Arrived at Sirenis La Salina on May 20 with my daughters, ages 15 and 20.
Beautiful resort, food was good, a lot of walking on those hot days as the resort is
very big.
People were very friendly, however, we did have an incident which I am very upset
about and am not sure how to proceed further.
On the first day there, at 1:00 in the afternoon, my 15 year old daughter went to our
room to get money so that we could exchange it. I was waiting for her at the swimming
pool.
Upon arriving at our room her key would not work in the keypad. She got the
housekeeper and her key would not work either so the housekeeper called Maintenance to
fix the keypad and told my daughter someone would be there soon to fix it.
My daughter sat on the floor waiting. A few minutes after sitting there a man (about
45-50 years old) who worked at the resort called her in to the room across from ours.
She went thinking he had a new key. She went in the room. He shut the door and
beckoned for her to sit on the bed. Unfortunately, she did instead of running away.
He offered her an alcoholic drink—she refused—he then turned the channel on the tv
from Spanish to English and proceeded to kiss her on the cheek. She was very scared.
She said I have to go, he said no. He then tried to kiss her on the lips, she said no
I have to go get my mom. He would not let her leave until he got a picture of her and
him on his cell phone.
My daughter came to me at the pool, tears streaming down her face, and told me what
happened. I wanted to wring his neck right then. She said no so we went to the lobby
and told the front desk who immediately called security. Security and management came
and took her statement. They told us to wait in the lobby. A while later we were
asked to go to our building so my daughter could identify the man named Wilbur. She
did not want to do this and I was angry that she had to face him again but I knew he
had to be identified and that seemed to be the only way.
Still crying, we went to our building. Wilbur was there, painting in a room. My
daughter had to face him—about 5 feet away. Of course, he denied everything and the
housekeeper said nothing happened….how would she know? Was she watching this man
when she was cleaning rooms?
My daughter went into the room where it happened with security and management and
showed them exactly what he did. She said he had his toolbox and inside was an orange
ball. She offered several other details as well. The tv was still on to the English
channel.
After explaining again what happened, security and management said they believed her
and that he would be fired immediately from the resort and that his name would be sent
to Tourism so that he could never be hired by another resort again. They asked me if
I wanted to call the police and I said no as long as this criminal would be fired and
would be reported. My daughter had been through so much already.
We left our building, went back to the lobby and I was asked to sign the statement
saying it was my wish not to call the police. I did so but wrote on the statement
that I did not call police because the man was being fired immediately!
My daughter stayed in the room much of our vacation. She has not been the same since.
I wrote the resort to make sure this man had indeed been fired and reported as they
promised….there have been several emails back and forth. I also asked for
compensation for my daughter’s ruined trip but the resort has refused. As far as the
employee, Wilbur, below is their response to me. I plan to take this further. This
might happen to another young girl and I cannot live with that. HE WAS NOT FIRED! HE
IS NOT WORKING THERE ANY MORE AT HIS OWN CHOICE…..WHO KNOWS WHAT RESORT HE IS AT?
—————————————————————————————————————————
June 2, 2009
From the General Manager:
I am very sorry I have not written before. We understand very well all your points and
concerns and we corroborate our excuses againg to you and your entire family. The
employee has been dismissed from the hotel on that same day and he was not here
during your stay. After that he doesn’t work in the resort anymore but because of his
own decition.
We corrobirate we could not make different because we did not find enough proofs and
you were asked if you wished to request the presence of the police to start a more
specialised investigation and you refused.
We ipologise again.
With kind regards,
Mr. Pedro Torres
General Manager
