If you’d rather listen, please know it’s available on my podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1777404/episodes/14966960

April 28, 2024

Last October (2023) I attended a funeral. There, I met old friends who invited me to their yearly trip to Aruba. This is a trip they take every year, 15 friends – and for the most part, they only stay at this all-inclusive hotel.

Everyone has roommates, to share the cost. I stayed with my childhood best friend Jo-Ann and sent her the first deposit of monies via bank transfer of $800 so she could put down a deposit. Later, when I arrived at the hotel, on March 20, 2024, I paid the second half of my bill on my own credit card of $763.09.

Issue #1

To start, the person at the front desk lied to us and told us that she had given us an upgrade and put us in a room we had not booked. It only had one bed and was not the Lanai-Garden room with two rooms that we had booked. After having to deal with that issue, the woman at the front desk then gave us the room we had booked, Room 2124 – with the Lanai-Garden room view.

Issue #2

That first night, I decided to lay down than hang out with everyone else. I was exhausted and since I had flown in from California, I wanted to just rest. So, about 8:30pm I went to our room and laid in bed and fell asleep.

When Jo-Ann returned, after 9:30pm, I awakened and saw one bug on the white sheets. It was flat and looked a bit like a small roach to me, and although I was alarmed, I thought it was just one bug. When I opened the covers, there were at least 30 of these brown/red bugs all over the sheets and I freaked out. Jo-Ann started calling housekeeping and I took all the sheets off the bed, rolled them up and threw them into the hallway.

It would be a while before housekeeping came up. But when they did, they spoke in Papiamento. A language I do not know, but because I am Latina and speak Spanish, I picked up some of what the housekeepers were saying. I asked in Spanish what they were saying and one of them did speak Spanish fluently. It was much easier after that  to have a conversation.  

I asked them what the bugs were, since I had never been to Aruba and had never experienced such a thing in all my travels and they said, the bugs must have come in when we opened the Lanai / Patio doors.

Before I continue, I now know these were bed bugs. I did not know that then – not until much later. But, Lie #2 was telling us that it was our fault.  It didn’t make any sense, since the bed they were changing, the bed I stayed in was the one farthest from the Patio doors. Jo-Ann did not have bugs in her bed that we could see – her bed was closest to the Patio doors.  Also, on a side note, if the hotel is so concerned with “bugs coming in from the patio” why do they not have screen doors? 

Please know that this LIE continued on for a couple of days with the front desk staff – until another housekeeper came into the room and said that what might have happened is that the room hadn’t been cleaned for days because no one was staying there and the exterminator had been there that morning and that’s why the bugs might have found their way onto the bed. That’s LIE #3, but to be clear, I do not believe this housekeeper was meaning to lie, she did not see the bugs so she was just using logic to determine what might have actually happened since bugs jumping over beds from the Garden/Lanai seems highly unlikely. 

Issue #3

At this point, I had been out at the beach, enjoying the sun and water and not realizing how burnt my skin was getting. Although a part of me is annoyed by the situation, we are still trying to enjoy our stay. However, then the toilet becomes an issue and is clogged. We call the front desk and they send someone up hours later, who says it’s been fixed and yet, the following day, the same thing happens. So much so, that both me and Jo-Ann have to go use the public bathroom early in the day to brush our teeth and wash our face…the plumbing issue gets so bad, that the sewage is now coming up in the shower stall.  The maintenance person who comes up this time admits he needs to get a supervisor and that it is not a simple fix.

Finally, one day before I am to depart Aruba, we are moved into room 2118. Patrizio Dragone, Gerente de Operaciones, met with us and kept offering us a dinner in the “Royal Level” as compensation. To say I was less than pleased with that as compensation for all our troubles, would be an understatement. But I stayed calm. Patrizio also admitted that it was highly unlikely that the bugs came from the patio, jumped over one bed and only landed in the bed furthest from the patio doors.  Then, realizing that Jo-Ann would be returning to Barcelo in the fall, offered her – ONLY HER – an upgrade to their Royal level. There are so many things wrong with this offer – but there is still more…

At this point, my experience in Aruba was mixed at best. I was uncomfortable in the room, but I kept thinking that I had made a mistake in staying out in the sun so long.  I was itchy, my skin was dry, and I was having a hard time with it all.  Come to find out, only days later, when I returned home that my body was actually covered in bed bug bites.  I contacted my doctor, and it was confirmed…  It is only in the last week that my skin has fully recovered from the bumps, scabs, and itching/scratching scars.  

The Problem Overall/Summary:

• Not having our correct room we booked back in November ready and lying to us about an upgrade. That room had one bed and faced a parking lot. Of course, in retrospect, I now believe they might have known that room, on the Lanai had issues…
• The lack of urgency in moving us out of a room that was infested with bed bugs.  
• Blaming us, the guests, for a bug infestation – saying that we had let bugs in by opening the Lanai door, when we had just gotten there and had not been out on the Lanai – and honestly, bugs jumping over one bed, to land on the other? Ridiculous.  
• The lack of urgency in moving us and/or fixing the plumbing issue right away. Instead, it was 3 days. That alone, should be enough for reimbursement…

My biggest problem with Barcelo Hotel in Aruba, is the lack of honesty and true customer service and true hospitality. I am concerned that they have not done their due diligence to clean and fumigate that room. And from what I’ve now read about bed bugs (because I’ve had to become some sort of expert now), these bugs can live for a year without feeding – that entire wing of that hotel should be cleaned and fumigated and now, because of how the hotel reacted, I do not believe for one moment they have taken care of this issue. I now may have brought bed bugs back with me – and will not know for a year or so if that is the case. If they had just been honest from the beginning, we could have done our best to prevent cross contamination.

