Finding Glitter in the Gulch :: Vegas Baby

[trip style = sun] The sprawling desert destination whose blinding lights and tall towers pop up out of nowhere is more than just glitter. Past the sequins, slots and smut is a fun, ever-changing entertainment mecca designed to sizzle your senses. On that note, there's a reason most vacation packages are 3-nights.

Tangoing with Lady Luck Complete with year-round sun, ravishing restaurants, sultry shows and mega malls, Vegas is the king of re-invention offering something for everyone. Go at the right time of year (see more below) and vegas can be fun, and dare I say: relaxing. I'm not a gambler, but between last-min getaways and girls trips, I've tangoed with lady luck a few times. Yep, I've pulled the occasional slot and wound my way through the never ending lines of nightclub goers (passing a stressed-out Steve Wynn enroute---man behind The Mirage, The Bellagio, The Wynn and others).  Some would argue that's Vegas at its best.  I disagree.

The Glitter in the Gulch When - it can get cold in late fall & early winter, so wait until spring if you're looking to soak up the sun - avoid US holidays, particularly Memorial and Labour Day long weekends - to find the best deals, rooms, easy access to shows and restaurants, go mid-week or sunday-wednesday - unless you want to roast like a marshmallow, avoid the summer - in other words, visit in spring or early fall and avoid long weekends! Stay - contrary to what it might seem, vegas is massive, so decide if you want to stay on or off the strip - each hotel tends to draw a different crowd, so choose which crowd you want to hang with, for example: mandalay bay: young and sporty, bellagio & wynn: high-rollers and their entourages, excalibur: deal seekers less concerned with aesthetics, caesar's palace: those who want to be in the centre of it all Do - any cirque de soleil show (get tix in advance, or chance it with half-price tix at fashion show mall) - shop forum shops at caesar's or fashion show mall (across from wynn) - sit by the pool - golf - spa more than 3 days in sin city... - visit the hoover dam - hike in the red rock canyon Eat - tao restaurant is lively (to say the least), has amazing service and to-die-for japanese-inspired food - fiamma at the MGM is a triple-threat: pasta, 400+ wine list, modern design (recognized by Wine Spectator in 2009) - Botero at Encore takes the steakhouse concept to a whole new level offering chill-laxed, pool-side dining

Winter Heat Palm Springs Cool

[trip style = sun]

Earlier this week in the 'dead' of winter, Palm Springs temperatures reached 27 degrees Celsius {81 Fahrenheit} while the town's cool and feelgood vibe is as fresh today as it was when Audrey Hepburn enjoyed a nightly scotch on the rocks at the Raquet Club.

From the moment you set foot in the Palm Springs Airport {PSP}, your stress decompresses. After passing a few small stores and carts selling juice and pastel-colored hats with "Palm Springs" text written across the front, you end up in an open-air, landscaped courtyard with seating areas, grassy patches, flower beds and free wireless---what a way to begin and end your trip.

Stepping out of the airport, there's a skyline of snow-crusted peaks. Yes, the environment is inviting, as well as the bronzed locals whose eyes mirror the town's resorty vibe.

Everything is close. After a 10-minute drive, I check into the Ace, a hotel that's comes highly recommended by my pop culture-immersed and knower-of-anything-cool sister.  I'm there to enjoy the facilities to the full because I not only get to hang by the pool, but attend a wedding on-site. The hotel has me at hello.

It's modernism week, a long weekend and there's a wedding on-site, yet the Ace's staff maintains their cool---with a slight air of angst. Since it's only 11am, my room isn't ready, so I embark on a self-guided mod mission {modern map -$5 from the Visitor Centre} to dazzle my eyes with the area's mid-century modern masterpieces.

After ticking off about 20 of the 80 selections, I race back for the wedding. Reminiscent of a high-end campsite, the Ace is cool (aka air conditioned), canvas clad and minimalist. The wedding takes place at the quiet pool, which just so happens to have a adjacent, concrete-floored room with garage doors to host the reception.

The next morning, I need to de-caffinate {I like the taste of coffee but can only have decaf}, so I walk across the street to Koffi, a local coffee shop which must be good seeing as the line-up is 30 people long. Go here for the people watching alone. The coffee is good too.

Apres my cafe, it's time to soak in the rays. By 10am the sun seems to be at full strength, thank God my sunscreen is too. Now, I can fully relax...

In the wake of my taster vacay, I am already planning my next jaunt to: a) see the other 60 sights on my modern self-guided tour b) get some more vitamin D c) vacation with my dog @nachoking (who will probably fit in more at the Ace than I do) d) pick up one of those pastel hats at the airport.

