Open letter to Desire Management...

[Luv4life]

We just returned from our 10th trip to DRM. While I agree that this forum topic can be useful, I also think that readers need to put things in perspective. Music choice is highly personal and isn't a valid complaint, IMHO...Just because I may not enjoy a particular type of music, doesn't mean that my lounge chair neighbor feels the same way. Management couldn't possibly respond to the individual requests for music choices. In my experience, the DJ's, whether around the pool or in the disco try to accommodate requests by guests. Do I get bored hearing the same Pitbull song, followed by the same Marc Anthony song in the disco? Sure....but I still dance to it, knowing that the next night it will be different. (and I will probably be missing Mr. Worldwide!) We don't sweat the small stuff, and so, our vast overall experience at Desire has been fantastic, each and every trip!

As for the timeshare pushiness, this is only if you agree to hear the pitch. Until this year, we have always simply said "No thanks" upon being asked at check in if we wanted to speak to the nice lady sitting next to the reception desk. Our refusal was met with a smile and a gracious "Have a wonderful day". Of course, if you choose to meet with the reps, they are salespeople and will be trying hard to sell you.

There are objective complaints that are universally agreed upon and these are the things that mgmt needs to respond to and address if they want to keep and obtain loyal customers. Maintenance of the roofs (leaky thatch), wood supports (our banister was severely rotted and actually fell off during our recent stay, and the group of three beach beds to the left of the bar almost collapsed as the top beams split while our friends were on them). We see maintenance being done all the time and I am sure they will get to all of these repairs in time, it just was very apparent that some fairly major disintegration had occurred in the year since our last visit. Overall, we feel the resort is being maintained wonderfully. The food is still excellent, the beach is clean and during our stay, the pool was repaired (they said there was a leak) and by the looks of it, resurfaced.

If you have a complaint, you can almost always get a hold of someone in management while you are there. We have always found them to be open to discussing any issues. Whether or not they are able or willing to change what you are complaining about comes down to budget and reality.

[WhiteSands]

Any changes at the disco, WhiteSands?

Not that we noticed! To be honest the disco at Pearl is one of our disappointments with the resort, so we didn't hang around there much. I think things will improve when the lobby area is air-conditioned, making it comfortable to nip out of the disco and hang by the 24 hour bar, and pop back in again.
For this trip we pretty much left the disco early and hit the jacuzzi!

[bill_monica]

I've picked up the music topic because is the easiest one to fix, and make the guests happier at no extra cost. The majority of the previous posters mentioned some issues with the music. For Desire management should be a no brainer to solve it and increase customer satisfaction with no additional cost.
If they cannot fix minor things, should we expect they are going to fix bigger problems ?
"Hey we have renovated the restaurant so you guys can live another year with broken lounge chairs, roofing problems, leaking showers, defective AC units, older furniture."
Let's face it, we accept those things only because is Desire and is our piece of paradise.
Nobody will be OK with those issues in Vegas at a 4-5 stars hotel for $600 a night.
But we love it here...
That's why there are so many of us going back. That's why we want to make it better, doing as much as we can ,writing some thoughts on a forum, to try improve it, to be able to enjoy it for a longer time.
As Desire is about the people is time for the management to start listening to the people .
How good is that as a new year resolution ?

[nicenycpl]

luv4life hit the nail on the head

It’s been a while since I had a chance to lurk around here...things have been nutso in real life...but now that they are starting to normalize....time to start planning another trip to DRM...

MANDE (we met you guys last January, have a blast and I hope you really don’t make this your last trip!) you are completely correct about there being no perks in being a loyal repeater....frankly this has been my biggest complaint about the Desire Brand…and I think this is the most egregious error that the marketing department at desire is making!!

Just look at the airline and hotel industry.....points miles whatever you want to call it …. they recognize loyalty and reward it....usually at little or no "REAL" cost (that seat in first class or the upgraded suite was going to be empty anyway so why not show some appreciation by giving it to a loyal guest) why won’t Desire learn from this proven model?
We too have spent probably near $50,000 over the years at the resort.....and what do we get ... ...a cap or a bottle of wine (that’s available in every restaurant on property) woohoo....how about a letter saying hey you’ve been coming here twice a year for the last 10 years (or something like that....) we miss you maybe we messed something up (they didn’t...just hypothetical)....come on back on us for a few nights or ...welcome back Mr and Mrs ___ we see you’re a loyal guest how about a passion suite this trip (They are sooo often empty while we are there) there is zero cost to them, and would make the guests feel great...AND encourage others to become loyal repeaters!!

Enough of my rant,,,,,gonna check August dates and book my lowly oceanview room! That aught a make me feel better!

