Image © 2009 Lyndah Wells
Freeport News Reporter
Despite the continuous decrease in the number of visitors to Grand Bahama over the last few years, local hotels have managed to maintain positive ratings on travel websites.
The Radisson Our Lucaya Resort, Pelican Bay Hotel and Old Bahama Bay Hotel – three of the largest properties on the island – each received high ratings on the TripAdvisor site.
The Our Lucaya Resort page, on which there were 78 reviews posted, had 79 percent of travellers recommending that property.
Twenty five persons gave the property an excellent rating and 31 a very good rating, while only nine rated it as poor and four as terrible.
Among the positive comments for the resort were that the rooms and general facilities were clean and the proximity to the Port Lucaya Marketplace was convenient.
"I couldn't have picked a nicer place. Rooms were great - they're quite large. The beds were nice and comfy, big fluffy pillows. The bathroom is large as well and has tons of counter-space. Balcony's were nice too - even the ones overlooking the market and tennis courts," one reviewer wrote.
"The location is superb! You're right on the beach of course, and it's well maintained and spacious so you don't feel crowded."
Some of the worst reviews described poor service and a lack of entertainment and dining options.
"The staff were consistently rude," wrote one guest.
"There was very little to do and the unfriendly service at the hotel made us desperate to end our honeymoon early."
Image © 2009 Lyndah Wells
There were 318 reviews posted for the Pelican Bay Resort, with more than half (171) being excellent and 94 being very good. Only 19 reviewers gave the property a poor rating, and 10 said it was terrible.Eighty-eight percent of reviewers said they would recommend the resort. The positive reviews on that property included comments about nice rooms and the free breakfast offered.
"Rooms were clean and nicely themed. I enjoyed eating the simple breakfast by the sea inlet, receiving pastries and a NY times to my letterbox each morning," one review read.
Reviewers with negative experiences cited rude or unhelpful staff and problems with their rooms.
"I was a little taken back on how rude the receptionist(s) were. Every day as we exchange(d) our towels, the receptionist never ever said hello, good morning or even attempted to communicate with us. They were so busy on the phone, chatting with each other. The bellman was very friendly, he was the only one that was very helpful."
The Old Bahama Bay Resort received 107 reviews. Good food and a wide range of activities were some of the strong points of the resort noted by guests."We wanted a secluded place to relax and this was perfect. Room was very nice, staff was friendly, the food was good," one guest wrote.
Negative reviews included comments about bugs and poor service.
"Overall the majority of employees seemed quite resentful of tourists and were interested in doing the absolute minimum necessary to avoid having guests check out early."
Eighty-one percent of travellers recommended this property.
Websites like tripadvisor are often used as marketing tools by hospitality executives who view it as a gauge.
Pelican Bay's Director of Sales Marva Munroe said the company uses the feedback provided on such websites to monitor customer satisfaction levels.
In addition to TripAdvisor, management at that resort also monitors other sites such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Yahoo Travel. The team even responds to some postings, she explained, both negative and positive.
"The management team at Pelican Bay at Lucaya uses the opinions of travellers on the media sites to further deepen the relationship with the customer, to talk to the customer, of course certainly when there is a negative posting and of course intermittently when there are positive postings, to acknowledge them and say thank you too so that the customer sees that we are paying attention," she said.
"Whatever comments are made on the websites, the management team at Pelican Bay uses that information to improve some particular service that may need to be improved or just as a barometer of what's happening and what may need to be done."
It does take some effort for someone to log on to a site and post a review, and it may seem more likely that someone would do so to highlight a negative experience than a positive one, and Munroe says it makes it all the more special that customers take the time to post positive feedback.
"The management team is certainly appreciative and extremely grateful... because as you all know recommendations are seen by many thousands of customers and these customers pay attention to these sites and what's said on them so it's very important for us to be cognizant of what our customers are saying on these channels as well," she said.
