Nicole Sheppard

Review of Grand Cayman Marriott

I'm writing to address the events around a fatal a...

I'm writing to address the events around a fatal accident that occurred at your Marriott Grand Cayman Beach Resort property on 2/9.

That afternoon my husband and 8 year old son sat at the edge of the sand waiting for their appointment for a jet ski with the Red Sail company that Marriott contracts with (on the resort's property). Getting restless that the jet skis were not being returned my husband noticed an empty jet ski floating in the middle one the ocean. The machine sat their for some time before one of the workers headed out. At that time they went out and retrieved an unresponsive woman from the water who had a gash to the head and was clearly close to death after floating face down in the water. From there my husband and three other guests were left to care for the woman. Performing CPR, chest compressions, trying to locate a defibrillator and checking her pulse. This went on for a good 15-20 minutes while the staff of the Red Sail and Marriott looked on concerned but unable to step in and assist. After 15-20 minutes a security guard came over and took over CPR while the guest continued the the other procedures. This continued until the ambulance came and she was taken to the hospital and announced dead. I know accidents happen but here are the concerns I have about the events that happened before and after the accident:
1- All these events happened on the Marriott's resort property and there was NO ONE ABLE TO ASSIST. This is a resort that has hundreds of guests accessing water every day (pool/ocean), I would assume there would be more people well trained to assist in this type of situation. My husband is merely a good citizen but not a trained medical professional and put in a situation were he was responsible for another person's life. Part of the attraction of staying at a Marriott (over some no name resort) when you go out of the country is that there is assumed global standards that the company adheres to. There is so much more that could have been done for this woman if some of the staff was better trained to handle emergencies.
2- No one cared to learn more from my husband or other rescuers after. While several guests came and acknowledged his efforts throughout the stay, it seemed that one on else cared to get the series of events from him or anyone else. After watching my husband spend majority of the vacation traumatized from the events-as he continues to be- I went to the manager, Stephanie Castro, and relayed these events to her. I'm honestly not sure she understood my concerns as she kept trying to put the events back on the jet ski company's, The Red Sails, lap. The talk concluded with her telling me she'd bring it to her team and and follow up. That night I got a letter thanking me for the information and that was it.

I want to acknowledge that other than this the resort was fantastic, with friendly people and well appointed accommodations. I have a hard time even saying something bad about them but it I think it is important something be done to further safety efforts there. In addition, as a Gold Elite member I've never asked for special accommodations but had hotels proactively go out of their way to give me points for broken elevators and such....a really nice caring touch. After seeing what a huge event this was, the role my husband played and the way it impacted his vacation/life I really had a bad taste in my mouth that no gesture (big or small) was made by the hotel to acknowledge it.

When I wrote to headquarters I was once again directed back to Stephanie where I received the regurgitated I received while there. Really, that the heck Marriott, is there no one there that wishes to learn more about this fatal incident and how the resort could have played a larger role in saving a life. I'm sure they will write back to this post with some BS response but this is surely disappointing.