Occidental negative review

[mgenestra]

Hello All,

I just returned yesterday from my week in Aruba. The weather was great but the stay at the Occidental Hotel was not...I have to stay I will not return.

If you have an upcoming vacation at this hotel beware now that you will have to get up at 6:30- 7:00 am to run down and put towels either by the pool or the beach if you want a seat. The Occidental sign clearly say's not to place towels on the chairs before 7:15 am but I made it a point one morning to get up at 6:30 and go down stairs and let me tell you there was only two hunts on the beach and maybe 10 chairs left open by the pool. I think that the hotel should enforce the rules they have on the signs and when the security guards see's people down there that early in the morning reserving spots then they should tell people its not allowed. Also the hotel lounge chairs are awful to lay on all day so either ask for extra towel cards or you may want to purchase a float to sit on all day. The hotel needs to update the chairs, towels and the customer service.

Beware that your toilet will probably clog up more then once a day so you will be calling maintence. Also make sure you have clean towels to get a shower. The one day I came up front the pool around 6:15 pm and I was about to get in the shower when I notice I did not have any towels so I called housekeeping and they said they would be right up. I waited a half hour no one showed up. I called back they operator said I'm sorry let me connect you, then no one answered. I then sent my husband down stairs to the front desk where he waited in line for a 25 minutes and no one waited on him. I then called back again bc my husband was not coming back and I wanted towels to get a shower the operator said let me connect you with it Housekeeping Supervisor the lady answers the phone and she say's I'll be right up. No apologizie, just hands us four towels. I was pissed. No one apologized for this inconvenience and it did not seem like a big deal. I'm just glad we did not have dinner reservations that night bc we would have never made them.

My time in Aruba was nice as always. I will return to the Island just not the Occidental Hotel. Check in was confusing and the lady at the vacation club I thought was very rude. She did not tell us where anything was located within the hotel. All she did do is give us room keys and said you can't get in your room until 4 pm. We had arrived at the hotel by 1:15pm. She gave us no info or map of the hotel so we just left. She knew we were staying as a guest of a vacation club owner but continued to be rude. I have to say the hotel was clean and having maid service every day was nice other then that thumbs down for everything else at the hotel.

If you are thinking about staying here and its your first time in Aruba I would pick a different hotel. The past two years we have stayed at the Divi Phoenix and that is where we will return. It is the first hotel the starts the high-rise but you can take the bus down to the mall/restaurant area's or just walk. Its not that far but if your not a walker then renting a car or taking the bus would be best.

I thought the ocean water was cooler then when we were there last May/June. Bring water shoes for the beach bc its a little rocky.

We tried two new places to eat this visit:

Salt & Pepper for breakfast and Lunch- awesome
Tony Romo's- awesome

Was not happy with Gianni's service this time around.

[Andrea J.]

YIKES.


i am going to copy this post and put it in "my aruba story"

sorry to hear OCCIDENTAL was not up to snuff, but glad to hear Aruba and weather were great.

[nikko]

its funny you mention the water...i thought it was just me...it was cooler than i remembered. wont complain though...still warmer than the jersey shore...lol

[dogwriter]

Sorry to hear you so many problems. We too rented from an owner but had few of those difficulties. Towels were good daily and the plumbing was never a problem. Always had a palapa on the beach and if we went to the pool in the afternoon, we found four chaises. Maybe the occupancy was down when we were there from July 3-10?
Since we did partial A-I, we were told about breakfast and lunch venues and about the bars.
Since our rooms weren't ready either, the woman told us about the beach grille with the later hours and sent us down for lunch while we waited.
We had such a good time that we have already reserved for next year. Hopefully we will get lucky again.
Walt

[Arubalisa]

When the air is hotter, the water can feel colder.

The dive gear my dd and dh had in June showed water temperature to be 81 F. which was right on average for June.

[sunworshipperII]

Well most places I think you need to get up early to get chairs or huts I know at Marriott Surf and Holiday Inn where I have stayed before you do sorry Occidental was so bad..but hope you still managed to enjoy your trip...

[dogwriter]

When we first arrived, I asked our waiter at the Beach Grille, if there was a way to reserve a hut in advance for the week. He told us about Johnny, the Beach Guy. We looked him up and from then on, we never had to worry. We had the same hut every day with towels attached and waiting for us.
The "towel game" is played everywhere there is a beach. You have to dig a little to find the way to play or you can just get angry and let it put a wrinkle in your vacation.
At the Royal in Playa, we deal with Alexis, the Beach Butler. At the Ocean Maya, we would drop towels on our way to breakfast. At the Divi, one of us gets up early to claim our space. At Breezes Curacao, we had an oceanfront walkout, so we just walked down and set our stuff.
We never let the game bother us and we never abuse the system by not using our space but leaving our towels.
It is all what you make of it.
Walt

[ricky59]

not trying to be disrespectful, but at 7;15 i find it hard to believe that all but 2 hut's were claimed. any where on palm beach you see the same thing, everyone wants a palapa close to the water!
rocky beach? no way, best stretch of sand on palm beach. what problem with the towels? clogging toilets? towels not in your room, you waited 30 minutes that's very unusual.
as far as customer service, the girl's who work in the office are wonderful, what map would you need? everything is steps from the check in at the vacation club.

[Cosmo]

Actually getting up early to get a hut in the High rises is fun, I have met many very interesting and fun people while waiting in line

[mgenestra]

Well Ricky29, I'm not sure what hotel you are talking about but I am telling you what happen to me last week at the Occidental hotel. I never had any of those problems the past two years I've stayed at the Divi Phoenix. The Occidental pool area is way to small for the amount of people they had last week. I don't think you should have to get up early to reserves seats, at least not at 6:30 am in the morning. And last thursday I waited an hour and a half for bath towels to be delievered to my room. I have no reason to lie about anything.