This is the full report that was sent to IHG Guest Relations. After initially doing nothing but send it to the hotel management who were the cause of the problems to start with i received a derisory offer of just 25,000 Priority Club rewards points as compensation EQV $100. Despite spending 2 days detailing all the hazards and other issues in writing and multiple phone conversations with differing levels of representatives they have annouced today that is their final offer 'because it didn't impact my family'. Obviously my family would have to be dead in order to be impacted according to IHG's calculations. However Holiday Inn US management supposedly felt the situation was so hazardous for staff and guests, they told me they would send to the resort a full inspection team at the beginning of January 2008.

Yr suggestions are most welcome. Please note the written report did not include though it was reported verbally twice that additionally:

i no rooom available at checkin , then offered 1 king bed for 1 week with child.
ii Guests regularly smoking marajuana next to the queue of children getting food from the poolside grill
iii. Staff playing pirated DVDs ( video of cinema screen ) in the kids club

Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort Montego Bay Jamaica Condition Report Nov. 27 2007

Stay Period: November 17-24 2007

Visitor: Priority Club Platinum Elite Member 3xxx with spouse and young son

Dates of immediate reports onsite: November 20 & 23 2007

Date of Corporate Guest Relations report case no. 2128231: November 26 2007

Summary

The resort has numerous serious safety hazards present that currently jeopardize the physical well-being of both guests and staff members. These require drastic attention.

There are ongoing environmental concerns.

Major lapses in pool life guarding procedures.

Highly inappropriate s-x games during daytime presented in front of children.

Senior management is disengaged and junior frontline staff members are afraid to raise operational issues.

Holiday Inn / IHG reputation at risk with guests complaining and leaving early

Massive potential criminal and civil liabilities unrecognised or ignored.


Detailed safety hazards

These are just items that I observed whilst walking around the resort in the normal course of my vacation. They are not the result of a deliberate or comprehensive safety inspection. The entire property needs an emergency electrical survey by a team of fully qualified electrical engineers before death or injury occurs.

Despite being a lengthy report this should be studied closely by senior levels of both resort and US management in order to prevent occurrence and liability for death and injuries.

During the course of just one 7-day period 4 different underwater swimming pool lights in the main pool fell out of their mountings whilst the pool was in general use.

On November 19th I noticed the underwater light closest to the Barefoot Bar & Grill was hanging loose into the main pool with exposed wiring. Upon checking on November 20 I found the light has been jammed sideways back into its mounting. I.e. not properly repaired. Later that morning my wife discovered a 2 yr old girl playing with another dismounted underwater light at the pool’s entrance ramp. She immediately moved the girl and alerted me. I warned a lifeguard who had no reaction.

Clearly this was a very serious and apparently not isolated occurrence that required proper management attention and suitable repair. I went to the check-in desk to report the matter and was directed to the guest relations desk. I asked to speak to the general manager or his assistant because of the very hazardous safety issue. I was told all the managers were in a meeting till 10.30am and asked to return. I returned as requested and insisted upon meeting with the general manager urgently since no one seemed inclined to take any action. The Guest relations representative spoke with the GM’s secretary and despite explaining that I was a platinum member with a serious safety concern simply ended up getting the guest relations manager sent down from the executive offices.

Ms. Winsome Hopper the guest relations manager attempted to escort me to the Duty Manager’s office next to the front desk but it was locked, unmanned and unlit.

Upon locating the duty manager and gaining access I explained to both of the ladies the immediate problem and mentioned that I had noticed many other electrical defects around the pool area including exposed junction fittings, broken spotlights with exposed cabling, cracked and broken trunking, and damaged path lights. Furthermore the pool water level was falling due apparently to a leaking pump and therefore the surface filtration system was not working. Additionally there were large areas of ‘black algae’ affecting the walls of the main pool.

They both seemed genuinely surprised and shocked although everything I was describing was known to the lifeguards and was ready visible to anyone doing the simplest of walk rounds the pool area.

Ms Hopper called Juan the expatriate maintenance/engineering manager and despite his reluctance demanded that he attend our meeting without delay.

Upon his arrival he and I had a very lengthy and detailed discussion about the many hazards I had noticed whilst Ms Winsome made notes. I marked most of these on a small site plan that had been provided at my request. Surprisingly neither a detailed plan was available nor was it supposedly possible to enlarge the small check-in map using a photocopier. (The check-in map omits details and is not accurate in some respects. A contractor’s construction blueprint is necessary to conduct a thorough site inspection and identify all the maintenance issues that need to be rectified.)

