So sorry Mr Lawe of what you and you're staff has gone through. One of your guests reported on this forum that something didn't seem right and the hotel staff resented / "hated" Jim but they didn't provide details. I look forward to spending some time at Sea Splash this November. Thank you for giving us your side of the story.
I am amazed that in Jamaica it took from April the 5th where Jim was ignoring all e-mails and phonecalls and paying No bills or rent that it took all the way up to May 24th to reclaim the property but I guess there were legal rules that had to be followed,
Even still, Jim seemed in No rush to leave the area.
If he knew he had done so wrong and stolen such hefty amounts of money I wonder why he stuck around? Very brave unless there was a reason.
It was very nice for Seasplash to put the guests up that Jim had accepted money from and honour their deals even with no payment for the hotel owners themselves.
I think at least 40 parties were held there, if only 50 people attended each party spending £20 each on a few drinks this is WITHOUT food costs there is £1000 per party so in total £40,000 (USD$62,000) from the bar alone just an underestimate from party days alone.This is just summising and of course some days a lot more guests were there and some days maybe less, and some people probably spent a whole lot more than that at the bar.
And this is just from the party days there were 5 other days a week for a whole 6 months of bar and food takings also to be had too.Thats an extra 120 days of the till being filled!
From what I see someone will have SOME of this cost covered.The property was insured also Living social has their own insurance and most people paid by credit card and they also have insurance.Living social would not refund everyone just to be kind obviously someone is insured.I imagine when they find Jim he will be in a huge court case.
So if he made $62k from the bar on party days (underestimate I think)
$96k from bookings
plus 6 months of food order takings and an extra 120 days of bar takings guesstimate $60k minimum
minus the 17k he spent on deposit and bar area= $201k so he should had just paid his bills and still been 21k up which is still a good wage considering the lifestyle and luxury and fun that came with it.
I bet a whole heap more was made than that too! It is easy for one couple to spend $80-$100 just in ONE meal.
So looks like he took way over $200k with him in his back pocket as well as leave almost that amount behind for someone else to repay.
Last time we heard from Jim he said this is not finished and he will be sorting this out legally.
It would be nice to hear the final outcome.
Just something does not sit right with me that if someone had taken ALL this money why did his partner leave before him and Jim stuck around alone knowing he had caused a major stink ? That part is the part which makes no sense to me.
Marko>I guess bedsheets are expensive these days!
Where I live when this happens it is usually a bad hard lesson for the owner as the golden tongue chatter persuades them to hand over everything they have yet keep it all in the owners name so when everything goes to court what evidence do they have?
There is of course Living social evidence but even if he had to pay their fees back he still has 100k left.
It is a shame I have seen this happen a few times in my Own town.The great sales patter , the great scam and then who's name is the one on all the papers?The owners.
Well thought out scams which work time and time again.In business paperwork is LAW no paperwork~ no business.Your paperwork is the only evidence you have.Makesure you always have everything signed sealed and delivered before allowing ANYONE to do anything under your name.
I guess Seasplash owners could always call up their interested buyer and see if they are still interested as the works are complete and there are a lot of bookings so could make a nice sale
I remember telling wifey when the LS first came out... (as a sort of joke)... "This would be the perfect deal to run right before closing up the place. The perfect hit and run"...
I wonder if Jim posted the LS deal with full knowledge that he was soon to be run out out of the joint.... perhaps he felt he was entitled to a ROI and he knew the bottom was dropping out- so he brought in a 3rd party (with insurance).
This whole thing could be a well crafted scheme.
Many times things like this are.Originally Posted by murph
I first knew something was up way back at the beginning when I wanted to book a stay and I wanted to see what the rooms looked like and if they were large enough for my family.
I just wanted a price and a picture and I enquired about the menu.
I was told to ignore everything on the website as it is old and they have not changed it yet so I suggested that they get Rob to put them a website up on here as a lot of hotels do and show us all the specials he was telling everyone about.
If I was thinking of spending 200k$us on a place legit I would most definately spend a hundred or two dollars to market the place to tourists wanting to book from overseas as I did.Especially as he knew how lucrative the market is over here on this site.
As he never updated the site, I knew from THAT second something was up.
Why would you want to invest so much money time and effort into a place yet leave the old owners details and menus and website up?
The simple answer in most cases would be because, you know you are not staying, or you do not want to pay anyone to create a website as then that would be evidence you were running the place, and it suits them to have it look in the courts eyes that the owners were still liable and in charge of everything as it was their name on the documents the bills and the website.
To me it was obvious what was happening as I have seen it many times before but maybe others were fooled.Chitter chatter and golden tongue is all well and good but in business there has to be a line drawn where chat ends and papers get signed.
There was rumour a venture similar happened before I do not know how that ended but he did not seem to have any trouble setting up again in the same area so we just do not know!
While we do appreciate everyone's comments, please remember we need to limit the rumors and speculation...
Thanks everyone!
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
we are looking foward to our 10th trip to negril and are just tourists. i have no idea who is right or wrong and really it's none of my buisness. i'll just wait for the dust to settle and if sea splash is still running when it's time,we'll give it a try.i know one thing,we've never had a bad time in jamaica!
For those with the Living Social Vouchers as well as those who have prepaid reservations through other sources, I would take a copy of this thread as a hard copy of the General Manager/Owners intent for proof of his promising to honor the promotion.
Doctoro,
I am a bit confused by your comment. Living Social has already let all the voucher holders know that they are being refunded. That is a done deal.
Sea Splash's owner is directly letting all folks who purchased the Living Social deal know that they can book that same deal directly with Sea Splash. All they have to do is contact the resort directly. This is not through Living Social, but a direct deal posted here on Negril.com.
The new GM is already in contact with all those who have prepaid reservations. They have been receiving emails from the resort.
I am not sure what would be the point of having a copy of this thread when anyone having reservations would have other, more detailed information directly from the resort itself regarding their upcoming stay. This thread is rather generic, the emails they would already have would be the ones I would print and take with me....
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
No Problem Rob, I went back and reread, I just beleive in hard copy proof. Obviously not needed in this case.
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