25 years ago, myhusband and I decided to honeymoon in the Caribbean. As this was our first trip to the Caribbean, we selected several different islands to experience the different flavors. At one point we flew into Eluethra and stayed at the Winding Bay Resort, which, at that time was a small, all inclusive property with no more than 20 little cabanas. The owner of the resort was extremely friendly and was always on hand to help the guests out with whatever they wanted. He joined most of the guests for dinner, became the fourth in a hand of bridge if needed, helped secure one of the few available cars on the island for sightseeing excursions, and basically took an interest in all the guests. We found ourselves quite drawn to this man, and we spent many hours talking with him.



At some point we must have mentioned that we were heading off to Nassau to stay for 4 nights at the old Cable Beach Hotel. The owner told us that he knew the owner over at the hotel, and he gave us his business card to give to the front desk when we checked in. I assumed that we would probably be given a fruit basket or something like that based on the two owners friendship.



So when we checked into the Cable Beach Hotel, I turned over the card to the front desk. We filled out the standard paperwork, gave them our credit card, and the bellman took us up to our room. Well the room was right over the garbage cans, and we were not about to spend the next 4 days with that view. So we made the bellman take us to another room. This time, the room was made up with twin beds... not quite appropriate for a honeymoon! So off we went to another, then another until we finally settled on a fantastic suite overlooking the water and pool. My husband and I decided that we would pay whatever upcharge was needed for this upgraded room.



We spent the next 4 days, sunning, drinking, eating in the restaurant and thoroughly enjoying our time at the hotel. When we went to check out, the bill given to us was for one phone call... no room charges, no food or bar bill... anything except a single phone call. I immediately informed the front desk that they had made a mistake, and much to my surprise, we were told that the ENTIRE stay, with the exception of the phone call, was picked up by the owner of the Winding Bay. You could have knocked me over with a feather. There we were... dismissing the standard rooms, and ending up in a fantastic suite, not knowing that we would not be paying for it.



Upon our return home from the Caribbean, we immediately sent a letter to the owner and thanked him profusely for the kind and generous gesture he made and how he had made our honeymoon so much more memorable because of him. For many, many years we continued to send Chrismas cards to him and he to us!



cmdavilacli