Juan initially blamed ‘local staff’ for many of the defects. I countered that all the staff seemed to know of the problems but lacked the tools, instruction and supervision to make repairs. Furthermore staff expressed that it was not in their interests to flag too many problems obviously fearing retaliation. Ms Hopper admitted there were ‘internal lines of communication problems’. I personally regard that as a general management failure.

Juan admitted that he had asked for the first pool light to be fixed, but had not followed up on whether or how it was completed. That was astonishing. The lifeguards had told me that individual underwater lights could be switched off one by one but that was clearly happening after the fact. Despite their presence individual circuit breakers were not being removed. That appeared to be an absolutely fundamental safety step, since relying upon the switches alone in an inherently dilapidated electrical system was reckless at best. Furthermore contrary to policy the Pumping station door was repeatedly left open and was always unlocked such that anyone could enter and either tamper or suffer injury unobserved.

My recommendations that at minimum individual circuit breakers should be removed and that the pumping station be fully secured were accepted. It was acknowledged that in the long run the main pool would need to be closed in order for major lighting, pumping and filtration and cleaning repairs to be conducted. Amazingly despite knowing of all these problems I was told these was no long term plans for this closure even though new machinery was already on order.

Whilst the main base filter was still operating the leaking pump was causing the surface level to drop at least 4 inches per day with water simply pouring out of the pumping station. Consequently the side filters did not operate and no surface debris such as insects, disposable cups and plates, cigarette packet wrappers, plastic cutlery, tissue/newspaper, leaves, cigarette butts and more were not removed. The pool base filter will not remove floating debris. During each day the accumulation of trash was quite disgusting. I recommended that in the absence of a fully functioning system manual skimming using nets by the staff should occur regularly all day not just once in the mornings. That was accepted.

At my request my wife, who wanted to leave the resort she was so distressed after rescuing the 2 yr old from danger, was offered a $90 USD tour or activity.

Amazing there was no Ultra violet exposure, simply algaecide addition and the pool got progressively greener over the course of the week. The black algae, which is algaecide resistant, was being countered by weekly scrubbing from the poolside with a yard broom. That is completely ineffective as the lifeguards laughingly acknowledged. Its continued growth represents a progressive health and slipping hazard.

The pool was being refilled every night, in order to replenish the wasteful water loss.

Even the pump station shed was in disrepair. Part of the roof lining had collapsed and some of the decorative trelliswork was missing. That trelliswork is also damaged above the main building second floor landing between the two Italian restaurants. All this is unsightly and clearly visible from around the pool area.

Despite having listed lifeguarded open hours of 9am till 6pm, these pool staff seemed to operate those same exact hours and so the pool was often still being first skimmed and the side filters swept with a yard broom after 10 am. The staff would ask guests to leave the main pool starting at 5.30 pm and then start throwing (very hazardous if ingested or with skin contact) powdered chlorine onto the surface of the water irrespective of whether the pool was completely empty of guests in order that their task be finished by their apparent clocking off time of 6pm. That was all clearly inappropriate. The chemical powder would remain on the surface of the water for some considerable period. There was not marked warnings after 6pm that the pool was actually being chemically treated despite the posted pool rules stating that guests could continue pool use at their own risk after 6pm.

On November 22 the underwater pool light in the main pool, at the easternmost point closest to the neighbouring children’s pool, came out of it’s mounting. I reported that to a lifeguard. Later that day it was refitted using 2 twisty bag ties. Those will rust in chlorinated water in a few days. Apparently the underlying problem for all the underwater light fittings was that the internal screw fittings had rusted away and therefore the lights could not be firmly secured in place. Every underwater light needs to be examined in the dry and the entire wall mounting for each replaced as necessary. The maintenance manager Juan acknowledged this necessity but the management seemed paralysed by the prospect of closing the main pool despite the ongoing health and safety risks. This needs US corporate level intervention I suggest.

On November 23 the underwater pool light in the main pool by the children’s steps came out of it’s fitting. After being told by a lifeguard ‘ Don’t worry mannn’, I reported that in writing with 3 other issues to Ms Hopper. That light was later pushed back in place. That same light was hanging out into the pool again when I checked out at 1.30pm on November 24.