[photo via @heatherlovesit]

All-Inclusive Tricks of the Trade

[trip style = all-inclusive]

Booking your Trip

• Who to book with
  • Resort direct.  If you have a preferred all-inclusive, get on their newsletter list.  This way, you'll be the first to know about insider-only deals.
  • Resellers.  Here are a few of my faves:
    • Canada - itravel2000.com, aircanadavacations.com
    • USA - applevacations.com, resortvacationstogo.com
• What to Ask for
  • Top-floor, many all-inclusives have tile floors which can be loud if you're on a bottom or middle floor
  • Quiet room away from elevators or stair wells
  • Room away from the resort's night club or cabaret
  • Some resorts have two sections: regular + enhanced.  Prior to booking, double check if your resort has this offering.  Sometimes the prices are cheaper than expected for a far superior offering.  Once when I was in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, the Resort offered us an upgrade to their premium area for only $10 extra/day. Stupidly we said no.  After being at the resort for a few days and seeing the premium area, I wish we'd said yes.
• When to Book
  • Find most discounted prices: fall, spring, late summer.
  • With the exception of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, hurricane season hits the Caribbean from June - November with September usually being the most problematic month.  Note that most major resort chains like Superclubs and Club Med offer weather and hurricane guarantees.
• Double Check
  • Does the resort require reservations for restaurants?
  • What's the dress code?
  • Does the resort offer premium-brand drinks?
  • Do they have a tipping policy (ie - some resorts forbid it, others unofficially encourage it)
  • Are motorized sports included?

Getting There Most resorts outsource the airport transfer, therefore, make sure you have a few extra dollars (between 2 - 5) for tipping the driver to and from the airport.

While There

• If you go in high season and want a premium spot on the beach or at the pool, you may have to get up early to reserve your preferred spot.  This is not true for every resort.  I just stayed at the Sandals Whitehouse and always got an excellent spot on the beach between 10 - 11am.  This depends on occupancy, time of year and beach chair to guest ratio.
• Bring an insulated travel mug to minimize trips to the bar and keep your drink cool.
• Also make sure to pack some sort of beach bag.  When you're catchin' rays away from your room for the better part of the day, you'll want a place to store items like camera, room key, water bottle, books, mags, ipod, cover-up, etc...
• Don't come back with bites all over your legs (don't laugh, I see it happen to guests every time I visit all-inclusives in the Caribbean).  Always bring insect repellant just in case.  The Caribbean is lush and sandy, hence noseeums, sand flies, etc...

Related Don't Judge an All-Inclusive until Day 3 :: 7 Reason to Wait to Evaluate A Redo trip :: What to do when an all-inclusive experience goes belly-up Update on my Redo Trip :: An overview of the highs and lows of the Sandals WhiteHouse

Update on my Redo Trip

[trip style = all-inclusive]

Recently, I wrote about the upcoming Redo Trip I was about to embark upon.  I had a voucher from a stay at the Sandals Royal Bahamian, which I used toward the Sandals WhiteHouse.  A week later, I'm back from Jamaica with lots to share!  But first, here's how the Sandals collection of resorts compares...

Sandals Resort Collection As of this writing, the Caribbean-focused, Sandals all-inclusive Resorts have the following brands:

• Sandals: Adults-only/Couples.  Sandals Resorts, Sandals flagship brand, features 15 resorts (including the unpublicized Sandals Cuba) focusing on a romantic, all-inclusive experience in the warm Caribbean sun.  Like a high-end camp for adults, Sandals resorts offer multiple restaurants, motorized water sports, games and activities, premium drinks and much more.
• Beaches: Family-oriented.  Similar to the Sandals offering, Beaches also has children's Sesame Street and teenage DJ'ing programs so parents can relax and sip margaritas while their kids are occupied.  With 4 locations, around the Caribbean, the Turks & Caicos location is literally a super resort with 16 restaurants, 12 miles of beach and a 45,000 square foot water park.
• Grand Pineapple: The most affordable getaway option of the 4 brands. Both the Jamaica and Antigua value-driven resorts are less about "Luxury Included" and more about relaxing in the Sun.  Sure, you might not be able to water ski or drink premium brand drinks, but the Caribbean's natural beauty should make up for it.
• Royal Plantation Collection:  According to Sandals, Royal Plantation is for those of you who "insist only upon the very best", in other words, it is the most luxurious offering within the entire Sandals brand.  Currently featuring 3 properties in Jamaican and the Bahamas, each resort in the collection is very different.  One is in Jamaica at "Butch," the Sandals Chairman's private Villas. The second is also in Jamaica featuring a beach-front locale, colonial-style architecture and distinction as part of the "Leading Small Hotels of the World."  The final property is on a 50-acre private island in the Bahamas (this one has my vote).