No one else should be put in this position EVER again.

The Evidence

I did not take pictures of the bed bugs. Or, as the hotel likes to claim “bugs from the Lanai”.  I have never stayed at any hotel with an inability to handle an issue, so I was not prepared to be lied to by so many people. I also have never encountered a hotel that did NOT want to help its guests and keep them happy. But again, I only stay in actual 5 start hotels, so…  

With this letter and my reviews on all the sites that I will put up momentarily,  I want to alert the public that when going to Barcelo Hotel or any hotel owned by Barcelo Group, they should not trust that the staff and/or any people in charge, would actually tell you the truth or do their due diligence to help you as guest. I did however, take pictures of my body the day I returned and every day after that,  and forwarded some of those initial pics to the hotel. I also have receipts for an office visit… I also had two housekeepers who came to my home to clean the entire place, once I realized what had occurred. Jo-Ann and I both threw out clothing, suitcases, shoes, bedding, to prevent the possibility that we might have brought home bed bugs. She lives on the East Coast, I live here on the West Coast, that’s two homes that could have been contaminated.  I have receipts for the new bed covers, bed bug spray and have spent all this time dealing with this issue – not to mention that for the longest time, I have not been sleeping well, because I keep waking up in the middle of the night thinking their might be bugs in my bed…  thankfully, I’m getting better.

Initial Remedy For This Situation:

At first, Jo-Ann was asking to just have her next trip upgraded to the Royal Level for herself, and the other couple that will be attending in the fall. So, four Royal Level guests in total for her already booked, can’t-get-your-deposit-back, rooms in the fall. The hotel refused and only gave her one upgrade.

I asked them to pay for the two housekeepers that had to come the morning I came home and after confirming with my doctor, to clean this home from top to bottom. This is not a normal thing I do, so I asked my clients’ housekeepers to help, and they did. The last thing I wanted to do, was possibly spread anything for any of the clients I work for – I asked Barcelo Aruba to reimburse me $165 for each housekeeper (which is their normal rate here in California and quite fair). So, $330.  Of course, the hotel refused and is not compensating me at all.  And worse, denying there were any bed bugs at all. 

And as you can see by the email from them below, they somehow are compensating Jo-Ann for one upgrade when she returns to the hotel in the fall but are not compensating me for anything. I was in the room. I was the one bitten. I also dealt with the bad plumbing issue. I suffered.  In an interesting contradiction, they admit something went wrong enough to compensate one person for something, but not the other? That just makes no sense.  So, something happened enough to make amends, but only partially?  This is horrible logic and even worse customer service.

Now What I Want:

Mr. Danguillaume P. Oduber, what I want is to make sure that Barcelo Hotel is pressured into making sure no one ever has to deal with that level of customer service ever again.

I want to make sure that guests, at what ever level they pay for an “all inclusive” trip are treated with respect, dignity and not lied to about bugs coming in from the Lanai, jumping over beds and kept in a room that is infested with bed bugs – OR ANY BUGS. Urgency is of the utmost importance in this situation.

I am also asking that customer service training be implemented to people like Patrizio Dragone and Servin Loefstop, who is someone I did not meet, but based on their “investigation” clearly did not take the time to talk to either of us, or the housekeepers that I’m still in touch with… so a real investigation would be appropriate to do what’s in the best interest of guests, not protect the hotel from bad press.

It’s the LIES that keep driving me insane… it’s why I can’t let it go.

I live in Santa Monica, California, two blocks from the beach. I work in Hollywood. To say that money was not my motivator is an understatement. I had initially asked for compensation for the two housekeepers I had to employ to help clean my home. $330. If the hotel had behaved in a way that seemed logical and was more concerned about what had occurred instead of trying to save a few bucks thinking I’d humbly go away, this would be over with. I would trust that they might have done their due diligence to correct all the issues – but now, I’m positive this is not the case.

In the big scheme of things, I am fine. However, I think most people who save their money to go on a trip may not have the resources, time and monies to pursue things in such a manner. Many would be embarrassed by the situation and feel humiliated – and even though I may have felt a bit of all of that, I am blessed that anger and my sense of community and protecting others to the best of my ability, has prevailed.

I also hope that this behavior is not indicative of how hotels and businesses are run in Aruba. I hope that the Department of Public Health in Aruba and the Consulate will take this matter seriously and do its best to prevent another person from experiencing this ever again.

I was reminded of a quote by the great Maya Angelou that says: 

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

Thank you for your time and your quick attention to this matter.

With respect,

Carmen Lezeth Suarez

Carmen Lezeth Suarez is the Host and Creator of All About The Joy, a live-streaming and podcast production.