Trip Advisor Discussion

TripAdvisor and the Mexican Riviera Guest Injuries and Illnesses

By Marianne Jennings 11/2/2017

It was in July 2017 that the news came from the Mexican Riviera (Cancun and Playa del Carmen) that something was wrong with the alcohol being served at the resorts. The stories of the tainted alcohol spread like wild fire. U.S. tourists staying at all-inclusive resorts in the area where experiencing sickness, blackouts, and, in some cases, injuries and robberies, after consuming alcoholic beverages at the resorts. The U.S. State Department issued warnings about kidnapping, robberies, and physical injuries. In some cases, deaths resulted. For example, a college student traveling with her parents was found face down in the resort swimming pool after having two drinks. She was in a coma when she was flown back to the United States and subsequently died after being taken off life support.

During this time, there were posts on the website TripAdvisor. When one user asked whether she and her husband should be worried about an upcoming trip to the Mexican Riviera, she received 55 replies, but was only able to read 28 of them. Those 28 were positive or only revealed information such as the pools being only 4.3 deep. The remaining 27 posts had been removed by TripAdvisor as “inappropriate” or “off topic.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel conducted an investigation and asked TripAdvisor if its reporters could view the deleted posts and TripAdvisor refused. Raquel Rutledge and Andrew Mollica, “Tourists: TripAdvisor Blocked Warnings,” USA Today, November 2... You can read the full story on the investigation here. One guest from Phoenix who had written that she stayed at one of the resorts and blacked out after one drink had her review removed.

The investigation revealed that certain “non-employees” have the authority to remove reviews from the TripAdvisor site. The investigation also revealed the17% of the posts related to alcohol and Mexico were deleted vs. an overall site deletion average of 2% deletions. User posts about rapes at the resort have been deleted as violations of the site’s “family friendly” requirement for posts.

TripAdvisor responded by explaining a new system it will introduce that will direct users to news articles about issues and problems at vacation areas and hotels.

In 2017, the Mexican Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risk issued its report that indicated it had seized more then 1.4 million gallons of adulterated alcohol from small restaurants in the area as well as from the large hotels. The alcohol was infused with grain alcohol and methanol, components that caused blackouts. You can read the English version here.

In the United States, merchants who sell food and beverages (restaurants, hotels) are liable under the UCC under the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, a protection against foreign matter in foods, problems with contamination, etc. The physical types of crimes would be covered under the invitee standard of liability for landowners. Under that highest duty, hotels and other businesses have a duty to warn guests about hazards and take steps to eliminate the risks that they know about or should have known about.

In Mexico, injured guests struggle with filing police reports and follow-up investigations tend to be incomplete. Some former guests have had to hire legal counsel in Mexico to obtain information about the hotels and incidents in which they were injured. In short, it is difficult to make legal claims for injuries there.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What laws would determine liability of the resorts if these events had occurred at a U.S. resort?

What obstacles are there to recovery in Mexico?