False advertising alleged at Alma Resort
False advertising alleged at Alma Resort
Alma Resort may not meet the five-star standard that it claims to.
According to complaints of some customers sent to Vietnam Investment Review, according to the advertisement, the resort is going to have 200 villas and 400 apartments, equal to 30,000 units of vacations a year, and can host up to 3,500 guests at a time.
The resort has five types of apartments and villas for customers to choose from, namely type A (one bedroom, for a maximum five people), type B(with two bedrooms, maximum seven people), type C (three bedrooms, maximum nine people), type D (two bedrooms, maximum seven people) and type E (three bedrooms, maximum nine people).
According to the contract, guests have to ensure that the number of people staying do not exceed the maximum for each type of apartment. During the vacation, guests can use services such as waste collection, towel change, bed making and changing of bedsheets, blanket and cleaning of the whole room once per week.
If there’s any other service or if the above services are performed more often than said in the contract, the customers have to pay according to the price table applicable at the time of service.
Customer S said that he signed a contract to own a vacation at a type A apartment with area of 70.8 square metres including the balcony, for five people, with kitchen, living room, balcony, a big bedroom with one bed and a big bath room.
Annex A of his contract enumerated some equipment available in the apartment but the description is very general, and according to the contract, “the equipment and furniture are planned by Paradise Bay Resort Co. Ltd. but are subject to change.”
S said that the apartment, though advertised to be “luxury,” lacks basic equipment such as a TV and air conditioning. The once-a-week cleaning is less often than the cleaning done at cheap hostels.
Meanwhile, customer V from Ho Chi Minh City said that her type B apartment also lacks air conditioning and hot water. Meanwhile, the apartment was advertised to have two bedrooms but there’s no information on how big the beds are.
Lawyer Tran Duc Phuong from the Ho Chi Minh City Lawyers’ Association said that given the information on the contracts, and as per Decision 217/QD-TCDL dated June 15, 2009, on the national standard to classify accommodation facilities, Alma resort won’t even fit the criteria to have a one-star rating. Also, it is illegal for the developer to introduce the project as having a five-star rating while stating in the contract that the design and equipment in the apartments “are subject to change.”
