Dream Travel Condos anyone?

Has anyone gone through Dream Travel Condos that could share whether or not it was a good or bad experience? I am looking to rent a unit and I am just trying to do my homework ahead of time.

Thanks!

angela892 wrote:

Has anyone gone through Dream Travel Condos that could share whether or not it was a good or bad experience? I am looking to rent a unit and I am just trying to do my homework ahead of time.

Thanks!

Dream Travel has mostly floating weeks so please keep that in mind. They have been on RedWeek.com for a number of years.

Thanks, Marty

Not sure who Stoyanp is, but I don't recall ever having rented to you or done business with you...maybe if you post your name, I will know who you are. True, we do use other timeshare sites but only when our demands exceed our inventory. We have the units that we book when we book them, and on average our redweek clients return about 85% of the time. There are many people on Craigslist and Vacation Timeshare who do not have the inventory they sell, so you never really know what you are getting. We try to be very cautious in who we rent from other than our wholesale suppliers because there are people out there who ARE in fact selling weeks they never had to begin with! As for double the price, please.....we rent units for less than half of what most owners do. That is why we are in the wholesale business to begin with. Only 1 out of every 10 of our rentals are more than $900 and that includes all of our 5 star properties...

Avoid this bait and switch operator (Tonya Williams) at all costs. She takes the money and then three days before the date tries to get you to take a lesser condo off the beach. She is the queen of ruining vacations. A classic bait and switcher. She then tries to say you are unreasonable because you won't settle for what you originally purchased from her. Avoid this operator at all costs or risk it if you want to have your vacation condo fall through.

Hi Kevin Frey- In response to your above post, you were not baited and switched in any way. We book many, many summer units in Myrtle Beach and inadvertently one of our reservations was accidentally canceled. We are human and with 40 bookings + per week once in a while it does happen. I was up front with you and told you that you were the very last booking we took for that resort for that week. I was not going to bump other families who were traveling together and had made their reservations many more months in advance than you as it wasn't fair. Had you booked before them your reservation would have certainly been honored. We did offer you alternate accommodations all of which you declined. We promptly refunded you when you were not interested in any of our other properties that we had to offer . I am sorry you were disappointed but with computers and so many bookings sometimes things happen that we certainly don't expect nor want to happen and I am sorry you were affected. As I said, I had to be fair because I could not move other families who booked months before you.

Booking is the key Tonya you took the money and said you had that condo for those dates. And then you changed it three days before. That's baiting and switching 101! You took the reservation but didn't keep the reservation. The travelinqueen of baiting and switching and ruining vacations.

Kevin baiting and switching is advertising someone in with lower prices and then trying to get them to take something at a higher cost. I did nothing like that. A reservation was accidentally canceled. It can happen whether you book with me, Extra Holidays, orbitz or any other travel provider. I did exactly what anyone else would do which is profusely apologized, offered you the other units I did have and then when you declined provided you with an immediate refund. You got mad because I would not cancel someone else's booking and let you have it when they booked 6 months before you. I told you many times I went in order of who paid and you booked about 8 weeks before the arrival date therefore you were the one that was only fair to be offered another accommodation. I wasn't going to cancel someone else who had paid months before you just to prevent you leaving me false and untrue feedback . I would take that any day over doing someone else wrong to just please you or anyone else. Anyone who has concerns about my service is welcome to go to eBay, look up travelinqueen and see I have 100% positive. They are also welcome to go to my vrbo listing for this exact resort (www.vrbo.com/413402) and see I have all 5 star reviews there as well as on all my other vrbo listings. I have been in business for over 10 years and yes once in a while something beyond my control happens and I always do the best I can to make it right. That is why I have been in business this long. I am sorry you were affected but as I said you threatening me with negative feedback, reviews or anything else was not going to make me unfairly take away someone else's reservation who paid long before you. I am very sorry it happened but it did and could have happened with anyone you booked with. Reservation systems are subject to error and I'm sorry you were affected but like I said that was the fair thing to do given you booked last.

