A Hamilton man says a tropical getaway in the Dominican Republic for a special occasion turned into a nightmarish ordeal he could not wait to escape from.
Mali Muma booked a $3,500, week-long trip to Riu Republica in Punta Cana with Sunwing Vacations for his girlfriend’s birthday in May. However, he says the celebration was marred by numerous issues at the resort, making the vacation unsalvageable.
The worst of the issues was the lack of water for two days in both private suite bathrooms as well as shared ones by the pool. Muma says desperate guests started taking matters into their own hands.
“People were bringing their [trash] cans down to go scoop some water from the decorative fountains just so they could have water,” Muma told CityNews.
“The [shared] washrooms were disgusting… there’s mountains of toilet paper, feces, pee everywhere.”
Muma says hotel staff began to hand out bottled water, which sparked further chaos.
“It went to a point where people were like body checking each other to take a whole case for themselves to just go up to the room to bathe themselves… we literally bathed ourselves with water bottles. We could not shower,” he said.
In addition, the air conditioner and phone in Muma’s room weren’t functioning and closet doors were also broken.
He says the vacation was such a disaster that they were relieved when it was over and they finally returned to Toronto – not how you want to feel after a break at a sunny destination.
“As soon as those wheels touched down at Pearson, I was like, man, I’m just trying to go home and just like lay down,” he said.
But that rest was short-lived because as soon as he got home, Muma began the process of reaching out to Riu Republica and Sunwing Vacations about his horrific experience.
Sunwing acknowledged his concerns and offered him a refund for two nights of his stay, which Muma said was unacceptable.
“I told them that I would not be accepting that, you know? Just cause like the whole week was just ruined,” he said.
Muma says he has thoroughly documented his experience, including video evidence, and is now planning to take the issue to small claims court.
Meanwhile, he still feels he owes his girlfriend a proper birthday.
“Obviously she knows it wasn’t my fault, but I told her, like, ‘hey, I’m going to make this up to you because I don’t feel like that gift was right,’” he said.
CityNews reached out to both Sunwing Vacations and Riu Republica numerous times for comment, but they did not respond.
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