Around the pool and on the island with the pumping station and main stage and there are several black flexible spotlights on green painted 1ft high concrete posts. Every single light bar one was in some way broken. The light closest to the children’s’ pool at the pathway junction leading to the corridor between building 1A and 1B was completely snapped off it’s base and two bare electrical cables stuck into the air, exposed to anyone and the weather. Any staff member could see that. On the island some of the stems were broken and the main light bulb housing units lying on the ground but still connected. Others had the stem in place but the swivel-mounting unit broken. The spotlight on the west side of building 1A was completely broken as was the spotlight between building 2 and the main building. Others were concealed by shrubbery and difficult to see but those listed above were all quite visible. Ms. Hopper blamed children playing soccer, which was patently absurd given the geographical distribution and the confined nature of some of the locations. Rampant neglect and indifference certainly seemed the main reason for the continued disrepair.

Any electrical fittings especially close to water should be properly Grounded/earthed for safety. That seemed to vary greatly.

Latter in the week I met an Electrical contractor called Lennox who repaired just 2 of the spotlights. He explained that he had been told of my report, but hadn’t been on site for at least 6 months and the backlog of repairs that he felt were necessary was so long that he hardly knew where to start.

The electrical relay point close to the pathway entering the north corridor of Building 1A was in serious disrepair with cracked cabling and exposed wiring. It was very dangerous being within arms reach of the pathway. That was repaired latter in the week following my identification.

There remained a broken path light at the east entrance to the north corridor of Building 1A. Additionally there was a broken path light opposite the tennis equipment shack on the pathway running North-south down the sides of buildings 1A and 1B.

In between that same pathway and the Sea Breeze Restaurant plus Fitness Studio there is a row of outdoor food counters that contain metal sink-like bowls that electrically heated water to warm food served buffet during the Twice weekly Beach BBQ event. The ground level exposed electrical wiring for these units was in a shocking state with a great jumble of unscreened individual wires. This continues to represent of serious risk of electrocution to staff members who stand with their feet at these points twice weekly touching the bowls with metal implements and a hazard for guests taking food from the metal trays in the metal bowls using metal spoons and tongs etc.

At the northwest corner of Building IA stands a lamppost with completely exposed electrical cabling at its base.

The ceiling light fitting at the west end of the North corridor in Building 1A is missing its cover.

Between Building 2 and the children’s playground there is an electrical relay point with a broken cover at ground level.

Along the beach front pathway from Building 4 to Building 6 there about 10 pathway lights in a row within arms reach of the path that are ranging from broken to totally smashed. These represent several hazards including poor lighting, cutting and heat due to exposed bulb covers. These are all clearly visible and many staff walk past them many times a day.

On the pathway between the adult pool and the PADI/ scuba shack near the front gate there are several more broken path lights and an electrical junction box that incredibly being missing it’s cover plate has subsequently been stuffed full of newspaper!

At the landside end of the Glass bottom boot pier that is obviously frequently trafficked by children there is extensive plastic trunking carrying many shiny red electrical cables. That is smashed open along a considerable length and all the internal cabling right down to the bare metal is exposed.

In the main bar area of the Main building on the ground floor there is a broken floor light fitting and defunct light underneath the southern most of the 3 surfboard bar tables. It is sharp and presents a cutting hazard where guests stand. There is a broken
Low-level power point cover on the concrete column at the northeast corner of the bar
area.

The electrical hand blow-drying machine in the men’s toilets next to the Duty manager’s office and Check-in desk is not working. Do they never wash their hands?

The ice machines on the 1st (ground), 2nd and 3rd floors on Building 1A were all not working all week, as was the ice machine on the 1st floor of Building 2. In fact the ice machine on the top floor of Building 1A was the only one I could eventually find that worked. Ice is necessary to chill water and medicine especially for children and elderly in their rooms in the absence of any refrigerators.

Inside the children’s care centre four out of five of the multipoint ceiling lights had broken shades and/or missing light bulbs. The electrical cover grill under the entertainment unit was broken. None of the power points that were unused and at low level had plastic safety inserts to prevent the children as young as 6 months entering their fingers. Indeed my 4 yr old son showed me a wall power point cover missing screws that exposed internal wiring behind the Little Tikes/ Fisher Price TM kitchen play item. When I immediately alerted the centre staff, their response was not to urgently summon a maintenance tech but rather to place a lightweight wall picture in front of the power point. I was flabbergasted.

