Xanadu Timeshare Grand Bahamas Experience

The following Xanadu Timeshare Experience was shared by a reader of this website:

RCI and Xanadu Hotel in Grand Bahamas August 2011

We are RCI members and just took our one week vacation for the first time. We went to Freeport on Grand Bahamas Island. RCI is sending people to a miserable place and will not take Xanadu Hotel and Resort off their list.

The Xanadu hotel in Grand Bahamas is not a resort today. It is not a hotel today. It may pass for a youth hostel but only for those with enough money to rent a car, as there is no transportation in walking distance – so it is not a good youth hostel either. The Xanadu is a dilapidated “resort” that has been closed for two years from having been hit by a hurricane, and is thought to be abandoned by most people on the island other than RCI.

There is no food or beverages in walking distance, none. There is no ice available, no shuttle to get food, no phone, no air conditioning, no staff worth a dime, no internet, nobody willing to provide essential needs to support life. This 12 story building is being sold, so the lights are off in the hallways and the bathroom bulbs have been removed. There is a strong musty smell on every floor in every hallway and in every room, and everywhere it is hot, stuffy, and mold is here, if your asthmatic your in danger.

The guests here predominantly arrived from the RCI network and they are very upset and have been shouting in the lobby every day since we arrived. The only conversation you can engage in is how much RCI members are hating RCI for doing this to them and all that is broken in the building. That is why I am appealing to the power of networking and gathering names of those who had this happen to them. The few staff members that are here have heard these complaints for over a year and they are not happy with their job of placating people, it is beneath them to work there, I know, I’ve talked to them.

The phone number here and all the phones have been disconnected for a long time with no way to call in or out. Our two bedroom unit with a kitchen never became available, so I lost all the groceries that I purchased when I arrived. There is nothing to do here. There are no amenities, no food on site, no entertainment or even a radio on the night stand. Taxi fare to get to an activity cost $30 each way. The elevator is unsafe and closed on my mother’s arm, crushing her elbow and has no safety mechanism to open back up, and its safety certificate expired months ago. My 8 year old son and I were trapped for several minutes in the elevator not knowing if it would work again or if there would be anyone to hear our calls. He was obviously very scared.

The electronic lock on my mother’s room quit working, so in the darkness and the heat of the hallway, my door was opened with a crow bar and now I have a room, but no door. My door has stayed that way throughout our stay. The water in the building quit three days into this disaster and everyone was told that the air conditioning would be back on in “two hours” then “tomorrow morning” then by “tonight before you sleep” and these assurances were unrealistic and everyone knew it, but nobody knew why. After several days of being suspicious, I found out that the real reason for no repair work being done was because they only called one repair person and he was on vacation! Had I not told them that my mother’s asthma medication was inside her room they were not going to call a locksmith.

They wanted all five of us to sleep in two twin beds! The reason was “the phones are down” and “ he isn’t answering his phone”, so they told me I had to “wait until the morning for him to show up” and I lost it! There is only locksmith on the entire island? Only one AC repair person on the island? I have now become a lesser person, I finally cracked. The owner of this place is rich beyond measure, owns over 80% of the island, but the few people he employs have to use their own cell phones to call out and of course they don’t want to do this, because it costs them money, so they don’t call around to find solutions to problems. The manager seems scared to come out of his office to handle any problems.

When finally getting through to RCI using the assistance of a manager from another RCI accredited resort (a real resort) they finally admitted they were unable to help and did not offer any rebate. They also didn’t keep records of ever having spoken with me or this manager, even when specifically asked to keep a record of our conversations, so I had to complain all over again, four calls in total. This failure to follow customer complaints happened to several other people, because obviously keeping records would hold RCI responsible to cease sending people to this resort. RCI instead robotically told everyone that “Xanadu meets minimum RCI requirements”, so they are still sending people here. New pissed off RCI members are arriving every week in spite of all the emails and all the phone calls to customer service reps and “supervisors” in Indiana. Xanadu should not be on their list.

If I had been informed of the conditions here, I would have gladly saved over $2000 dollars and priceless amounts of grief. Now my party of five, which includes an 8 year old child and a 75 year old disabled woman with asthma, are all stranded here! This is a disaster! RCI has been well informed of the conditions here and are unwilling to delist Xanadu on Grand Bahamas Island, so I am writing to tell anyone who will listen if you should be an RCI member and land at Xanadu (“resort”) be well informed RCI knows the facts of the conditions here. Those who live on the island are also familiar with this place and that the current owner of Xanadu is wealthy beyond measure, but doesn’t care. RCI is too busy counting the money they are saving by sending un-expecting members to this place and dealing with the fallout afterward, so it is my intention that a more realistic fallout is a law suit.

Please share your experiences with Xanadu if you are an RCI member. Include the dates you came so that I may include you in a class action tort claim, specifically if there is no record of your complaints at RCI either, as this will be revealed in a subpoena of their records.

Click Here to Email Directly if Preferred