Two Canadian mothers were pressured by a luxury resort in Cancun, Mexico, to sign NDA agreements in order to get medical help when members of their family got violently ill, according to a report.
“I felt held hostage,” one of the moms, Allison Field, told CBC News. “I felt like they were stopping us from receiving care.”
Jesslyn Schigol, of Saskatchewan, said her husband couldn’t stop vomiting at the all-inclusive Royalton Splash Riviera during their Christmas trip, so she asked for help at the hotel’s front desk, the outlet reported.
“The front desk presented me with this NDA and said, ‘You must sign this. This is a must or else we’re not sending the doctor to come see your husband,’” said Schigol, who was also traveling with her two sons.
“I said, ‘There’s no way I’m signing this as it pretty much says you can’t say anything, you can’t come after the hotel,’” she said. “They said they will not send the doctor unless I sign this.”
Schigol snapped a photo of the NDA agreement, which she ultimately refused to sign.
The document appears to state that by accepting medical help provided by the resort, guests can’t hold the companies involved responsible and are forbidden from talking about their experience publicly, according to the outlet.
Field, her husband and 4-year-old son also fell ill at the same resort, which charges $440-plus per night, during the same time period, she said.
Field, of Saskatoon, decided to check out of the resort and take her son to the hospital because he seemed dangerously sick, she said.
But she said resort staff were reluctant to help her move her bags or book them a taxi — and pressured her to sign an NDA before leaving.
“My son was vomiting and vomiting and shaking and they wouldn’t let us leave, and [staff] just kept trying to get me to sign the NDA,” she said.
“I was incredibly upset.… It was flagrantly clear that they really didn’t care about us or our health.”
Her son was later hospitalized for 16 hours due to dehydration, said Field.
Field ultimately didn’t sign the NDA either, and she’s been in contact with two dozen people who stayed at the resort and got sick around the same time her family did.
The hotel’s parent company, Blue Diamond Resorts, said Tuesday it’s investigating the matter.
“We are currently conducting an internal investigation into the reports, and while we cannot comment further at this time, please know we are committed to addressing this matter with the utmost care and attention,” said Alejandro Rodríguez del Peón, vice-president of marketing and public relations for Blue Diamond Resorts.
He said the resort has “strict standards that either meet or exceed local public health regulations.”
