The Dominican Republic resort where a Delaware mother said she was savagely beaten and left for dead has temporarily shuttered — because fewer and fewer tourists want to stay there.
Majestic Resorts said it has lost thousands of customers since reports about American vacationers dying or being seriously injured in the Caribbean nation began surfacing earlier this year, the Delaware News Journal reported.
The Majestic Elegance in Punta Cana — where Tammy Lawrence-Dale said she was battered and strangled in January — will close beginning Thursday, with plans to reopen Nov. 7.
Occupancy at Majestic Resorts’ three Punta Cana locations was expected to dip below 60% in the second half of August, September and October, said VP of Sales and Marketing Ricardo Espinosa in a letter to travel agencies announcing the closure.
“Majestic Resorts is going to offer even more services and more quality than ever before to gain our guests back,” wrote Espinosa.
Lawrence-Dale, 51, in June filed a $3 million lawsuit against the company for “permanent, life-changing injuries.”
The Wilmington resident said in a Facebook post in May that she was on vacation with her husband, Christopher, and their two best pals at the all-inclusive resort when she was pummeled with a club, strangled and possibly sexually assaulted in an hours-long assault by a man wearing a resort uniform.
The resort shot back at Lawrence-Daley’s allegations, claiming that the woman “formally demanded a $2.2 million compensation agreement” and only shared the story of the alleged incident four months later, “after receiving no positive response.”
Both the tourist spot and police in the Caribbean country have said that there are holes in the story.
The woman has accused hotel honchos of victim-blaming.
A Pennsylvania man said in June that he was attacked at the same resort by a pair of would-be robbers and left with a concussion.
Robert Walker of New Castle said he was ambushed in January, the same month as Lawrence-Daley’s alleged attack.