This is a copy of my complaint that I sent to Apple Vacations. This is their process for submitting complaints however, it has been 3 weeks and I have heard no response other than they are investigating:

I have a serious complaint about my recent trip that needs addressing as soon as possible. My mother and I stayed at the Riu Ocho Rios from 4/2/08 thru 4/7/08. Upon arriving at the resort, we were taken to our room. It did not meet our expectations as we upgraded to a junior suite ocean view and there was no ocean view. We were than taken to another room across the resort and we were put off right away at the overwhelming smell of mildew/musk in the room. Our baggage person said he can take care of the smell and returned with a spray bottle and sprayed down the room. It helped initially and we quickly left the room to have dinner. Upon returning late that night, we were once again overwhelmed with the amount of mildew smell and so slept with the sliding door completely opened which meant no air conditioning. My mother suffers from fairly severe allergies and was very uncomfortable. First thing the next morning, I went to the front desk once again to ask about switching rooms. They stated they were at full occupancy and just wrote my name on a sheet of paper. I did not hear back from them throughout the rest of our vacation. Please note my mother is not very mobile and having to switch rooms once already was a big inconvenience as the resort is very large. We just resorted to keeping the sliding door open at all times and I really believe that by the 3rd night we were somewhat acclimated to the smell. The huge problem is in the damage to all of our clothing (I even have a couple pairs of shoes tainted by the foul smell). We did not realize just how bad the mildew to our clothes was until opening our suitcases when at home. My husband actually made us put everything outside in the garage. I have 2 air filters running in my house because the smell in now in my house. Since returning home, I have washed our clothes 4 times, and have used various techniques in ridding the mildew smell to no avail. Both our suitcases have been airing outside since our return but I believe those are also ruined for future use. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated and angry. Not only is this a considerable amount of work I have to do upon returning from a vacation but these clothes are damaged to the point of being not wearable. I am demanding recourse for all the items ruined.



Unfortunately, this is not my only complaint. I would like to preference that I used to be in the travel industry and worked in Marketing at Orbitz for years. I mention this so that you understand that I have realistic expectations at a resort such as the Riu. I believe it was the 3rd day of our stay that it rained the entire day. This forced us inside. My sister who was also traveling with us decided to catch the rain hitting the ocean on her camera. As she snapped a shot, a bartender named McCain turned around and rudely told her to not take his picture and to ask next time. She quickly explained that the picture was of the view and ocean and not of him. He continued to be extremely rude to the point that she left in tears. I than went to speak to McCain by the bar thinking he misunderstood the whole situation. He then proceeded to tell me that I needed to respect him and that we should go away and that he does not care what we have to say. I honestly don’t remember all that he said as I was completely in shock and upset. The ironic thing is that she wanted to show him the picture to prove she did not take his picture but he just kept telling us to leave and that we are rude and disrespectful. I believe he was also some type of bar manager or head bartender as well, which just makes no sense at all. I have traveled all over the world and have stayed at all types of resorts from low end, middle to high end. I have never EVER been so upset by someone who is suppose to be assisting in the vacationers’ enjoyment. We had to avoid that specific bar for the rest of the trip.



In all my years of travel, I have never regretted a trip, until now.