Compensation is coming for two Saskatchewan families who went public about their treatment at a Mexican resort where they say staff pressured them to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent bad reviews after travelers got sick.
Last week, CBC News spoke with two Saskatchewan families who said they became seriously ill at the Royalton Splash Riviera Cancun resort and were pressured by staff to sign non-disclosure agreements before they could see a doctor or leave the property for the hospital. None of the families signed the NDA.
Since they went public, both families say they have been offered compensation from Canadian travel companies that sell them vacation packages.
Jacelyn Shigol said she was contacted by WestJet after the initial story was published. Shigol, her husband and their two sons — a teenager and a four-month-old — traveled to the resort from Yorkton, Sask., for a Christmas vacation booked through WestJet.
The company gave her family a $10,000 refund for hotel stays and a $1,500 travel credit for the future. Shigol said it was much better than the $200 and $500 the resort offered her family before they left.
“I'm glad that our story is getting out and that people are hearing what's going on, that everyone has a voice and that they know when they go on vacation to find it,” Shigol said.
The piles of evidence Shigol gathered at the resort probably helped. His advice to other travelers is to document everything “on a sticky note.”
“I think it really helped me in my situation. I had a picture of the NDA. I had a picture of the doctors. I had the videos, I had the email threads,” Shigol said.
“It's really important to make sure you have those … when you get to your travel agent, your tour company, whoever it is, they can say, 'This is what happened. It's not right. Here's. The proof.'”
WestJet declined an interview request, but provided a statement and confirmed the compensation package.
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to Ms. Shigol and her family during their recent vacation in Cancun,” a WestJet spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Alison Field says her family felt more like hostages than guests at a Marriott resort in Mexico when they became seriously ill and were pressured by staff to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Travel review website Tripadvisor suspended review submissions on the resort's page, with a note on the site Thursday saying it was temporarily suspending new listings “due to a recent incident that has attracted media attention and a flood of review submissions. Don't describe the first-hand experience.” .”
Alison Field also received compensation after sharing her story of being sick at the same resort with her husband and four-year-old son. The Saskatoon family booked their vacation through Sunwing Vacations.
Field said the company did not respond to his emails or phone calls after he returned to Canada.
“So the day the story came out, I got a very long, very apologetic email (from Sunwing),” Field said. “And they informed us (yesterday) that they are refunding the cost of staying at the resort.”
Field said she was lucky to get a refund. Last week, dozens of people reached out to him with similar stories of their quests for compensation, and resorts pressured guests to sign non-disclosure agreements.
“It's not so much that they want compensation, it's that they either want to be heard, because they have a similar experience and they feel alone in that,” Field said.
Last week, Sunwing Vacations declined an interview request. In an emailed statement to CBC News, Sunwing said it “reached out to the hotel to gather additional information in hopes of finding a solution that works for our mutual client.”
WestJet acquired Sunwing in 2023, but travelers can book vacation packages through either company.
Saskatoon morning13:31A Saskatoon woman is blowing the whistle on a resort in Mexico that blocks medical services.
Host Stephanie Masicotte talks to Alison Field, who says a resort in Mexico threatened to withhold medical treatment for her child after she got food poisoning unless she signed a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. Massicot also speaks with Professor Wayne Smith of Toronto's Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management to get his take on the issue surrounding NDAs.
