz from the Golden Parnassus hotel. "They don’t have any control of this situation, but obviously we need to get a guarantee."

Ruiz said she hopes by reducing rates the vacationers will be able to come to a compromise with the hotel, and later get money back from Conquest.

"We sacrifice a little and also the travel agency sacrifices a little," she said. "We don’t get anything from that space (room), but at least we don’t lose something."

Lee said he ended up paying US$700 to the hotel, an amount which he managed to talk down from the initial $US$1,900 that the Golden Parnassus demanded.

That’s on top of the US$1,300 he has already paid to the now defunct Conquest travel company.

"The vast majority have paid because we don’t really have any choice. We can’t miss our flight — that would put us in an even worse position," he said.

"We had to show our receipt before the security, backed up by the police, let us walk off the grounds."

Similar stories were being heard from other vacationers in Mexico on Thursday as the fallout of the Conquest collapse rippled through popular sunshine resorts.

"Either they’ll put me out or they put me in jail," said vacationer Bissoongai Seepersaud, who has been staying at the Oasis Cancun resort since Saturday with her sister and their four children.

Seepersaud, who lives in Toronto, said she paid for her holiday before she left Canada. But on Thursday, hotel managers were demanding she pay US$6,000, which they claim is the amount outstanding owed by Conquest for her time at the resort — or they would call police.

A media report cited a spokesperson for the Overseas World Marketing, a collection agency for Occidental hotels, as saying that Conquest hasn’t paid its bills since last month and owes about US$100,000.

Conquest vacationers who hadn’t left for their destinations were promised refunds.

 

— The Canadian Press