I am supposed to be going to The Bavaro Princess on 07/10/2004. After reading some of these comments I decided to contact the hotel direct, using an email address that had been posted in another forum. Here is their reply:
Dear Mr/s:
a. BAVARO PRINCESS HOTEL, CARIBE CLUB PRINCESS HOTEL and TROPICAL
PRINCESS HOTEL
In these 3 hotels, damages for flooding are considerable. For all that, our commitment with service and quality and the strong will to operate in a responsible way, make us decided to close temporally in order to re-open in the most efficient conditions.
We consider this closing for the next 40 days. Nevertheless, we will keep you informed of the progress and the exact day of re-opening, which could take place before this term or as if we should extend it.
Regards
Andrea
MARIA FERNANDA SANCHEZ
ASISTENTE RESERVACIONES
RESERVATIONS ASSISTANT
HOTEL BAVARO PRINCESS ALL SUITES RESORT
HOTEL PUNTA CANA PRINCESS
TE. 221-2311 EXT 4148
FAX 552-1288
EMAIL:
reservas@bavaroprincess.com.do
I have spoken to someone at Thomson Holidays. They are not aware that the Bavaro Princess is closed. The person I spoke to advised me that at the moment my holiday would still go ahead. He said that Thomson have sent some health and safety advisors out to the resort to check out the situation and they should know more next week.
Regarding my options I have two choices:
A) I can transfer my holiday to another destination within the Thomson group and pay any additional cost plus ?30.00 admin fee per person (there are 8 people in my party), provided the increase is not more that 10% and I must travel on or before my current departure date (not after)
B) I wait to see if Thomson decides to cancel my holiday (this could be 48 hours before my departure date). If they cancel my holiday I have the following options:
i) Thomson will try to offer alternative accommodation of an equal standard, if this is not possible they will try to upgrade us at no additional cost. If this is not possible they will offer lower standard accommodation and refund the difference in price.
ii) We can book a different holiday within the Thomson group. This time it does not matter how much more or less the holiday is. If it is more we pay the difference, if it is less we get a refund for the difference. We can also travel at any time we like.
iii) We chose not to travel and Thomson will give a full refund for the holiday.
We will probably go with option B (the holiday has already cost us enough) and hope that they don?t leave it too late to let us know if we are going or not.
Hope this helps anyone else who is worried about the situation in DR.