As I am aware that one cannot please everyone I usually do not respond to reviews - also because 92% are positive. But when it gets personal like in this review I think it's perhaps good to give another perspective. We like to greet our guests at the airport as we like the personal touch. We pride ourselves in being straight forward genuine people and may fail when there are societal expectations of niceties or chitchat. When we do talk with guests it is out of genuine interest, which is why many leave as friends. Most of our guests are much younger than myself and usually quite happy to locate and carry their own bags.
The two girls mentioned had actually attempted booking through an automated booking site that requires a specific computer program to be able to process online. We at Matriki don't use it and don’t plan to install it as we get perhaps 2 enquiries per year through the site. So what we did was call the girls twice on the phone number supplied and left a message to email us direct. We heard nothing back, the reason being as they later told us was that the website had automatically confirmed their booking and the processing of their payment - without us even knowing. The girls thought that the booking had gone through and arrived in Aitutaki anyway. They approached me at the airport where by chance I was picking up other guests and even though they didn’t remember for sure where they were staying and we were not expecting them, I offered to take them to the nearest Internet service so that they could confirm where they were booked. I left them there and gave them out phone # in case they needed somewhere to stay and proceeded to take our guests waiting in the car to Matriki. The girls called shortly later and I was surprised and somewhat amazed to find out that they had a confirmed booking with Matriki. As we had space we put them up and then started a long and intensive search to clarify the situation – without success. They were quite distressed about having been charged money with Matriki knowing nothing about it and not been paid. In the end, prompted by a fake booking I ran on the site, I told them to check their bank statements online to make sure if money had been taken out. No money had been charged and they ended up spending a happy few days here- including a great day on the lagoon with myself and two other guests.
Yes I do recommend Matriki's snorkeling cruise especially for those of our guests who want to do a lot of snorkeling. And I tell everyone what else is on offer and that those who want to do island hopping have to go with someone else which we are happy to book for them. I prepare the food the day before and so I need to ascertain the numbers of who is going to come along - therefore the insisting on a commitment from my guests.
In regards to the island night - that venue tends to cancel if they don't have enough bookings - as the couple writing the review had not booked in, we were also not informed about the cancellation.
I believe what set the tone for their stay also had something to do with the small amount of tourists on the island at this time. They wanted to hire a motorbike – our price as is the l usual price on the island is $25 per day. They decided to walk instead. They came back on one of Rino’s scooters. Rino's Rentals it appears had just been delivered 10 new motorbikes and being desperate to get revenue in to pay for them, decided to charge $20 and undercut everyone else until it got busier again.
These experiences on the first day seem unfortunately to have clouded the rest of their experience at Matriki. I am sorry that they could not join the many others who have had a great holiday here – which is what we at Matriki attempt to give our guests.