TUI has offered holidaymakers counselling sessions after they claimed they saw the body of a woman who had fallen from a balcony hidden under a sheet during their luxury getaway. The couple said their five-star trip soon turned into the holiday from hell.
They claimed they had also witnessed public sex sessions, plus people vomiting and defecating in the pool at the “seedy” hotel which “stank of weed”. NHS worker Alan Stevens had booked a 17-day Dominican Republic break as a birthday treat for his wife.
They stayed at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, described as offering an “on-the-beach location and a first-class pool scene” on the travel company’s website. But soon after they arrived in late June, they said the “adults only” venue was more like a “party hotel”. Healthcare assistant Alan said they felt “unsafe” and claimed there was a worrying lack of security.
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The couple claimed they saw a woman’s body hidden under a sheet after falling from a balcony. Dominican Today reported a woman died after a fall from a fourth-floor balcony on June 30. Alan, 50, told HullLive: “It was really eerie as we had no idea what was going on.”
He continued: “When we went out to the pool for the first time, we saw guests smoking weed in the pool, people having sex in the pool, and it all felt really seedy. We saw one woman being sick all over herself in the pool, and another guest actually defecate in the pool – it was disgusting.”
Alan, from east Hull, also claimed they were offered drugs during their stay, adding: “We were approached by people offering us drugs about 10 times in the 17 days we were there. There were no security guards either, which made it all feel very unsafe. It stank of weed, there was food and sick scattered about everywhere. I can’t stress how dirty and seedy it was. No one told us that this was a ‘party hotel’, and I’m shocked that TUI would ever think this would be an appropriate place for my wife and I to stay.”
A complaint to his TUI rep was met with “complete indifference”, Alan claimed. He has since been offered £200 compensation and counselling sessions ‘due to the events that he witnessed’. However he said the sum was “a joke” considering he paid almost £3,000 for the trip.
He said: “I’ve spent tens of thousands on holidays with TUI in the past, so to be offered only £200 and some counselling for what was truly a horrific holiday is a joke. It’s really disheartening, because this was the first time with TUI that we’ve been treated like this. This was 100 per cent the worst holiday we’ve ever been on. My wife and I have been travelling together for 21 years and we have never known anything like it – the only good thing about the holiday was the room!”
A TUI spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear of Mr Stevens’s experience during his stay at the Riu Republica Hotel. At TUI, we strive to make travelling with us a smooth experience from start to finish, but unfortunately on this occasion, and largely due to factors outside of our control, we did not meet our usually high standards.
“Our team has been in contact with Mr Stevens and he was offered a gift voucher as a gesture of goodwill, as well as counselling from CCP (Centre for Crisis Psychology), but unfortunately this was declined.” Repeated attempts to contact the Riu Hotels & Resorts group, which runs the Riu Republica Hotel, were made by HullLive but went unanswered.