ncident I purchased a so-called vacation package from Travel Fun (www.arcfun.com)in 2008. I will be filing a separate complaint about this company, but this complaint is related to the accommodations they sent us to. I recently won two airline tickets as a result of a lottery drawing. Remembering that I hadn't used my vacation package, I decided to make the best of it and fly to one of the areas that was a part of the package. We settled on Florida. When I contacted the travel agency to make the reservations, they told me that if I wanted to be in close proximity to where the welcome center was (because we had to listen to a 90-minute "presentation"), I should upgrade my standard package to the deluxe package, which would put us right across from the welcome center and give us access to free shuttle service. They also described the amenities, which sounded nice. The upgrade was $160. We arrived at the resort and thought it was okay. However, five minutes after getting there, a customer was expressing his frustration with the front desk staff. I looked at my husband like "oh boy, here we go...". One quick note: I noticed right away that the front desk staff did not appear very chipper. After all, this was called the Calypso Cay and the colors were festive; I expected the staff to at least be smiling. Anywhoo... We went through the standard paperwork with the front desk clerk who told us about the fee we would be charged if we didn't listen in on the presentation ($350). They took our credit card info to ensure we did. We also had to sign off on a piece of paper stating if we wanted housekeeping to change our sheets and towels, we would have to pay an additional fee per night. We declined, stating we would just clean our own room. I've never been in a hotel where basic towels and sheets were not replaced if you didn't pay an additional nightly fee. We get to the room and were immediately disappointed. Mind you, this was an "upgrade" from the standard accommodations. I am afraid to see what we upgraded from. The room was drabby, there were sheets on top of a blanket, and the fitted sheet did not fit right because it kept coming off the corners the whole time we were there. The carpet was old, and I commented to my husband I wondered if it had ever been changed. However, we decided to make the best of our stay there. I was taken aback by the fact that they charge 15% gratuity on EVERYTHING at the tiki bar, even a hamburger. Here is the kicker: we checked out on June 9th. Since we didn't even pick up the phone to call the front desk, we knew that there should be no additional charges for us. We'd budgeted ourselves down to the penny, having enough money left to take a cab to the airport, because Florida is expensive. The front desk clerk says, "your balance is $59.60". My head almost spun around. Balance for what? They explained that we had to pay taxes on the room. Now, when I was making the arrangements and paid the additional fee to upgrade, not to mention the $99 booking fee, nowhere did it come up that these fees did not include taxes. When we were checking in, this never came up. It only came up after we were checking out. So, we had a nice little complaining session going on. We were then asked to go in the back room and talk to the GM, Michael Pingston. He must be very practiced in these issues, because he was calm and listened. Bottom line, we had spent all of our money paying for gratuities and all the other stuff there and had enough to get to the airport. He told us if we didn't pay the (surprise) balance, they would have to call the authorities. He did offer to work with us though. He told my husband, "well, you could leave something here as collateral, such as a cell phone". We live in Illinois! Why would we leave a cell phone in Florida for a $59 bill! We told him over and over that we were never told taxes were not included and even showed him the confirmation from the travel agency. It didn't matter. Eventually, I had to call my best friend and she emailed this man her credit card information so that we wouldn't have to go to jail. While we were in there being held hostage for $59, another family was going through the same thing as they checked out, and he had his clerk to call the authorities on them. AND, as that was going on, another family had the exact same issue. 3 families in a row during checkout!? That should tell you something! Thank God for my friend being able to help us out, although she was on a fixed income! I paid her back, but nothing could quell the embarrassment from this! Damage Resulting As a result of this, we were late arriving at the airport because we sat in this man's office for almost an hour. When we got to the airport, they told us our luggage may not make it to Chicago when we did. Lucky for us, they had sympathy and the plane did not take off, and our luggage arrived on time. I was so upset and embarrassed that by the time I made it to the gate of the plane, the stewardess had to calm me down before she let me on the plane. I will never, as long as I live return to the Calypso Cay resorts. They are a joke, and a scam. I didn't even get into the timeshare portion of the story! I am all for people making a living, but don't scam people while you're doing it! Be upfront with your costs, and have a little integrity!