[seawitch]

Ok gota jump in here with r 2 cents, not sure wat the fuss is over air conditioning, must just b that we r from Michigan but we turnd ours off as soon as we walkt in r room! Opend all doors & windows & enjoyd the awsum warmth & heavenly breeze of the carribean!! Aftr all that's half the reason we went! As far as the music goes they must hav heard all the complaints cause it was never too loud anywhere & we could hear & participate in convos, we laught everyday at the music over brkfast & when we requested sum Beatles by the dj he playd tons of songs off & on all night! We really wernt so concernd with the music because as sumbody else alrdy stated, it's just back ground noise,,, the one day we got to the beach late & couldn't find loungers we askt if we could use pool loungers & the staff immediatly dragd them down to the beach & set them just wer we wantd them! I can undrstand the complaints about room price increases but again we can't complain because r arrival was delayd due to weather & when we did finally arrive (5 hrs late) they had given r room away but again they immediatly acomodated us by upgrading us from r original oceanview rm to a master suite which was amazing!!! Then we had reserved the terrace of passion for Xmas night & when the weather forecast calld for rain we wer afraid r romantic evening would get canceld but once again they saved the day by setting everything up in r room! (They even hung the sex swing for us in r room!!!) they made r nite very special & went out of ther way every chance they got to make r stay incredible & it was unforgettable! Thanku desire pearl! We love u & will DEFINATLY b back again!!!

[tommer]

Seawitch .... Thanks for the positive notes and reminders of why we all love Desire. The staff is always amazing. The only concern I have is that their pricing does not leave us home in Iowa ..... Sure want to do many Desire Pearl trips in the future. My wife and I have always said that if we won the lottery, we would do a couple of weeks most every month ..... well, better yet, maybe we would try to "buy" a room for our year around use. We'll take that thought to bed tonight for our night's dream.

[heavyG]

OK - so the music around the pool is disappointing for us - but often the people we are with love it... So to reiterate what another poster said; music is highly personal!

Even though we may all dislike the tunes - I bet none of us would agree on what the best tunes would be - ever! I've heard some grumble that there are no classic rock songs, others that there were no slow jams, etc. I do agree that on the last couple of trips we did hear the exact same playlist every day, and there is no need for that.

On our last trip one couple had a small radio & played their own music where they were sitting; we had to move. At that point we were bombarded with 3 (yes 3) separate audio assaults. Their tinny boom box music, the DJ loudspeaker music, and every once in a while the background elevator music that they pump through the fake rock speakers peaked through. Horrid!

As for the music in the disco? It's dance music, we dance. But again almost the same every night.

[Wild couple]

We just returned from the pearl for New Years
We had a good time met some nice people,
The disco was ok to hang for a little while,
The play room and the swing was not impressed,
Our high light was the foam party, which my
Opinion should go on everyday & the jacuzzi
For sure was great!
The staff and service was excellent.
The food I think could have more verity and change
More often.

[Doug19482000]

We agree on the music issue. However, with people coming from all over world, I wonder how many of us they could please. We like country and slow sexy music. I doubt many quest would enjoy that for very long.

[EandV]

I think one of the chief complaints was about the Muzak. Nobody likes that. I agree you will never please everyone, but demonstrating that you are listening is what I think we are after here. BTW, why did this move to DRM General Discussions? There have been many comments about Pearl as well as DRM.

Admin Note: The topic was originally posted in the non Desire Off Topic - General Chatter section - since it is Desire specific if was moved to the Desire RM General forum section, had to put it somewhere relevant - lol

[miranda2]

I didn't even know they played music around the pool.

[mande]

MANDE (we met you guys last January, have a blast and I hope you really don’t make this your last trip!) you are completely correct about there being no perks in being a loyal repeater....frankly this has been my biggest complaint about the Desire Brand…and I think this is the most egregious error that the marketing department at desire is making!!

Just look at the airline and hotel industry.....points miles whatever you want to call it …. they recognize loyalty and reward it....usually at little or no "REAL" cost (that seat in first class or the upgraded suite was going to be empty anyway so why not show some appreciation by giving it to a loyal guest) why won’t Desire learn from this proven model?
We too have spent probably near $50,000 over the years at the resort.....and what do we get ... ...a cap or a bottle of wine (that’s available in every restaurant on property) woohoo....how about a letter saying hey you’ve been coming here twice a year for the last 10 years (or something like that....) we miss you maybe we messed something up (they didn’t...just hypothetical)....come on back on us for a few nights or ...welcome back Mr and Mrs ___ we see you’re a loyal guest how about a passion suite this trip (They are sooo often empty while we are there) there is zero cost to them, and would make the guests feel great...AND encourage others to become loyal repeaters!!

Enough of my rant,,,,,gonna check August dates and book my lowly oceanview room! That aught a make me feel better!

Really appreciate you identifying with our biggest complaint, we are glad to have met last Jan also, hey we all know the resort is great, especially the staff and its not the people at Desire we are disillusioned with. We have known Patricia (VP) for a long time, she really is a great lady, and Martin Good (GM) will listen when you want to speak directly with him, but there really needs to be an airline/hotel like policy that recognizes loyalty in a tangible way the minute you check in. It's so sad after so many years there to check in be asked "is this your first visit". Yes we have been coming twice a year for the last ten years, spent a ton of money and want to recognized for that from management. Anyhow having vented once again we truly do love Desire and can not wait to see the Desire staff (in 5 days). Yes, unless things change, our last trip.

[olderII]

I wish they would get rid of the standing mirror in the rooms. Stubbed my toe 3 time last month.