Oman holiday plans wrecked by Sultan..
Thousands of travellers face losing their Christmas holidays in Oman after Sultan orders hotels to be emptied for a conference.
This is bad. It makes HM look like he himself decided to personally play the lead role in an Omani version of The Grinch who stole Christmas.
Ah yes: The combined forces of administrative excellence embodied by the civil servants at the Diwan (Royal Affairs) and the Ministry of Tourism have apparently managed to ruin the holiday plans of hundreds of tourists who had hoped to come here in the height of the peak season.
The poor tourists had understandably pre-booked hotels and flights some time ago. Only to have the Diwan tell the Ministry of Tourism (sic) to just go-ahead and confiscate all Oman's best hotel rooms for the period Dec 24 - Dec 30th. The poor English dears can't be blamed for not knowing that hotel bookings are not required in Oman for those with enough Wasta.
Here's one of the letters (source: Daily Telegraph) from the Ministry of Tourism...
So, I would think a potentially career limiting move by who-ever was responsible. I notice the letter was sent over the signature of one HE Mohammed Al Tobi, MOT Undersec. Well done the Minister for delegating that one. OK, they might need the hotels, but to imagine that you can, in a tourist market as limited as Oman, in peak season during Xmas/New year, just give 2 months notice via letter to summarily take all the rooms in the 6 best hotels, and without paying compensation, is naive to say the least. It doesn't matter that the Government own the hotels.
You can still see that news of the Diwan's block booking has yet to filter through to the travel agents, eg here at 'The Holiday Place'.co.uk.
Special Quiz for my Non-Native English speaker readers:
Test your knowledge of quaint traditional English idiom! Can you arrange the following 4 words/phrases to describe the diplomatic, Public Relations and commercial skills of the Omani Government's organisers of accomodation for the GCC conference?
1- organise
2- in a brewery
3- couldn't
4- a piss-up
(Answer at the bottom of the page)
Unfortunately, I suspect this is a story that will be picked up across the world. Someone in the Diwan and Foreign Affairs Ministries - and perhaps someone a little more senior than those perviously in charge? - should get on the case and act fast to provide compensation and turn the story into more of a "There is a Santa! - Generous Sultan rescues Christmas for hundreds of English families"...
here's the full article - I especially like the last line...
what a load of muppets.
Oman holiday plans wrecked by Sultan
Thousands of travellers face losing their Christmas holidays in Oman after Sultan orders hotels to be emptied for a conference.
By Charles Starmer-Smith
24 Oct 2008
The Christmas holiday plans of thousands of travellers wanting to visit Oman have been wrecked after their hotel bookings were cancelled to allow the Sultanate to stage a conference.
The Gulf Co-operation Council Summit (GCC), attended by the heads of state of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Oman, was originally scheduled for June last year, but was postponed because of the cyclone that struck Oman. It was rescheduled for November 18-26, but on Tuesday of this week was moved to December 26-30, the peak week for travel.
Every room in six of Oman’s leading hotels, including two Shangri- La properties, three Intercontinentals and the Grand Hyatt, is being given over to those attending the conference – a move that one British tour operator said is likely to result in legal action.
“It is outrageous. I am stunned by their arrogance,” said Nick Van Gruisen, managing director of The Ultimate Travel Company. “This will put the many operators who have booked rooms in good faith in breach of their contract with their holidaymakers. We have been given seven weeks’ notice and it will be impossible to find them alternative Christmas holidays at this late stage.”
Mohammed Al Tobi, the under-secretary for the Omani Ministry of Tourism, this week wrote to the general manager of the Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa, in which the two Shangri-La properties are housed, and ordered “that immediate measures be taken to ensure that both the Al Bandr and Al Husn hotels will be at the complete disposal of the Diwan of the Royal Court [central body of bureaucratic affairs] from December 24-30”.
Mr Van Gruisen said that customers of his company who were due to travel to Oman had already paid and had been left with their Christmas plans in tatters. Many might feel inclined to boycott the country as a holiday destination in future.
Lesley Rollo, managing director of Thomson Worldwide, said that it would give a full refund to all clients whose holidays have been affected by the conference.
Holidaymakers who have booked rooms in the six hotels independently will not be entitled to refunds on their flights and have little hope of finding other accommodation.
Hoteliers in Oman said they have been given no choice but to try to send customers elsewhere or make refunds.
Tony Zamora, director of operations at Intercontinental Hotels Group in Oman, said it only received confirmation on Tuesday that the summit was to take place, and all three of its hotels in Muscat – the Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Muscat, the Intercontinental Muscat and the Crowne Plaza Muscat – were needed.
“We already have a number of reservations for this period and are truly sorry for the inconvenience this is likely to cause. We will work with our travel partners to make alternative arrangements, including offering accommodation at our sister hotels in the region and alternative dates at the hotels affected,” said Mr Zamora.
A spokeswoman confirmed that the hotels have nearly 550 people booked in during that period.
A spokesman for the Shangri-La hotel group said it had no choice but to follow the directive, but added that all deposits for rooms in the Al Bandar and Al Husn will be refunded. “This is a situation that is entirely out of our control as these are directives from the highest levels of authority within the Sultanate of Oman and we are compelled to comply,” he said. “We sincerely regret the disruption and distress this will cause.”
Sean Tipton, a spokesman for Abta, said the situation could be damaging for the hotels and the destination as a whole.
The Oman Tourist Board was unavailable for comment as we went to press.
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