RIU Hotels & Resorts review: Reimbursement due to fall at resort

Accident happened on March 2, 2024 approximately 5:30pm at the RIU Palace Tropical Bay, Negril Jamaica. Walking back from the beach I had to step up onto a wood bridge that was over a trench. I can't tell you what happened or how it happened but I fell off the bridge into a stone and sand filled trench below face first. There were a bunch of people and 2 doctors that came to help. RIU employee K. Francis took some information from one person from my group. I was put onto a board and taken to the nurses station. An ambulance was called to take me to the hospital. Julian, Guest Relations Manager, from the resort was at the nurses station but not sure what assistance he provided. Nurse on duty, Miram, and the ambulance personnel determined what hospital, Hospiten, I was taken too. Since we are from out of the country and didn't know the area my husband and family relied on them as to what was best. I had injuries to my face, left knee and right shoulder. I needed Xrays and CT scan to determine the extent of my injuries. I ended up with 12 stitches in my left knee and 2 stitches in my lip. CT Scan and Xrays were done also to determine if anything was broken, which luckily nothing was. After several hours of medical treatment, we returned to the resort. We got a van transport, information was provided by the ambulance personnel which indicated this was the safest way to return. Got back to resort about 4:30am. Front desk provided us with a wheelchair to get back to our room, Per female, didn't get her name, I couldn't keep wheelchair to use because they only had 2 of them and might need them for other emergencies. Sunday March 3rd nurse, not Miram, came to our room so we could fill out an incident report. I also had been given prescriptions from the hospital she assisted in helping to get me meds from a pharmacy on Monday March 4th. Had to pay pharmacy cash and delivery charge to get them. Since we didn't bring a lot of cash on our trip we had to borrow from our family and friends so we could pay for the medications and anything that was requested cash payment. When we stated we couldn't use resorts wheelchair the nurse said they had one that we could rent. $280 deposit and $45 per day. So we rented theirs for 2 days to start. Instructions from doctor at hospital stated my bandages needed to be changed by a professional/nurse. The first day I had them changed nurse Miram stated she would do them at no charge, but any other changes would need to be paid for at a cost of $44 per day, did this for only 1 day. Couple days later my friends went out on an excursion and had van driver stop at a pharmacy and we purchased supplies so we could change bandages on our own. Ambulance and hospital bills had to be paid immediately. My husband, Rick Mayo, was told by ambulance personnel that he had to pay $1150 and they would turn into our insurance. What he didn't tell him that was not the total bill. We received final bill when we returned home showing total bill was $2957.50 which $857.50 of that bill was for mileage. So was that why they decided to take me to that hospital which was 1-1/2hrs away from resort? Our vacation was an Apple vacation package. So we went to the Amstar rep and explained what happened and that we hadn't heard from anyone from the resort, other than the nurses, for the 2 days since the accident. They called front lobby and requested that Julian, Guest Relations Manager, come to see me. He was going to be on location at 1:30pm and so I waited for him to come. At 3:00 I called him and he sounded like he was confused as to who was meeting him where. He said he would come to my room right away. He finally came about 4:00pm. Sad that it took Amstar rep to call to get resort to do anything. Julian didn't provide me with much assistance. He contacted US embassy for me, but they would only be able to give me a money loan if I needed it. Julian stated he could rent me a wheelchair but it would have been about the same cost as the one from nurses station and I would have had to pay for that also. He provided me with details to file complaint and phone number for the RIU HQ. On Wed March 5, when I went to have bandages changed and request wheelchair rental for another day nurse advised that the resort was providing me with one for the rest of our stay.

Since I had stitches in my knee I was not able to go in the sea or pool so my vacation was pretty much a total loss for me. I tried to be upbeat so I didn't ruin the rest of my group of 6 peoples vacation. I feel the bridges are very unsafe. There are no railings or even a post to hold onto when stepping up onto bridge. You step up from the sand, which is anywhere from 2 inches to 5-6 inches high to get onto the bridge. Bridge is about 4 foot wide so kind of narrow for more than 1 person to cross over at a time. I feel if there would have been a post or railings on this bridge I would not have fallen off. I need to get full reimbursement for all the costs that I had to pay out. I have contacted my own health insurance and have been told that they will not pay since this happened on resorts property and the resort should be liable and I need to handle with resort. Please find included copies of all the receipts totaling $8935.85. I have also included a copy of the hospital report. If you need any other information please let me know.

Betty Mayo

6070 Thistlewood Ave

Scotts, MI 49088

USA

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[protected]@att.net

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