The directional vent in the wall mounted Edjitsu Air conditioning fan by the children’s entrance door was broken. By the two columns of the entrance veranda the waste holes of the veranda’s two gutters were missing down pipes and water poured everyday almost directly onto the two electrical Edjitsu heat exchange units. The eastern most of those units had no plastic trunking on its external electrical cabling. Note this is at the entrance to the children’s centre!
Even one of the double doors to the children’s centre was broken and one of the male staff had to force it closed and lock it nightly.

The playground area, which is surrounded by a white picket fence, was completely missing its eastern gate. Only the hinges and latch remained. The western gate was broken and hanging open from it’s hinges with parts laying both on the ground and inside the children’s centre storeroom. Therefore small children could easily leave the area if momentarily unobserved or a dog could easily enter the play area.
The red Clifford play rocker was partially dismounted and would fall to one side with a heavy child on it. Also the Fisher Price children’s table and both its attached benches were all broken. All of these issues were readily apparent to staff and guests.
There is a specific duty of care owed to children in this resort that highlights its children’s club in advertising. That duty of care is not being met. Children are not old enough and/or trained to avoid hazards. This is a publicity nightmare waiting to happen in addition to the injury risks.

There are multi-storey walkways between Buildings 2 and 3, and between Buildings 3 and 4. These have flat roofs. There are raised flashings that should stop rainwater just flowing off the flats roofs at any point. Due apparently to storm damage there are large sections of the flashing missing on both sides of the roof of the walkway between Building 2 and 3. Consequently rather than going down drain pipes the water was pouring off the roof at a gap on the south side of the roof directly onto the raised garden bed below. That was flooding and pouring earth and leaves directly into the large water feature at the southeast corner of Building 2. Everyday that was full of earth and leaves and never seemed to be skimmed or filtered.

At the junction of the north side of the Building 3-4 walkway roof and the east side of Building 4 there is a 2-yard stretch of facia board missing. This means that the rain is blowing into the void between the ceiling of the 4th floor walkway and the roof of that walkway. That rain is then leaking through the 4th floor ceiling onto the walkway causing extensive damage to the ceiling. This presents both a progressive ceiling collapse risk and a slipping hazard. It is clearly visible to anyone standing on ground level at the western side of the children’s playground or at the Aquatic centre.

Incidentally neither the Aquatic centre nor the dive shack at the front gate is marked on the Guest Maps.

Many guests we met experienced defects in their rooms including black mould on the walls and large areas of smashed floor tiles. Several disgruntled families departed prematurely. In our Room 1146 alone we experienced 8 problems. The telephone point at the wall was broken. The electrical point holding the cable TV receiver transformer was broken such that we had very poor TV reception. The push down bath plug was broken. The remote control initially had no battery cover but was replaced. The replacement was not encoded for the TV set and had to be set up later. The external cover on the AC unit on the patio side was broken. The drying rack on the patio wall was broken. Ironically perhaps neither the ‘hotline’ nor ‘ Duty Manager’ express buttons on the telephone set worked. Several of the items were fixed however after reporting during the course of our stay.

At the north/oceanside face of Building 1A there is a seaside rope fence. That rope is extremely tensed to provide a secure railing. However at the eastern end of the fence by the small pier the rope ties at the retaining post have snapped and the rope is now just wrapped round the large post held in place simply by friction. There would seem to be a high chance of the rope line either simply gradually slipping effectively removing the pathway falling safeguard or in an extreme case actually whip lashing through the open fence eye holes causing direct injury.

At the northeast corner of building IA there is a small adjacent restroom building with wooden shale roofing. That roof is covered with dry pine needles. This represents a clear fire hazard right next to one of the 4 fire escapes of building 1A. The roof could be easily cleared using a yard broom with an extension handle. The risk will increase during the dry season. Note this is next to the BBQ area from which flying embers might be expected.

On the north side of this restroom building there are 3 shower stands. Above the westernmost of those propped delicately on a ledge on the eastside Building 1A is a large rusty remnant of an old iron ladder that seems to serve no purpose other than to present a storm debris and immediate falling hazard to those below.

At the northeast tip of Building 1A on the 2nd floor outside there is also a large chunk of masonry missing with exposed rebar (reinforcing steel.)

