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Vacation Internationale & Tsunami policy
We were on Molokai Saturday Morning February 27 when the Tsunami sirens went off followed by low flying airplanes with megaphones telling everyone within hearing distance to move to higher ground.
We were scheduled to fly MKK->HNL on Hawaii's Island Air since Hawaiiair does NOT fly in or out of Molokai. IslandAir suspended ALL flights in Hawaii on Saturday. I do not think any airline flew in or out of MKK on Saturday except perhaps helicopters evacuating patients from the leper colony on Molokai.
Then we were to connect HNL->LIH on Hawaiiair.
We used "Name your own price" on Priceline for our car reservation.
We received several phone calls from BlueGreen advising us that Pono Kai was being evacuated and we could change our BlueGreen reservation for no charge.
Hertz advised us that they would allow us to pick up the car reserved by Pricelice up to 48 hours later EVEN though Priceline's normal policy only allows you to pick up the car up to 24 hours later.
Priceline then advised us they will REFUND our full costs due to the Tsunami warnings. We figure it is easier to make a new car reservation.
Due to our itinerary we had a gap of one day and initially were waitlisted with VacationInternationale which also has units at the same resort. On February 23, availability came up for Kapaa Shores and we cancelled the VI waitlist for Pono Kai and used "Bonus Time" to pay for the one night gap at Kapaa Shores.
We called VI at the earliest opportunity when they opened on Monday, March 1 since they were closed on the weekend. The agent didn't seem to understand the situation but assured me she would call me within 48 hours. I followed up with a email to owner services on Monday morning. VI Hawaii suggested I contact the Manager or Resort Operations. No phone call from first agent, no reply to the email sent through the VI site EVEN though the confirmation states they will reply within two days. The Manager of Resort Operations spoke with the agent I just got off the phone with and told her "to deal with us" that she doesn't want to speak with us. She never returned our previoius voicemail.
I am stunned with the comments I received from VI today. I was put on hold and was told one of the VI Owner Services leads said "because our reservation was made BEFORE the Tsunami (Feb 23) changes cannot be made" then after telling the agent that nearly all reservations are made in advance for Hawaii she spoke with another VI Owner Services lead agent who said "Because there was NO PROBLEM FOR HAWAII (with the Tsunami warnings/evacuations of 27 Feb 2010)" changes/cancellations will not occur.
My question to VI owners on this site, does ANYONE know of other VI owners who were impacted by the tsunami and how VI handled it. PLEASE can someone let me know if this is normal for VI?
We were scheduled to fly MKK->HNL on Hawaii's Island Air since Hawaiiair does NOT fly in or out of Molokai. IslandAir suspended ALL flights in Hawaii on Saturday. I do not think any airline flew in or out of MKK on Saturday except perhaps helicopters evacuating patients from the leper colony on Molokai.
Then we were to connect HNL->LIH on Hawaiiair.
We used "Name your own price" on Priceline for our car reservation.
We received several phone calls from BlueGreen advising us that Pono Kai was being evacuated and we could change our BlueGreen reservation for no charge.
Hertz advised us that they would allow us to pick up the car reserved by Pricelice up to 48 hours later EVEN though Priceline's normal policy only allows you to pick up the car up to 24 hours later.
Priceline then advised us they will REFUND our full costs due to the Tsunami warnings. We figure it is easier to make a new car reservation.
Due to our itinerary we had a gap of one day and initially were waitlisted with VacationInternationale which also has units at the same resort. On February 23, availability came up for Kapaa Shores and we cancelled the VI waitlist for Pono Kai and used "Bonus Time" to pay for the one night gap at Kapaa Shores.
We called VI at the earliest opportunity when they opened on Monday, March 1 since they were closed on the weekend. The agent didn't seem to understand the situation but assured me she would call me within 48 hours. I followed up with a email to owner services on Monday morning. VI Hawaii suggested I contact the Manager or Resort Operations. No phone call from first agent, no reply to the email sent through the VI site EVEN though the confirmation states they will reply within two days. The Manager of Resort Operations spoke with the agent I just got off the phone with and told her "to deal with us" that she doesn't want to speak with us. She never returned our previoius voicemail.
I am stunned with the comments I received from VI today. I was put on hold and was told one of the VI Owner Services leads said "because our reservation was made BEFORE the Tsunami (Feb 23) changes cannot be made" then after telling the agent that nearly all reservations are made in advance for Hawaii she spoke with another VI Owner Services lead agent who said "Because there was NO PROBLEM FOR HAWAII (with the Tsunami warnings/evacuations of 27 Feb 2010)" changes/cancellations will not occur.
My question to VI owners on this site, does ANYONE know of other VI owners who were impacted by the tsunami and how VI handled it. PLEASE can someone let me know if this is normal for VI?