I booked a condo at the Marriott Surf cCub in Aruba with Tonya at Dream Travel Condo LLC over 6 months before traveling. She sent the typical agreement which I signed and I sent her the entire payment for the vacation rental. I never heard back from her again. About a month and a half before my family of 8 was to go on our vacation I called her office to inquire about receiving a confirmation number. The phone went into voice mail and said the voice mail was full. I thought that was odd for a reputable business so I became concerned. I then emailed Tonya and she did respond that "as it said in my agreement I would be notified by the resort 14 days in advance of my arrival with the confirmation information." I accepted that as the truth and waited. 14 days went by and I once again tried calling. Same recording on the phone, voice mail full. I emailed her again and she promptly replied and now she changed her story that it was 7 to 14 days. So 6 days before our departure, with no confirmation in hand, I called and emailed several times. guess what…same recording on the phone. No email back. After a day she finally emailed and said the booking system had a "glitch" and I would now receive my confirmation in 48 hours, less than 48 hours before I packed my family up to fly out of the country. I told her I needed a confirmation that day. She could not provide one. She never responded with a phone call to reassure that our reservation that we paid for 6 months previous would still be available, her response was that she would just refund the money. Good that she did that, but I was looking for a vacation rental, not to have my money reside with her for 6 months and then be stuck with trying to find another location 5 days before we leave. I have since rented another condo at the same vacation property and got my confirmation within 3 hours. Buyer beware with this so called company. There is poor communication and a true lack of customer service. She will want to defend her actions here as she has with every other customer she has done this too but you make the choice.

In response to Casey's post above, Casey signed an agreement at booking which stated that the resort names uploaded on the wholesale system the week prior to arrival which would be this week. He had a confirmation letter in hand stating that same fact. He emailed yesterday ( on Sunday) and then again before 9am this morning) and very rudely demanded that I force an automated system to have his name in by 5pm today or he would contact his credit card company and dispute his charge. I again reminded him about the terms which he signed off on at booking, asked him to review his agreement and confirmation letter which stated the terms, and he again stated he would be initiating the chargeback this evening because I could not push an automated system. I told him that I would save him the time and the headache of that because anyone who has ever disputed a charge knows that it takes up to 75 days to receive a credit and many times then if there is a rental agreement the card company would side with the booking office. I had no intention of keeping his money if he was unhappy. If he was so adamant about getting his money back I certainly did not want to deal with the issue of him being even more upset for 75 days during this dispute period so within the hour of his last demanding email this morning, I refunded him what he paid in full. Many new clients believe that once they sign a contract that somewhere along the way the terms of that contract change. They do not- it does not matter who you are, what threat you make, or anything else. Those terms stay the same and that is why we disclose them at booking. I run a business, a very successful one and have for over 10 years. I have a 90% return ratio of repeat clients who are very pleased. Time and experience has shown me that you cannot please everyone. Casey contacted me on a Sunday and was upset that I did not respond that day. I explained to him Sundays are my family time, my worship time, and a day that I set aside that I try not to work as any normal person does, especially one like myself who in busy season works some days 16-18 hours per day. As for the full voicemail, any given week I have upwards of 20 or more checkins. I take 20-40 new bookings each week . I have over 3000 clients of my own and book for over 20 travel clubs, so yes at times the voicemail gets full and certainly does quickly on weekends and Monday mornings. Most clients who initiate contact via email maintain contact via email as that seems to be their method of choice and due to the volume of bookings I do, it certainly is my preferred method as well. I responded to every single one of Casey's emails that he has sent since booking. I actually went back into my sent email folder and counted my replies sent since he booked and there are 17 outgoing emails to his that he sent me. I don't think that constitutes poor customer service. Like I said, everyone cannot be pleased so rather than rely on one or 2 disappointed people, I choose to focus on the thousands I have booked for and continue to book for that come back year and year and appreciate my services.

This is the advantage of social media today. People can air their complaints about a company and let others know the pitfalls. If a company wants to survive today they should make every effort to satisfy their customers and correct any problems that arise, Unfortunately we are sometimes at the mercy of people who drop the ball and fail to make things right like Caseyc stated. Even if it was an isolated case the company should take responsibility and make things right. I would never use dreamtravelinc after hearing a story like Casey's. I will side with the consumer since most businesses today are only concerned with the bottom line and lack considerably in public relations.

