Hotel Food and Water Hazards - Hotel, Playa Juan Dolio San Pedro de Macoris

Autovía del Este, Playa Juan Dolio, 21004 San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic

I will be seeking an attorney to sue Prestigia and the hotel. This is a hotel for someone that is on a hunger strike and has a death wish. I met with the manager at least 6 or 7 times. I had many complaints but the focus of my complaints was on food preparation and the potential for food poisoning. Buffet meals were the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day in and day out. Food that was refilled in the trays sometimes were above room temperature but within a short period would then lay out in the buffet at room temperature. Food had a high potential of spoiling in the buffet. Even food in the restaurants was always served at about room temperature.

The food and quality of food, and preparation of food was the worst I've ever tasted in my life. My 4-year-old daughter developed uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting a few days into the stay. I can confidently say that her stay at the hotel was the worst for her. We had to take her to a hospital, during her stay, where she was provided an IV of fluids and a prescription for probiotics and a Pedialyte type medication and liquid probiotics. She could not even keep down water. She would shit in her clothing numerous times per day vomited often each day.

Why we will be suing is because it turns out it was not a stomach virus or food poisoning. She got a parasitic infection at the hotel. They actually are serving contaminated tap water. I'm sure that all of the water being used is not tap water, but there is contaminated water being used. My wife on two occasions did not drink the water because the water had a chlorine smell and definitely was not filtered bottled water. That is the reason for the attorney. This hotel is a public health hazard.

You cannot drink the water or other fluids mixed with water without risking your life. And the food is terrible. I got beef dishes two times in the restaurants and both times you could not even chew through the meat. Food even requested hot was at best warm but usually room temperature. I believe that the food is not heated so that the food does not dry out, especially when prepared in advance.

Here are other complaints on the hotel: The staff in the buffet apparently hate their jobs. I never had a problem with a waiter in my entire life, yet I had many crazy things happen in the buffet. Unlike their competition down the road that is also an all-inclusive hotel, rather than wait a few seconds for someone to take a drink order such as water, you can wait easily a half-hour at this place. There was nothing edible at the buffet, so I asked for a coffee with cream from a waiter. He returned with a coffee with curdled milk floating on top. I told him the milk was no good and pleasantly asked him if I could have another coffee. He started yelling at me and looking for a fight. He told me the milk was fine. So, I did not get a coffee there. I went at a different occasion to the bar to get waters since we were sitting waiting for someone to come at least 20 to 30 minutes. Someone finally did show up and my 7-year-old daughter went to get me. We were walking away from the bar and there was a loud groan from behind us as we were walking. There was a waiter with a tray of drinks that gave me the look of death that was behind us. He was not there before, but I'm pretty sure that the guy would have shot me if he had a gun. There is a mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise dispenser. The mustard was out. I asked from behind the counter if they could refill it with mustard. They went to the dispenser and saw there was ketchup available. They told me to use ketchup instead. The next day was the same situation with no mustard. I was told they do not have mustard although the snack bar has mustard. On the third day, enough was enough. I was told they were out of mustard. I found the manager of the buffet. He did not speak English, so he had to get someone to translate. Someone went to the back and found mustard and brought me some in a little cup. Out of curiosity, later I went to see if they put the container of mustard into the dispenser. They did not, so nobody else would also be able to get mustard. I guess mustard is a luxury in the Dominican Republic that is too expensive to provide to the public. I am white and my wife is Dominican. She waited online to go up to get something where they cook the food. When she got to the front of the line, rather than serve her, they served a white woman that was behind her. The same thing happened while she was at a table. The waiter brought water to everyone that sat down at tables after her but totally ignored her. It appears that the Dominicans working there are racist against other Dominicans. Nothing like this took place at the Coral Caribe down the street where we stayed 7 days two months earlier and 7 days 4 months earlier. With no warning they closed the Kids Club for the entire day. We did not notice on the first day that although there were 4 of us registered there were only two towels. They corrected that the next day. Everyone in my family took a shower one day and then the water shut down completely when I went in. Someone came into the room and fixed the sink and the shower by working on the nozzle of the sink. The toilet would fill with water and then I would have to take the top off and jiggle the thing in the tank to get the water working again. The flush was not powerful enough for an adult bowel movement. Without any paper in the toilet, the bowel movement would clog the toilet, and we would have to call for maintenance. The toilet clogged on my 4-year-old on a bowel movement. I met with the general manager on numerous occasions, especially after going to the hospital with my 4-year-old. I figured that it was food poisoning and that would likely be a harder case to prosecute. I tried to negotiate a partial refund at the time. But now that I know that staff have substituted tap water for bottled water at times, I'm not inclined to accept a partial settlement.

I did not sign up to go to a place that did not care about the health and well-being of their customers. Now I want to be compensated for the pain and suffering of my 4-year-old daughter that is presently still throwing up and having severe diarrhea. If she does not fully recover, I want an attorney to sue the hotel for all it is worth. Management and staff at this hotel definitely need to be replaced with competent people. And they seem to be going to prisons or finding people that are not equipped to deal with the public. Bad water, bad food, Bad service, bad attitude etc., the perfect place you would want to go to if you wanted to take a vacation in hell. The kid's club was the only thing there that had a competent staff member. I was also told at check-in to come back the next day for free gifts. They failed to tell me it was for a chance to spend $7000 on travel club membership 90-minute lecture.

p.s. Once we have an attorney, all communication will only be through the attorney.

An update: My daughter was diagnosed with a severe parasite infection that originated in your hotel. In my previous letter I put the blame on your water supply although while staying at your hotel I had many concerns about your food supply. Well, I have additional information. Her diagnosis is Blastocystis Hominis (Blastocystosis). According to the infectious disease doctor, the infection could have resulted from improper food handling or the water. The staff at your facility are not trained in proper food handling. Therefore, both your food supply and your water supply that is used is at risk. I will try to legally mandate that past visitors to your facility get tested at your expense because not everyone have immediate symptoms. This will help them diagnose any symptoms they may be experiencing but not realizing that they are a result of poor management at your facility.  | Symptoms: Nausea, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Stomach Pain, Cramps, Chills, Disease