More than a million Canadians travel to Cuba each year to soak up the sun and get a break from the wintery weather, and the vast majority of vacations happen without any problems.
But, one family is going public following an incident at a resort last March, claiming a 16-year-old girl was assaulted by a hotel staff member in an elevator.
“This isn’t about bad food, late transfers, or bad weather or anything else like that, this is about a serious criminal matter,” said Greg Woolvett of Burlington.
Woolvett said he, his wife and stepdaughter having been taking winter vacations in Cuba for many years without issue, but last March he alleges his stepdaughter was assaulted at their resort by an employee.
“She pushed the button for the second floor and the door opened and a hotel employee on duty followed her onto the elevator,” said Woolvett.
Woolvett told CTV News the employee tried to kiss his stepdaughter, inappropriately touched her and wouldn’t let her leave.
“He pulled her out of the elevator by the arm and tried to drag her down a darkened hallway. By this time, she is terrified, but she managed to break free,” said Woolvett.
The teen was able to run down some stairs and get back to her family’s room. Woolvett said when she returned, she was in a state of distress.
“She was walking around the room, she had tears in her eyes, and she said I think I’ve just been assaulted,” he said.
Woolvett met with the hotel manager, but felt the incident was not being taken seriously.
“He said, ‘We are not responsible for our employees’,” said Woolvett.
The family met with their tour operator Sunwing and the Cuban police, but were told if they pressed charges they would have to remain in Cuba for an indefinite period. They decided to return home, the employee was fired, and Sunwing offered to refund the daughter’s portion of the trip, but Woolvett said their trip was ruined and demanded a full refund.
“They said ‘What do you want?’ I said ‘I want my money back, all of it’,” said Woolvett.
CTV News reached out to Sunwing and a spokesperson told us, “We can confirm that Sunwing Vacations received a post-travel inquiry regarding the incident in question. First and foremost, the health and safety of our customers is of paramount importance throughout their vacation journey, and we sincerely regret to hear about the incident which occurred on hotel property.”
“Our Customer Relations team has been communicating with the hotel on behalf of the family since the incident was reported. As this is an active file, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
Woolvett said he wanted to share what happened to warn other families to be careful when travelling.
“If you are travelling anywhere in the Caribbean and you have young daughters, you should definitely have your antenna up and ready,” he said.
Currently, the government of Canada‘s website says you should exercise a high degree of caution when travelling to Cuba, but says it’s mainly due to shortages of food, medicine, and fuel.