At the northwest tip of Building 1A (indirectly above our patio) there is substantial damage to the underside to the large ocean facing 4th floor balcony. Furthermore I observed water leaking directly through the centre of the 3rd and 2nd floor balconies rather than running off.

Even in the dry one can easily see from ground level the sagging paint and plaster balcony undersides. There appears to be a serious risk of plaster collapse. Juan accepted that if the water continued to flow through the balconies the rebar would rust and a heavily loaded balcony might then experience sudden total failure.

The iron railings on the bridge between the main pool island and the towel hut are very rusty particularly at foot level. This is very sharp and could cause cuts and blood poisoning. This bridge is in constant use by guests and staff.

Both of the 2 Sunfisher and one of the Hobiecat sailing boats were out of action supposedly awaiting parts.

The hand towel dispenser in the men’s toilet by the Aquatic centre was never refilled.


Litter and environmental concerns

There are a grossly inadequate number of trashcans around the resort. The maintenance manager agreed there should be double or triple the current number.

Consequently there is a lot of litter lying virtually everywhere around the resort, including poolside, in the children’s play area and on the beach.

The beach was only being raked for trash once day starting about 7am. Therefore the accumulated garbage is either blown off or washed of by the high tide overnight and there’s hardly anything left to be collected the following morning. That’s great for the grounds staff but lousy for the water quality. I have suggested and supposedly it was agreed, but never started, that the raking should occur morning and evening.

The problem is greatly exacerbated by the use of lightweight disposable non-biodegradable plastic cups and polystyrene plates at the Barefoot Bar & Grill. It would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly if replaced with cheaper, biodegradable and/or recyclable waxed paper cups and plates that would be aesthetically identical. All three managers agreed this was a no-brainer. Use containers like McDonalds or Burger King who both made this transition over a decade ago.

Plastic straws should only be given on request, not as standard in order to minimize their use and potential litter. This also saves money. It is standard policy in most reputable resorts.

The man made island has no trash container of any kind. On one day I collected a huge amount of trash rather than see it fly into the ocean. I gave it to a grateful beach lifeguard who explained that management had crazily put a lightweight standalone plastic trashcan on the island that had washed into the sea with the first storm. So rather than collecting trash is simply became a big piece of polluting ocean debris.
The island needs 2 solid heavy concrete trashcans, one at each end.

The few existing trashcans are either small disguised concrete boxes of very low capacity or old rusty metal and plastic combos. The clear flimsy plastic bin liners in the concrete boxes invariably blow inside out resulting in litter being placed alongside the boxes if at all. That then blows along the beach into the water. Juan acknowledged this problem.

It should be general enforced policy for any staff member no matter what their rank to pick up trash whenever and wherever they encounter it. I often saw staff both junior and managerial just walk right on past or over trash. This is a failure of general management and indicative of the overall environmental disregard. Guests follow by example and this issue is an increasingly popular worldwide concern.

The septic tank cover between the popcorn/ ice cream hut and the beachfront permanently emitted a foul stench. That should have been properly vented elsewhere. In case of overflow it would go directly onto the main beach by all the aquatic activities rendering those unusable beyond the disrepairs and causing direct ocean pollution.


Major lapses in pool life guarding procedures

These observations are made as a trained American Red Cross Lifeguard.

The main pool is an irregular circle shape with an island in the middle. It needs 4 raised lifeguard stations to be able to properly see all the surface and pool floor area. One at each compass point i.e. North, South, East and West. There seemed be only three stations. One raised at the north point without shelter, one seated at the east point under a tree and one standing at the south point. The Standing guard was often seen chatting to guests in the buffet area, and both the other posts were regularly abandoned especially at lunchtime. This is simply disgraceful. Posts should never be left unmanned during posted open hours during which parents have specifically been told via the post signs that lifeguards will be present. There should be sufficient staff to rotate during lunch and other rest breaks. There should be raised seating and shelter, otherwise guards become tried, exposed and most importantly can only see the surface of the water and even then only part of it. So if a person is on the bottom their line of sight from a ground seated position prevents them seeing the bottom of the pool. 4 occupied raised points mean all of the pool is watched all of the time.

The lifeguards knew of many problems but were resigned as to their existence and lack of repair. No one wanted to seem willing to identify further issues or press for solutions.

