A woman’s story about being raped by a staff member while a guest at the Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands is going viral on twitter.
On Sunday the 26 year old Chinese woman, who is studying in Australia, shared her story of a sexual assault by the butler assigned to her at the Ritz-Carlton resort. She says that the hotel’s management and local police are trying to quiet the events, so she’s gone public with photos and naming the person she’s accusing.
I was raped in the Maldives. I don’t know how many people this will reach to but help me get help. I arrived in the Maldives on the 6th. I was to return to China on the 10th but i extended mg stay and decided to stay at the @RCMaldives pic.twitter.com/Sw97N5j6qI
— XuYitong (@YolyYitong) June 18, 2023
The woman says she was planning a four day trip in the Maldives, June 6-10, but extended her stay and switched properties to the Ritz.
The butler assigned to her, she says, watched her sleep on her villa’s deck. And when she rang the hotel for help after getting her phone wet, he came and began coming onto her on the bed in her room. He asked to kiss her, she says, and she declined.
Then he mocked her, suggesting she must be homosexual for refusing his advances, pushed her onto the bed and began assaulting her.
She goes into some detail on the attack and its aftermath, accusing the resort of taking the physical evidence and telling her to leave the property. She says the hotel accuses her of making up the story to extort a free stay.
I feel badly for this woman. She’s shared her police report and photos of herself. I have no reason to doubt her story, though it’s possible to construct scenarios and I imagine some commenters might do so. I also don’t have details of the hotel’s or police’s investigation. The accused ought to have the right to a trial where he can confront the evidence against him before legal judgment is rendered. If genuine the existence of a police report and photos seem persuasive.
I pass this along because it was a grim reminder for me that there are bad people everywhere. It’s easy to let your guard down when you’re in the care of an expensive hotel and in a beautiful surrounding. It’s also easy to think that you’re street smart, a savvy traveler, and know what places to avoid – but these things only reduce risk, they do not eliminate it.
Sadly, I suspect this happens at resorts quite a bit.
Even in Miami Beach I’ve seen hotel beach boys try and get laid by female guests.
I’m not making excuses but I also believe there are probably guests who pay for a local boy. This is widely documented in Jamaica. The butlers, male and female, at all-inclusive are known to offer services to certain guests.
The fact that the RC Maldives hasn’t done anything to rebut the allegations, or to even acknowledge them, gives me every reason to believe that the allegations are true and they have nothing to say and prefer to try and ignore it. Their refusal to provide her with any sort of support and instead kicking her out of the hotel adds insult to injury. Marriott has a responsibility to conduct an investigation and answer these allegations as well.
These resorts love the Western name but decline Western-style justice and defer to middle-eastern justice standards. No easy answer.
None of us have any further details besides this woman’s version. While no doubt plausible, there MAY well be different angle to it. All that glitters is not gold
and I hope you will summarily delete those comments and ban those commenters. It’s a horrible look that you rapidly delete comments that are critical of you but other odious comments are met with an excuse that you are not online 24/7.
She should have saved some forensic evidence that she did not turn over to the police. One of the problems is that incompetence and/or criminal actions by police agencies in various jurisdictions can damage the victim’s rights to fair justice. Hopefully others will note how dangerous this hotel is.
What a horrible comment on today’s society that my first thought is that she’s yet another entitled influencer stirring up interest in her experience. And I’m a girl. The I read “when she rang the hotel for help after getting her phone wet, he came and began coming onto her on the bed in her room.” WTH was she doing ‘on the bed’??? Did she just call out “Come in!” when he knocked? Gimmee a break, people.
That’s a horrible comment on you as a person not on “society” which has progressed technologically to the point where our economy has grown to support people making a living in ways that were not possible in the past. “Influencers” are simply a type of marketing and advertising which has been a lucrative industry before the digital era. Influencer marketing is a new channel and it can be very effective but old geezers like you, perhaps due to jealousy that you are no longer youthful and pretty and cool, can only denigrate it through your ignorant taunts.
Then what are you doing on this site which is for adults? Do you mean you are a woman? Though you certainly don’t do your sex any favors.
This is a textbook example of victim blaming, you sick turd.
So what if she did? Does that absolve the rapist in some way, you sub-30 IQ dotard?
… Whats a, dotard?
@jsn55
I agree with Alison. What is wrong with you? You are a disgusting excuse of a person and completely despicable. Regardless of whichever social media someone uses, who wants to gather attention by broadcasting to the world that they were raped?! You blame the victim instead of mentioning how crazy it is for the perpetrator to rape a guest at the hotel, and that the hotel and local police tried to cover it up. I think this speaks a lot to your character, you rape apologist. Also, it sounds like you’ve never called for services from a hotel, people bring food into your room when you call for food services. When you call for extra towels etc., they bring it in as well. At luxury hotels, there’s turndown services, where they will enter your room as well. You are both ignorant and evil.
@Alison,
Nope. It’s not a comment on her as a person…. Give it a rest #MeToo, #BelieveAllWomen has been sorely abused by many would be victims which brings us to jsn55’s comment. Maybe we should all agree to take all allegations seriously while always respecting the rights of the accused… I seem to remember that from somewhere! Can’t take any accusation at face value should you? If so that’s not a place any sane person would want to live! Friggn Commie!
Commie?
Alison projects more of
a conservative vibe…..
It was so horrible why hotel people are be quite and act like noting?
Commie of the ilk of Lavrentiy Beria where accusation equals guilt, no different than todays social media funny enough.
What hell people think? this was horrible.
Bloggers don’t have to adhere to minimum standards like journalists and that’s not a thing: Before you shame a brand or portray them in a bad light, you should have to courtesy to corroborate some facts before using your platform to spread news that can’t be undone if they are wrong.
Terrible story indeed.
That said,
1. Whose phone today stops working when you “splash water” on it?
2. She “didn’t know how to contact [her] family” due to this cell phone water issue. However she says she also had her laptop there and used it to translate for the butler.
3. She’s a Chinese national and she’s hashtagging MeToo right off the bat?
@Lars
Always ignore everything said after “That said”. Some of the articles stated that she was attending university in Australia for 5 years. That’s probably how she was aware of #MeToo, not some ulterior motive as you’re suggesting.
If true, this is awful. If one is being truly objective, there are a number of open questions, though. But I hope this woman gets whatever support she needs.
The hotel’s response was terrible and makes me more suspicious.
Additionally, while I believe rapists should be executed, I don’t trust the government to carry out capital punishment in a fair or just way so I’m opposed for pragmatic reasons.
Alison is in no way shape or form a conservative. Just read her prior comments on other blogs. She, her, is allegedly a successful attorney from (you guessed it) California. A progressive who flourishes in the “woke” world we now live in.
The woman’s story is plausible although uncommon especially at upper end properties who generally are careful about vetting their employees, in order to avoid situations such as this. The woman needs to put pressure on law enforcement to conduct a proper investigation and also pressure on the property and ownership to cooperate with said investigation. May need to hire an attorney (other than Alison). We should not pass judgment until we hear both sides of the account. Also the woman needs to stop posting on social media as she may compromise any further criminal investigation
The hotel has the responsibility to do an investigation.