I do agree with you Don P that businesses should always try to make things right. Unfortunately there are some people that no matter what you do it would never be good enough and if you were in this business you know that people will come up with every excuse under the sun to get out of a rental if they find a cheaper price etc. It happens all too often, people book months out, find something cheaper last minute and then try to leave an owner or company holding a unit that can't be rented out. If you force them to keep the unit, they go, travel, use what you paid for and in the end file a dispute anyway. If someone even mentions dispute before travel you can bet it will never have a good ending and if you allow a dispute to process you have 75 more days most of the time of dealing with an unhappy client. That is why rental agreements are created and are in place, not just to cover the renter but also to protect the owner and broker. If you are hit with a $4000 bill for a room that you pay, guest travels but was not happy to start with, then you get hit with a dispute for the original amount that is an $ 8000 loss and one or 2 losses like that would put a small company out of business. Like I said, sadly everyone cannot be pleased :(

Caseyc has the right to tell his story about his dissatisfaction with your customer service and I have the right to side with the consumer. I'm getting quite tired of hearing the stories of companies only concerned about the bottom line. Once some companies get your money they drop the ball. If it is only a small matter to give the customer a confirmation then it should be handled immediately.

There is so much fraud in the timeshare industry that I can understand Casey's concern. I would not sleep well not having a confirmation for money I spent. It wouldn't hurt to address the concerns of clients to keep them happy and hopefully create return customers.

In typical Tonya Williams Dream Travel fashion she attempts to deflect the real root cause for the issue. Tonya makes inference that I booked my travel with her company only looking to find a better deal as I got closer to the travel dates. Her lack of follow thru wound up costing me $500 more than what I had paid her. My family was put in a position to have to scramble around 4 days before our trip to secure another condo. I wound up getting the same type of unit at the same Marriott for $500 more than I paid Dream Travel. I got this done in a very professional manner with a company called Vacation Candy. I called Dream Travel 17 times to try and get in contact with Tonya so I could validate that I was indeed confirmed for my condo. Each and every time I called it went to voice mail and the voice mail was full so I could not leave a message. She did email me twice indicating I would have confirmation 14 days before my trip, then the second email said 7 to 14 days. The third and last email indicated that there was a "glitch" in the system and it would be another 48 hours to get confirmation. Vacation Candy did all of this within three hours of my first call. If I had been able to speak with Tonya to get reassurance or had there been any contact initiated by her then possibly I would have felt better about having accommodations for my family once I flew there with the 7 guest in my family. The continued lack of communication would make anybody nervous if they were making a trip out of the country. Additionally the fact that a business has their phone constantly go to voice mail and then that voice mail is full every time doesn't add any credibility to the business. I have found that there are other more reliable companies out there and I would encourage anyone looking for a vacation condo to do their due diligence. Just search the web under Tonya Williams and Dream Travel and you will see similar stories.

Casey I am certainly glad you found a unit and had good luck with Vacation Candy. Yes as I said our landline voicemail stays full a good portion of the time. I didn't say you found a cheaper deal I simply said that rental agreements are in place to protect renters when situations arise and use the main example of why people threaten disputes so close to arrival. Most every client I deal with has my cell number. When I get an email saying the voicemail is full I refer them to my cell. You didn't even bother to ask for or give me a chance to provide you an alternate number, you simply went into demanding and bashing mode making accusations before even speaking with me. I have logged over 100,000 rentals in my years in business and the few complaints you find on me are from people who have acted the way you did. Yes I do contract to rent but I do not contract to take rudeness from anyone or threats of dispute the moment they see fit. As I said you had a contract with terms and conditions that you signed and you decided that you didn't like those terms. It clearly stated that wholesale weeks upload the week of arrival. Computers are computers and sometimes things happen. Out of 12 checkins at Marriott Aruba for this upcoming weekend you are the only one unhappy, the only one who ended up booking elsewhere, and the only one complaining. I do hope you have a great time in Aruba.

Tonya, you only continue to indict yourself and your company with your rebuttals to my comments. A business owner who cannot clear out their voice mail on their business line is one that is not serving their customers very well. I called the number that is listed on your website and the pay pal receipt i received from you. I don't know whether that number is a land line or cell number. The onus of responsability lies with you, not your customers to determine what line they call you on. If you know you cannot manage your land line voice mail, I would suggest that you list an alternate number that you may actually answer or at the very least check voice mail on. I do not believe anyone reading these post would think that I have acted out of line. I booked a condo with you 8 months before my arrival. You were paid 8 months before my arrival. I think it is reasonable that in 8 months you could secure a confirmation number for a client who has paid you. 6 weeks before my trip I emailed you for a confirmation number. You indicated it would be sent to me 14 days before my departure date. I waited and did not receive one. I then emailed again and then you said it would be to me 7 days before my departure. When that time once again came and past I emailed again only because you never answered your phone. At that time you emailed me back saying their was a glitch and it would be another 48 hours. After the two previous lies and no way to contact you by phone, I told you I wanted a confirmation number by 5pm that day. Rather than provide a good working number to discuss it, you simply emailed back saying you would refund my money and I was no longer a client. I think anyone that would be a potential customer of Dream Travel Condos would feel that I was the one that was reasonable and that you failed to act a as a responsible business owner. Yes, I am sure my family will have a great time in Aruba, as we have in the past. Additionally, I would suggest that you spend your time cleaning out your voice mail and tend to your customers rather than continuing to respond to post about your inept customer service.

