By Richard D’Ambrosio From Travel Market Report

Ask Me Inc., a Miami-based travel marketing company that works primarily with Melia and Paradisus brand resorts, has suddenly ceased operations, leaving travel agents, wedding planners and consumers scrambling to assess their travel plans.
In an Aug. 16 e-mail that ASK ME sent to individual clients booked with the Paradisus Palma Real, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the company stated that “We regret to inform you that effective immediately, ASK ME Inc. … will be ceasing operations.
“We are working to windup this business in the most effective manner, and we hope to accomplish this without disrupting your travel plans. With that in mind, we wish to advise you that your deposit has not been paid to the resort. Although we will be providing the resort with an updated list of reservations for weddings and rooms reserved through ASK ME, we are unable to confirm whether these unpaid reservations will be honored by the resort.”
ASK ME instructed these clients to personally contact the resort to confirm reservations “and make arrangements to pay the resort directly.” If a client failed to do so, ASK ME wrote, “your reservation may not be honored.”
The company also stated that “ASK ME will be unable to issue any customer refunds. As a result, you may also wish to communicate with your credit card company about any charges incurred by ASK ME on behalf of Paradisus.”
ASK ME was founded by Marilyn Cairo and Hilary Lanzer, two former sales and marketing officials with Sandals and Beaches Resorts. Voicemails left for Lanzer and Cairo were unreturned at press time, while e-mails to the company were returned undelivered.
“We had no indication before yesterday that anything was amiss,” said John Hawks, Administrator, Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialists Association (DWHSA). DWHSA published a notice for members as well as non-member agents, offering advice on options to assist clients.
“Word flies in seconds with the internet. We have our own agent group on Facebook and we monitor for instances like this. There was no chatter before yesterday.”
So far, Hawks has not encountered a single agent contacted directly by ASK ME. He was able to reach Cairo via e-mail Tuesday, night, but wasn’t provided with much more information than was in the client e-mail.
ASK ME operated as a destination wedding planner for some hotels and resorts that didn’t have their own full time staff. In some instances, it appears, they also operated as a wholesaler for certain properties. Hawks has only heard about destination wedding reservations, and was not aware of individual or group travel bookings that might have been placed through ASK ME.
“We’re encouraging our agents and others affected to contact each resort directly this morning. We’re telling them, if you can’t get a hold of the sales contact, ask for the general manager, anyone with a manager’s title. One worry is that if a deposit wasn’t boarded, the hotel may have alerted ASK ME, but not the individual, so the bookings don’t exist.”
Agents also may want to encourage their customers to start the charge back process on their credit card. Depending on their bank card issuer, “Clients may need to be prepared to make a new deposit to hold their reservations,” Hawks said. Hawks said that DWHSA will be reaching out to Melia and Paradisus to work proactively with his members’ clients.
Cairo oversaw ASK ME’s virtual call center, “managed promotional programs and concepts,” according to the company’s website and served “as the wedding department for hotels in the Caribbean and Mexico, ensuring customer service is always top notch, while achieving a high conversion rate for clients.”
Cairo spent more than 10 years at Sandals and Beaches resorts, and had a stint at Renaissance and Ramada Resorts in Miami. Lanzer led ASK ME’s sales and was “responsible for developing travel agent relationships.” Prior to Sandals, Lanzer led wholesale operations at two specialty tour operators serving the Cayman Islands and Central America.

IMAGE: Paradisus Palma Real, in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

For more on this story go to: http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/CaribbeanMexico-Resorts-Payments-And-Marketing-Company-Closes-Suddenly