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I am pretty upset and I hope others will join me and let management know that their new palapa policy of morning and afternoon reservations (only half day availability), all made in advance and for a fee, is NOT acceptable to the majority of owners!
It is apparent that many people are VERY upset with the new palapa policy. As per my correspondence with the Vice President of the BOD, the Boards of the OC and the SC have adopted a new palapa policy under the mistaken impression that this works best for most people.
I have been a huge advocate for the Surf Club but I am more than a little upset over this new policy. While the old system wasn't ideal, at least I knew that with a little inconvenience I would have a great vacation.
Here is an excerpt of what I sent to the President and VP of the BOD and the manager:
There are several problems that I see with the new policy:
-instead of lining up before 7:30, people will be standing on line by 8 or so in the hopes of reserving palapas at 10AM. Lines will again form before 1 to reserve for the afternoon's use. So- instead of standing on line once early in the morning, I can look forward to someone having to stand on line for a good part of the day. Alternately, my use of the beach will be limited to half the day, having to leave at 1:00 because we don't like to burn and I have elderly parents. My mother is on medication which makes her sun-sensitive and she must not lie out in the sun.
-as happened last year, when I arrived on Sunday all the palapas were reserved until Wednesday by people who had arrived in advance and/or were there since the previous week. At least I knew with a bit of inconvenience I would be able to get one the next morning. Under this new system, I would not have been able to enjoy the beach any morning for half the week. In fact, I was only able to secure an advance reservation for 3 days when I was there in January. That means, under the new system, I would only have been able to enjoy the beach for 3 days out of a week's stay, and the likelihood is that I would only have been able to enjoy the beach for half a day for each of those 3 days. If I was lucky I would have gotten to again stand in line at 11 or 12 o'oclock to have the "privelege" of my family staying on the beach for the day and, if I was lucky, we would all get to
move our lounges and belongings to a different location.
- I am not even going to address the issue of cost, except in passing to say that we paid a lot of money to buy at the Surf Club and further support the facility with our annual maintenance fees and purchases while we are there, along with compensation (tipping) to the staff for services rendered. Forcing people to pay for palapa use is not fair; the system you are imposing imposes not one, but TWO rental fees per day on anyone "lucky" enough to get one for both the morning and afternoon.
I hope others will join me in letting them know how we feel about this new system. If me stay mute then nothing will change. E-mails for the personnel can be found on: Aruba Ocean Club
Please note- subsequent to this inital post they have put the new policy in writing on the website and, although I was told in an e-mail that the Boards of both the OC and SC had decided it was the best policy, the new policy only applies to the SC. I don't want to mislead anybody.
It is apparent that many people are VERY upset with the new palapa policy. As per my correspondence with the Vice President of the BOD, the Boards of the OC and the SC have adopted a new palapa policy under the mistaken impression that this works best for most people.
I have been a huge advocate for the Surf Club but I am more than a little upset over this new policy. While the old system wasn't ideal, at least I knew that with a little inconvenience I would have a great vacation.
Here is an excerpt of what I sent to the President and VP of the BOD and the manager:
There are several problems that I see with the new policy:
-instead of lining up before 7:30, people will be standing on line by 8 or so in the hopes of reserving palapas at 10AM. Lines will again form before 1 to reserve for the afternoon's use. So- instead of standing on line once early in the morning, I can look forward to someone having to stand on line for a good part of the day. Alternately, my use of the beach will be limited to half the day, having to leave at 1:00 because we don't like to burn and I have elderly parents. My mother is on medication which makes her sun-sensitive and she must not lie out in the sun.
-as happened last year, when I arrived on Sunday all the palapas were reserved until Wednesday by people who had arrived in advance and/or were there since the previous week. At least I knew with a bit of inconvenience I would be able to get one the next morning. Under this new system, I would not have been able to enjoy the beach any morning for half the week. In fact, I was only able to secure an advance reservation for 3 days when I was there in January. That means, under the new system, I would only have been able to enjoy the beach for 3 days out of a week's stay, and the likelihood is that I would only have been able to enjoy the beach for half a day for each of those 3 days. If I was lucky I would have gotten to again stand in line at 11 or 12 o'oclock to have the "privelege" of my family staying on the beach for the day and, if I was lucky, we would all get to
move our lounges and belongings to a different location.
- I am not even going to address the issue of cost, except in passing to say that we paid a lot of money to buy at the Surf Club and further support the facility with our annual maintenance fees and purchases while we are there, along with compensation (tipping) to the staff for services rendered. Forcing people to pay for palapa use is not fair; the system you are imposing imposes not one, but TWO rental fees per day on anyone "lucky" enough to get one for both the morning and afternoon.
I hope others will join me in letting them know how we feel about this new system. If me stay mute then nothing will change. E-mails for the personnel can be found on: Aruba Ocean Club
Please note- subsequent to this inital post they have put the new policy in writing on the website and, although I was told in an e-mail that the Boards of both the OC and SC had decided it was the best policy, the new policy only applies to the SC. I don't want to mislead anybody.
....Hmmmm, let's make friends with the lady who gets there at dawn, so that she can save us seats......
!
is ridiculous.....JMHO
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