There seemed to be a general reluctance to get wet even to remove floating objects like cups or plates. At one point a guard asked me to reprimand jumping children within his sight because he was too lazy or tired to get out of his chair.

Of the five separate beach areas (west, central, island, small by wedding gazebo, east) only the central beach had a lifeguard on station. None of the lifeguards had any means of communication in case of emergency assistance being required. There was just one old short wooden backboard. The life ring ropes were all tangled. I saw no guest emergency instructions.

There is a very high risk of a needless drowning incident with corporate responsibility. This is a training and supervisory issue that is cheap and easy to fix.

There are not enough small children size life jackets at the Aquatic centre. Ill-fitting survival gear used on minors is almost useless. I found only two jackets rated for 50-90 pound use & any nothing smaller so that excluded anyone under 5 or 6 years of age. This is unacceptable since small children are nonetheless canoeing, sailing and using the pedal boats.


Staff organized public s-x games

On one afternoon the shortest male entertainment staff member with a very high-pitched voice like the American actor Chris Rock, induced children with unfulfilled offers of $5000 to get their relatives on stage. These were then pressured to participate in what can only be described as a s-x game carried out in front of numerous pre teen children and many other guests. The four men and four women were in gender groups alternately placed standing wearing just swimsuits or shorts upon chairs whilst a blindfolded member of the opposite gender went from person to person being instructed to fondle and squeeze each person’s buttocks. This was done for each gender group the aim being for partners to identify each other by the feel of their partner’s and strangers’ bottoms. The tiebreakers were for blindfolded strangers to kiss mouth to mouth. Only one married woman of Indian descent had the moral fortitude to resist the staff and audience pressure of that final public indignity.

I am pleased to say that the Corporate guest relations staff member provided via the Platinum Elite hotline on Monday Nov 26 was appropriately rendered speechless upon hearing my accurate description of this afternoon event that took place on the main stage in the centre of the resort. One family that had just arrived and were waiting for a room to be prepared, immediately cancelled their week long booking, according to a conversation the shocked wife and mother had with my wife whilst the husband screamed at his travel agent to rebook them in the Sandals resort close by. This was the kind of spectacle one might expect in the ‘Hedonism’ s-x club not in a Holiday Inn self-described family resort.

This is no excuse for this staff induced conduct. Where was management? Huddled ignorant, constantly in their air-conditioned executive offices it always appeared.


Conclusion

I am an IHG platinum elite member and a Hilton Diamond VIP member. My wife is a Starwood/Sheraton Platinum member. We both travel extensively for business and for leisure with family, in this case with just our 4-year-old son. We have never experienced anywhere a resort with so many hidden and obvious hazards. It was like living a week long Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) failing inspection.

Instead of being relaxing and enjoyable it was increasing stressful and distressing for my wife and I had to be on constant alert to safe guard us all. We seriously contemplated leaving early but would have had to purchase very expensive one-way flights to return to California early due to our non-refundable non-changeable tickets.

I would reiterate that these were problems we experienced just in the areas we normally used. Heavens know what the situation is in places such as the kitchens, staff restrooms and other restricted areas. I have already identified roofing concerns and would recommend a full inspection of those areas. I did not have occasion to go inside the upper floors of Buildings 2 through 7 but suspect if they are anything like Building 1A there are many other matters of concern.

The fact that even the word ‘Standards’ is actually misspelled on the restrooms’ inspection charts seems to be emblematic of the issues at this resort.

The ultimate responsibility must fall on the GM and his senior staff. Despite the number, magnitude of the issues raised and my repeated requests I was never contacted by anyone other than the initial guest relations manager and that was to organize my wife’s 2-hour tour which seemed to be of prime concern. I had no response to my 4 point written note of the 23 November other than to programme the replacement TV remote.

Only once in many years have I had anything remotely approaching just 2 of these issues (i.e. an electrical hazard within a children’s playground and some litter) affect me at a Holiday Inn before and in that case I received a telephone apology and repair plan within 20 minutes by the GM from his home after he was informed by the Duty Manager.

I have asked to be contacted by a manager from the US corporate office on Friday 30 November 2007 after this report has been considered. This is both to discuss the immediate safety steps that should be taken and reasonable compensation for my family.

I believe this report should be sent to the franchise owner in Jamaica without delay and US Corporate should send a team to conduct a full operations audit. Beyond our displeasure and discomfort IHG has a huge amount at stake due to the ongoing hazards.