UAE | Tourism
Atlantis fiasco pours water over guests' holiday plans
Some 200 people saw their perfect holiday plans ruined after they were turned away at the Atlantis, the opulent aquatic resort at the Palm Jumeirah, despite having confirmed bookings.
- By Anjana Sankar, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:13 October 3, 2008
- Visitors to the Atlantis waterpark, Aquaventure. The park opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.
- Image Credit: Megan Hirons/Gulf News
Dubai: Some 200 people saw their perfect holiday plans ruined after they were turned away at the Atlantis, the opulent aquatic resort at the Palm Jumeirah, despite having confirmed bookings.
Many of the guests were forced to spend close to eight hours in the lobby only to return home disappointed after they were told there were no rooms available, Gulf News has learnt.
Kailash Sajnani, a businessman from Dubai who had booked three rooms for Tuesday, recounted how he was left wandering in the hotel lobby for hours, luggage in tow, before eventually heading back home.
"I had the confirmation for three rooms I booked for my family. In all, our group comprised 30 people including kids and we had booked 16 rooms. None of us got the rooms, and we all had to go back," he said.
Sajnani said he reached the hotel at around 1.30pm and was flabbergasted when he saw a crowd clamouring for rooms in the lobby.
"There was a long queue of people checking out, and we were asked to come back at 4.30pm because some guests had not vacated their rooms. We could not enter the Aquaventure theme park as we had luggage with us and, again, they would not let us in as we had not checked into our rooms.
"We hung around until 8 pm in the lobby and then decided to go back. Children were crying as they had not had anything to eat the whole day. The hotel management did not even return the money and kept saying they had run out of cash at the front office."
Leena Thawrani, also a resident, said her family was asked to come back at least three times - at 2pm, 5.30pm and again at 7.30pm - to confirm whether rooms were available. "We tried to catch some sleep in the lobby until 7.30pm as we waited for the rooms, but it was in vain. After much argument, they agreed to give us a complimentary room some time next week," she said.
Leena said some tourists from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia had had no better luck. Jay Uttamchandani, a businessman from Dubai, said it was the most disappointing holiday he had ever had since his family had booked the rooms five weeks in advance.
Alan Leidman, MD, Atlantis, said: "We had one of our three main intake valves rupture at 7.30am. We got on it as quickly as possible because it was the first day of Eid. There were tremendous amounts of delays because we were running on high occupancy. We have done some gestures for people in-house for that period of time."
Were you or anyone you know affected by the sudden rush at the Atlantis? Should visitors be allowed to dine at restaurants in the Atlantis? Or is the decision to restrict them to guests justified?
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