StayRoman ruined my wedding celebration…
StayRoman ruined my wedding celebration and our friendship all in one. The owner was a fellow Army Warrant Officer and supposed friend whom I've tried to support for years. He finally had properties to accommodate our wedding celebration in Puerto Rico this past December. Kris and I messaged one another on FB Messenger about the arrangements as he said it would be "off the books" since his employees wouldn't be able to earn a commission for my "discounted rental". He showed me a few properties, and I chose the one my wife and friends liked most. We signed the contract and paid the $500 deposit right away in July 2024 for our December 2024 trip. It was all downhill from there.
I was continually harassed each month (Aug, Sep, Oct) for payments, even though I had no scheduled monthly payments; only that the balance was due by 1 Nov 2024. Yet, those same employees continually failed to provide me with information/assistance I was requesting. Each time I thought I was making headway, I'd get switched to another rep who knew nothing of the ongoing communications with the previous rep. I eventually messaged Kris to inform him of his staff's shortcomings, but he just blew it off and promised to get me squared away. A few weeks later, I had to message him again about inadequacies, and yet again, he minimized it and promised everything would be fine.
Finally, we were just a few days from our flight out to PR and still had not received our rental property address, house rules, etc. My emails were coming back as undeliverable, and the customer service phone number was out of service. I again messaged the owner about my concerns, but he told me to relax that he’d ensure I was taken care of. Then, around 9:00 PM on the night before our early morning flight out, Kris provided me with an incomplete address. At this point, one of my wife's best friends dropped out because she could not handle the stress of not knowing exactly where we were going. She's an avid traveler and said she had never been in this situation before - not having the rental property address at least a week before traveling; let alone the night before! Kris messaged me the updated address just as we were boarding our plane at the ATL airport in route to PR. Once we landed, I Googled the address to find a very unappealing street view of a run-down apartment building. My wife was pissed to say the least. But what could we do now....we were in Puerto Rico with guests flying in from all over. We waited to see the place in person to ensure that it was indeed not the luxury villa that we'd booked. Sure enough, it was a run-down apartment building, but the rental property itself was a penthouse on the rooftop. Unfortunately, the elevator was out of order, so we had to walk seven flights of stairs with our elderly mother and luggage to get there in the PR heat! The inside of the penthouse was nice and spacious, plus it was close to the beach, so we waited for our remaining guests before calling the owner to complain. Everyone was obviously taken aback considering that they had paid their money for the beautiful luxury villa in the pictures they'd seen back in July.
I called Kris to let him know what was transpiring, and he apologized profusely. He said that the only other property he could put us in was a smaller place not as nice as the penthouse and much further from the beach. At that point, we were not going to pack up and relocate to a lesser property than the inadequate property we had already received! Our stay was greatly diminished because we had to constantly walk seven flights of stairs in the heat with an elderly mother and another guest with a bum knee. Thus, we went out much less than we would have liked to. Upon return, I rolled up a detailed list of deficiencies for the owner, and asked him to let me know how he would make things right. I followed up with him and his staff numerous times over the course of about 45 days with no resolve and not even receiving my $500 refundable deposit back. I finally got my $500 deposit back a few weeks after I posted a negative BBB Review of the company, but StayRoman still refuses to compensate me for the breaches of contract (not providing me with the contracted property and not returning my deposit within 30 days of the visit). I highly recommend exercising caution before getting into a contract with this company, because if he'd do this to a fellow active-duty Army Warrant Officer and “friend”; imagine what your chances are.
**Update: No, I did not ask for a discount - I was OFFERED a discount from the owner when I said the quoted price wouldn’t work for us. I was not given a schedule of monthly payments and never said anything about not being able to pay in full. The balance was paid in full prior to the due date. I have proof of everything, whereas StayRoman only has fallacious claims.
Reply from StayRoman
Hi Kas,
We’re very sorry to hear that you were disappointed with your experience and the way events unfolded around your wedding celebration. As someone we’ve known personally, your feedback carries extra weight, and it’s unfortunate that our relationship has taken this turn.
However, for the sake of clarity and transparency:
This booking was conducted personally and outside of our formal booking system. You explicitly requested a discounted rate and a direct arrangement without involving our standard reservation team. As you noted, this was a personal favor extended outside of StayRoman’s regular processes, which created limitations in how we could manage communication and support.
The property provided was a premium penthouse in a prime location, and while we understand the elevator being out of service created challenges, this is unfortunately something outside of our control. We offered an alternate unit as soon as we were notified, which you declined.
Payments
You also failed to every payment on time. There’s also notes that you felt as if you might not be able to make all the payments for your stay. We believe this is just another situation where you are looking to be fully reimbursed for a stay that you successfully completed.
Your security deposit was also fully returned—albeit slightly delayed due to the holidays—and we deeply regret that it caused additional frustration. However, the remaining financial expectations are based on circumstances that were agreed upon at booking and were not part of any written refund guarantee.
We always aim to provide five-star experiences, and we understand your concerns. That said, we also stand by our team and the efforts made to accommodate you—especially in an arrangement that was done on a personal basis, not through our usual booking process.
We wish you all the best and appreciate your past support.
—StayRoman
