After a terrible time in Sharm which included the worst food poisoning of my life and the taxi driver that fought with me over $2 at the airport nearly costing me my flight, I wrote an email to the GM of the resort.
The focus of my email was how ridiculous the taxi cab driver was and how I had received food poisoning my first day at the resort. I didn’t blame the hotel for the illness. I simply said that my American doctor said it was most likely E.coli.
He apologized for the taxi situation but gave a curious response in regards to the food poisoning:
Regarding to the illness issue, As all our club guests do use the Regency Club and the main restaurant, the case as outlined, does not necessarily indicate that the causes were food related, as in this case we would potentially have the entire hotel suffering from similar circumstances. There are a number of mitigating circumstances that should also be considered which may also attribute to the cause of illness in such a destination which does not necessarily isolate the food as the main cause. The only precise way of confirming the cause is through a laboratory tested stool sample. The experienced tour operators also denote this in their brochures highlighting that stomach upsets are a common occurrence caused by a number of factors. However, we do take each reported case seriously to ensure that our guests are able to enjoy the holiday to the full.
I’m not sure what response the GM is looking for or what he wants from my end (pun intended) so I turned the matter over to GoldPassport.
Maybe you should have told him that you were too sick to bring home souvenirs. I know I’d be curious to see how Gold Passport responds. How safe are you from food poisoning in Thailand?
Never had an issue in Thailand. The street pad thai is always boiling hot and the Tom Yum is hot as well.
Ice in Cambodia was the only time I got sick in SE Asia. But you never know where it will come from. Cipro, don’t leave home without it.
so why did you write the GM at hyatt? You mentioned the source of the food poisoning came from the best egyptian restaurant in sharm, was it from the Hyatt? And what does the Hyatt have anything to do with the taxi driver? Sound to me like you just want to be compensated some goldpassport points.
I definitely wanted compensation for the taxi nonsense Did you read the taxi article? The driver sent from the hotel was a jackass.
The food poisoning issue seemed to be a bigger deal to Gold Passport than it was to me. I guessed that it came from the restaurant but it could’ve came from the Diamond spread I ate before. Nobody knows, that’s why they need my sample lol. I explained this to the manager.
My issue was the taxi. In the context of the tragedy that happened a week before coupled with the fact that Russia and UK had halted all flights to Sharm, I really had no patience to deal with a jerk driver over such nominal nonsense.
Had I missed that flight I would’ve missed my connection to Abu Dhabi and back home. When the driver called the hotel to complain that I was ‘refusing to pay the $2’ they could’ve told him to get over it (as the manager agreed) and sent me on my way.
I already admitted the watch thing was my fault so let’s not rehash that.
As a matter of fact, I did read it. What taxi nonsense was there except where you tried to short change the taxi driver? The hotel has no control over a taxi that may have arrived later than you had hoped. You’re lucky he brought you the watch.
Lol how do I shut u up. Just kidding.
My card was declined. I was actually feeling generous because it was my fault. He didn’t arrive late btw.
I’m not cheap. I pay the market rate. I’ve blogged extensively about this. If you feel good overpaying and think you’re helping humanity then I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
I’m being facetious with my snarky comments but you’re the first person to side with the driver. The security, the manager, hyatt, ms tpol all think he could’ve handled it better.
Thanks for sharing your view nonetheless.
I appreciate the frugality as I think we all are thats why we love points and miles, and I’m not trying to be argumentative, so this will be my last comment on this. I’m not siding with the driver, rather, I am siding with logic and reason. You agreed to a rate of 120, and then tried to pay 105. Based on your previous posts, it really does seem like you would do it on purpose to save a few bucks. Then you made a big fuss about it because its just $2, but you don’t try to see it from the other point of view. Now you want compensation from hyatt goldpassport because you created this situation yourself. I don’t think this puts you in a very good light.
Noo! I tried to take out 200 at the airport. Card declined. I ended up having to go to another section of airport via escort to use a different banks atm. That didn’t work. Had to try a third. Took out 60. Came in denomination of ten and fifty. I go back to driver. Mind you they’re boarding at this point.
He refuses the ten and wants to give me change for the fifty. At this point the security is heckling him. Like I wrote he had a stash of American cash but wouldn’t relent till the security yelled at him.
Then I had go through security again and get to the gate.
I’m cool under pressure but this had me a bit nervous plus food poisoning…you get the picture.
In conclusion I will say ethics in bargaining call for paying what you agreed. If I was preemptively trying to dick him out of even ten cents then I’d agree with your assessment.
And the post wasn’t about complaining. It was about being asked to test poop. I thought that was funny.
oh. then i owe you an apology. I guess I misread/misunderstood your previous post. I guess that’ll teach me a lesson about reading more carefully. Sorry
No trouble at all. I enjoyed the discussion.
surprised you didnt try to shake the taxi driver down for complimentary champagne!
Lol I gave him every arab swear word used on me growing up.
And I just read the previous post. I didn’t make it clear about the ATM. I wrote that post on my blackberry while flying from sharm so normal quality checks weren’t done. So I should thank you for allowing me to clarify!
Whatever S%!T happens to you, I like your writing style.