Again I am very sorry you were disappointed and at this point there isn't much else to say. I deal with clients and owners and other businesses all the time and if I don't get an answer my reply is simply, "I have tried calling you at the number on your website/agreement and get a full voicemail, is there an alternate number available". It's amazing how well that works and I've never met anyone who refused to offer an alternate number. Instead of doing that you went full on anger mode and started making demands that obviously given the system downtime I could not immediately meet by 5pm which was your cutoff time before you contacted your card for a dispute. You keep referring to that full voicemail and yet you started your calls and emails on Sunday, a day that anyone with a family and/or Christian beliefs such as myself sets aside for their day to enjoy their loved ones and worship if their jobs allow them to. I don't sit around calling myself to check for a full voicemail as I can clear it at 8 and it can be full again by 10 from client calls and of course the lovely telemarketers offering all the services they want to provide. At this point I am not sure why you are still calling me anyway unless it is for harassment since we no longer have any agreements between us. Look on the bright side though, by behaving the way you did and being unwilling to let the system repost you made another family very happy. They ended up with the Oceanside unit that was to be your's and they couldn't be happier. Again I do hope you have a great time in Aruba and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Tonya We have called Marriott and as we expected, at this point there are no reservations under our name. We have been checking reference of you in the web and the same thing is happening to us has been posted of another clients in pages like redweek. Are you playing with us? Are you going to do us same thing you did to Casey’s? Is this a rip off?

We paid in full on July. We have been doing and waiting the time you have requested to get the Mariott confirmation number. Now time has been consumed and we still have nothing.

You are always hard to reach. Telephone never answered. If this is not solve TODAY we are going to pass on the case to our lawyers

PINEDA and HIBJAN Family

Pineda and Hibjan family, sorry to hear that you have been caught up in the Tonya Williams/Dream Travel Condos web. As you have now realized this is not an isolated incident. I would just advise you to be ready to find another source for accommodations because Tonya's mode of operation seems to be to drop you as a customer and cancel your reservations when she encounters someone not happy with her inept customer service. She does refund the money promptly but I am sure that is not what you had in mind when you booked your reservation. There are other reputable providers out there that I am sure can help you and actually answer their phone. Good luck with your travels.

Casey

Tonya, no reputable business would operate the way you have just explained your operations. If you are that busy and you can't respond to your customers calls then you might want to condsider an answering service or employing more staff. Lack of communication exudes lack of trust. If someone can't get in touch with you, like it seems many of your customers can't, then it creates doubt. More doubt is created once someone pays many months in advance for an expensive trip and can't ever get in contact with the business. Your business practices certainly leave something to be desired and I would not be surprised to hear more about this from other unsatisfied customers. If I had just tried calling you on a Sunday I could certainly understand the issue because I am a Christian as well and also spend time with my family on that day as I work the other 6 days of the week running my own business. I called 17 times, all going to voice mail over a period of 6 weeks. For you to call my position "anger mode" would be one that you could only assess if you had actually spoken with me, which you did not. I was concerned that my family would be left with no place to stay once we got to Aurba and felt I needed to make other preporations should you not come thru with a unit . Do you think that is unreasonable? I don't think others in the same position would think so. Tonya, it is time for you to accept responsability and move on working on trying to improve your business and actually satisfy your customers. The forums are starting to fill with similar dissatisfaction and I don't really think that is very benificial to you. Have a great Weekend.

Had a very similar situation. DO NOT EVER BOOK WITH HER. She is without doubt a scam artist. We are currently pursuing legal claims with her. She is a liar. DO NOT LISTEN TO HER

kevin735 wrote:

Avoid this bait and switch operator (Tonya Williams travelinqueen) at all costs. Here or on ebay where she operates as travelinqueen. She takes the money and then three days before the date tries to get you to take a lesser condo off the beach. She is the queen of ruining vacations. A classic bait and switcher. She then tries to say you are unreasonable because you won't settle for what you originally purchased from her. Avoid this operator at all costs or risk it if you want to have your vacation condo fall through.