Warning for anyone paying in advance for services

Let me start off by saying that if the incident that I will describe hadn’t happened, this would’ve been an 8/10 trip. We enjoyed the resort and especially the parks. There were minor annoyances throughout our stay, which can be expected anywhere (that won’t be my focus here, but I’m happy to answer any questions.) However, what happened at checkout can’t be excused, and we will not return.

My husband and daughter and I were traveling with his brother and their family. We booked separate rooms, but when we did our reservation requests, we asked for our reservations to be linked together for the parks, excursions and dinners. The person who booked our reservations was actually very helpful. But this is where it goes downhill.

My sister-in-law and I wanted to do a day at the spa, so I contacted the woman we were working with and asked for two reservations for massages. She immediately wrote back and sent us two payment links, one for my SIL’s massage and one for mine. We promptly paid to secure our reservation. No automatic email was sent with a confirmation that we had paid. I emailed our concierge, and she wrote back with a reservation number and details for the day, which I believed at the time was proof of payment.

Our massage went off without a hitch (wasn’t the best massage I’ve ever received, but was worth it for the pretty surroundings). The spa was beautiful and we especially enjoyed our time in the hot water cold water circuit. Nobody mentioned charging it to the room, etc. because I assume they saw our payments in the system.

Now comes check out day. I was able to check out my family without a hitch and we were back in the Cancun airport when I get a call from SIL - she’s a little frantic because of the hotel is telling her that we didn’t pay for our spa services, which amounts to over $900. Luckily, she is able to find a screenshot on her phone that she had the foresight to take when she was making her payment. I never even considered doing that, so unfortunately I don’t have a screenshot (again, which is why they should send you a receipt after you make a payment). I do, however, have the reservation email that the concierge sent me which I forwarded to my sister-in-law. They won’t accept that as proof of payment. So my in-laws are forced to pay for my spa service before they are allowed to check out of the hotel!

This is incomprehensible to me, of course. I have the entire email thread with the concierge, including an email where I sent her notification we had paid through her links and asking for the confirmation, which she then sent. If the hotel is not even accepting an email that their own staff member sends to a customer how are you supposed to prove payment?

Of course I contacted my credit card company as soon as I return home, got a receipt from the day that I paid for the service, and sent a polite email explaining the situation to the staff with the original email chain, and the confirmation for my credit card company, and received no response. My BIL also reached out to the manager he had gotten the email for and similarly explained the situation- the manager basically waved off his email and seemed stuck on the fact that their party had only paid for one service (duh! I paid for the other!). I then followed up with several other people (with increasing irritation) and received no responses. When I filled out the hotel survey and gave negative reviews I received a generic ‘oh we will forward your concerns to the necessary departments.’

Of course, at this point, I told my BIL he just needed to escalate it to his credit card company to contest the charge. That was our last resort because we had hoped that we could resolve the situation with the hotel. Our kids had a fantastic time and we were planning a return trip next year with my FIL, which now unfortunately is impossible.

So my advice - document EVERYTHING and if you do pay for a service in advance make sure to screenshot. I have a feeling they now know they were in the wrong but won’t admit it - either that or it’s a money grab.

Definitely not 5 star service for treatment of guests (not even 3 star) - but I guess because we had already checked, out they didn’t care anymore.