Sandals WhiteHouse Set in a Jamaican nature reserve, the six-year-old Sandals WhiteHouse offers water views from every room and a far-reaching, spacious beach.  As one of Sandals' bigger resorts, couples can either find a private spot on the beach, or sit poolside and get involved in 'battle of sexes' activities or water aerobics.  I liked having the choice between quiet and rowdy; I chose quiet.  See my full Trip Advisor review here.

Sandals shines in the way they treat return guests, adorning them with receptions, t-shirts, a bottle of rum, etc... to show their appreciation..and hopefully get a return booking.

My only hesitation is suggesting Sandals to others is their phone and email service prior to leaving for our trip.  I dealt with multiple people via phone at Sandals head office and none of them was overly helpful, to put it politely.  Similarly, I submitted an email inquiry after I tried to check-in online and never got a response.

Overall, Sandals does a good job (in certain areas of their business) and appeals primarily to boomers and secondarily to honeymooners.   There are not many gen-x couples mulling around their resorts.  Either way, if you want a getaway where you don't have to lift a finger, want to eat at nice, varied restaurants and have a few sips of premium brand alcohol, Sandals may be a good option for you.

Some Additional Pictures of the Sandals WhiteHouse

A Redo Trip

[trip style = all-inclusive]

Tomorrow I'm embarking on redo trip to the Sandals WhiteHouse with my husband.  What I mean by this, is we had a bad experience, wrote a letter and this upcoming trip is the company's attempt to gain back our business and loyalty.   Have you ever done a redo trip?

Situation Last year we booked a last-minute trip at New Years to the Bahamas, and it turned out badly.  We have never moved rooms at any hotel, but had to move three times during the first half of one week! From toilets semi-exploding and flooding our bathroom, to the resort almost refusing to wash the clothes that were caught-up in the mess, to our airport transfer driver taking half an hour to eat his lunch at the airport when we'd all loaded on to the bus, our time away was a little stressful.

Our Challenges Our challenges with the Sandals Royal Bahamian reached their peak before dinner New Year's night. We had to decide whether we were going to leave the resort or put our bad experiences aside and try to enjoy the rest of our trip. We chose the latter and made the most of our remaining days.

Writing a Letter Rather than writing a hateful review on Trip Advisor and dismissing the entire Sandals brand forever, upon my return, I wrote an email to the Resort's GM telling him what we appreciated about the resort as well as explaining what had happened to make our trip less-than-ideal.  [Note that I addressed the letter to the GM because I had already unsuccessfully dealt with multiple middle managers while at the resort.]  I was impressed.  Within 3 days I received a response addressing each point, as well as a voucher for 3 nights.

A Redo With the voucher, rather than returning to the Royal Bahamian, we decided to try another resort within the brand --one that won consistent awards both in the past and present-day. We opted for the Sandals WhiteHouse. When I heard they were closed for renovations in November I was excited, but then I learned that the upgrades were mostly electrical. Either way, it will be nice to laze on the beach for a week, soak in the Caribbean sun and hopefully turn last year's negative experience into a positive!

Complementing/Complaining in the Right Way There are constructive and deconstructive ways to provide feedback.   We've all seen people freak at baristas for making the wrong drink or yell at servers for bringing the wrong dish.  These people are only discrediting themselves.  After experiencing and observing many 'harry situations' in my travels, here are some of the rules I live by when providing feedback:

• Don't just tell people when you're disgruntled, tell people when you're happy with service too.  Whether travel-related or not, companies value positive feedback and reinforcement.
• If you are disgruntled, try to express a few positives in order to show level-headedness.
• If you are going to complement or complain, do so with class by ensuring
  • you tactfully tell the staff member and the manager
  • you understand the chain of command, and give the worker or manager an opportunity to respond before going directly to the VP or GM
• Before complaining, take a deep breath or time-out.  Don't let yourself get angry; approach the situation with dignity and a clear head.  You'll be taken more seriously when calm.
• Approach the challenge as an opportunity.
• Don't ever speak down to anyone --whether a housekeeper, server, manager or CEO.  Treat everyone with respect.
• Provide some background (if required) so your comment is taken with due credibility.
• We're human.  We all make mistakes.  Keep this in mind before complaining.
• Finally, do not spout-off on Trip Advisor before giving the hotel or resort an opportunity to make it right.  This is poor form.

More Pictures of the Sandals Royal Bahamian