myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Good Day All

I just wanted to say that I usually stay at Sandy Point Beach Club as I find it very comfortable, convienient with all the amenities for a great Tobago getaway. However I must report on an unfortunate incident involving one of their employees - to make matters worse this person was the manager of the resort which makes the situation even more unfortunate.

My fiance and I came in on a late flight (8pm) and requested an airport pickup using Sandy Point's shuttle service. Upon landing while I was waiting to collect our baggage my fiance went quickly to an eatery nearby to buy us some dinner as it was late. I collected our bags and came out to meet the driver at the curb. I told him that my fiance just went to Royal Castle and she will be back in less than two minutes (I know this because she had been gone about 10 minutes already while I was waiting for the bags). This "gentleman" whose name I found out to be "Mr. Toby" told me in a very rude and unprofessional tone "I eh waiting on nobody, I going and bring the van and if allyuh eh ready I gone, allyuh go hadda take ah taxi". Being a person that does not react well to rude behavior I told him to go ahead I will take a taxi. My fiance returned not more that one minute later and we hired a taxi (who charged us $40) to take us to the Club. Even the taxi driver who witnessed the incident commented on how silly and unprofessional Mr. Toby was.

Upon reaching the club I asked to speak to the manager to enquire whether this was the type of service we should expect for the rest of the weekend. Only to my surprise to find out that our rude and unprofessional driver was actually the rude and unprofessional manager.

Well needless to say I told Mr. Toby that I didn't want to speak with him and that as a hotel manager he needed to treat his paying guests with a little/a lot more courtesy. He proceeded to be very rude and confrontational and when I told him that I would lodge a complaint to his superiors his response was "I doh care, call whoever, put it on the internet if you want".

Thanks Mr. Toby for you wonderful advice. I will take you up on it.

Anyway after getting our rooms we soon put the incident behind us and enjoyed a very nice stay at the Beach Club. Thankfully we didn't cross paths with Mr. Toby again.

So in future I suggest to all paying customers of Sandy Point Beach Club that if you use their airport shuttle service, please ensure that Mr. Toby is not your driver and if he is make sure that you are ready when he is seeing that customers have to work according to his convienience.

Oh and to the owners of Sandy Point Beach Club I hope you don't encourage this type of behavior from your staff because if the manager can be this rude and unprofessional what does it say for the rest of staff.

Damie Sinanan

Hello Damie

It was a pity that your stay at the Sandy Point Beach Club was marred by this incident. I am sure the hotel will be looking into it. However, I can assure you that "Mr Toby" is NOT the General Manager of the Resort - and the manner and speech you report are most definitely not that of Mr Martyr, the real GM there, and a most courteous gentleman.

Hi Damie,
Thanks for taking the time to post your comments. Let me first apologize for the hurt and embarrassment that you would have suffered in this matter and to ensure you that is not the kind of behavior that we condone or are known for. The matter could have certainly been handled differently. Just to indicate that as of April 30 2009 Mr. Toby has moved on to other endeavors and we wish him well. I must also underscore that since what we provide is a subsidized shuttle service, we only ask that our guest avoid unnecessary delays which will eliminate incidents like these. We are also happy to note that despite this you were still able to enjoy your stay with us and would certainly be happy to serve you again in the future. Best wishes.
John Martyr
General Manager

Good Day Mr. Martyr

I would like to thank you for your response on the matter. It is refreshing to know that certain managers still care about customer service.

I must say I do enjoy staying at Sandy Point Beach Club and will certainly return again. I must also say that the service we recieved from the rest of staff for the weekend was very good.

Thanks

Damie