To Whom It May Concern:

My husband and I celebrated our wedding at the Hotel RIU Guanacaste on December 4, 2010. I am writing to tell you how disappointed we are in your staff and how we were treated at your resort. Specifically, the theft of over $3, 000 of our wedding gifts while in your staff’s possession left us devastated and ruined our special day. More disappointing than the financial loss was the attitude of your staff toward the theft, which ranged from a cavalier indifference to annoyed hostility. The final insult came in the form of an “extra charge” which was unauthorized and inexplicably added to our credit card. We have instructed our credit card company to dispute the unauthorized charge. While we contemplate legal action over the theft of our wedding gifts, we want to make you aware of our experience at your resort. Below are more specifics on the theft and other disappointing actions by your staff.

Theft of our Wedding Gifts. We last saw our wedding gifts in the possession of a RIU employee. It was at the end of our reception. As our guests began to leave the reception area, my husband Gian Luca approached Lourdes (the RIU’s wedding coordinator) and asked about the remaining champagne, wedding decorations and our wedding gifts. Lourdes assured Gian Luca they would be put somewhere safe, and that we could collect them in the morning. At that time, he saw a RIU employee (wearing a RIU uniform) wrapping up the cake and clearing the gift table including 12-15 wedding envelopes. In the morning, we went to Lourdes’ office to collect our things. We waited 45 minutes while Lourdes tried to locate our property. She returned with 2 bottles of champagne, our wedding cake and center pieces. However, she could not locate our wedding envelopes. Once Lourdes realized that the envelopes had gone missing, she changed her story and said that one of the bartenders saw our D.J. collect the envelopes. We know this cannot be true because we saw a RIU staff member with the envelopes after the D.J. had left the reception.

From this point on, we were treated as an annoyance and were subjected to a series of half hearted attempts to prove the RIU did not have possession of our gift envelopes. The most embarrassing of which was the delivery of the trash (reportedly from the reception) for us to look through. Indignant by the RIU’s staff’s efforts to locate our wedding gifts, we were sent to speak with Riccardo (the head of Security). Riccardo was the most rude of all and completely unhelpful. After six hours of attempting to retrieve our wedding gifts, we realized that the RIU staff would not help us and, in fact, treated us as an annoyance. Our greatest disappointment was the RIU staff’s attitude. We were never offered an apology or any real help in trying to locate our gifts.

$2, 300 Unauthorized Credit Card Charge. Upon returning home, we learned that the RIU had added a $2, 300 charge to our credit card. This charge was never authorized nor explained. We therefore have disputed the charge with our credit card company.

RIU Recommended Florist. At the recommendation of Lourdes, we contracted with Mauricio Jimenez Masis to provide flowers for the ceremony and to decorate the wedding and reception areas. Despite putting down a 50% deposit, the only flowers we received that were not included in the wedding package were the bouquets for the bridesmaids and corsages for the groomsmen. I never received the materials (for which I paid) to decorate the areas of the ceremony and reception. On top of which, I spent over $500 on paper lanterns, white tull and other decorations which were never returned to me. Furthermore, my mother and family friends had to spend the hours leading up to the ceremony decorating these areas with whatever materials they could obtain at the moment, including fake flowers for the altar which she had to steal from the main buffet! If my mother had not taken matters into her own hands, the wedding and reception would not have been prepared as promised by the RIU. I never received any phone call either before or after the ceremony to explain why the flowers and decoration were not delivered, or even to be offered an apology.

Consideration for Bringing 140 guests to the RIU. Our guests booked over 60 rooms (some for multiple nights) in order to attend our wedding at the RIU, equalling over $45, 000 in revenue for the hotel! We were told we would be upgraded to a suite for choosing the RIU and bringing so many guests to stay in the hotel. At check in, we were told that the hotel was full and the upgrade to the suite was not available. We understand if a suite was not available. However, we were given a room with two single beds with no view. Several of our guests offered us their rooms because they either had a king bed or a view or both. Relative to our other disappointments, this was a minor distraction. However, is it really so difficult to ensure that the bride and groom receive the best room of the 60 block of rooms they reserve for their wedding?

To close, I would not be writing this letter if your staff had been even somewhat sympathetic or helpful in regard to the problems encountered during our stay. On the contrary, they had an attitude of indifference and annoyance. Said more plainly, they made us feel as if they already had our money, and they just wanted us to go away. Maybe this is your business model and you are satisfied with the actions of your employees. However, if you aim higher than simply taking your guests money and leaving them feeling insulted and cheated, we highly recommend you investigate the customer service practices at the Hotel RIU Guanacaste. We would very much appreciate a response to this letter. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Lindsey & Gian Luca Arcieri