What should have been a dream vacation in paradise quickly revealed to be a vacation from hell, leaving former Miss Massachusetts USA, Whitney Sharpe (@whitneyrose617) horrified by her experience—and even more baffled by Tripadvisor’s response when she tried to share it on the widely trusted travel review platform.
In a TikTok video uploaded on Nov. 21, Sharpe recounted the unsettling events at the Majestic Mirage resort in Punta Cana and Tripadvisor’s decision to block her review. The video has since amassed over 79,000 views.
“So I was there for a wedding. I think we’re all trying our best to make sure that our friends who are getting married had[…] a really amazing time […], but it was a nightmare of a vacation,” Sharpe explained.
What happened at Majestic Mirage?
“It was so unsafe,” she went on. “All of us had things stolen from us. People—while they were sleeping—had burglars going to their rooms, […] just a nightmare of an experience.”
As shocking as the experience was, it was Tripadvisor’s response that ultimately pushed Sharpe to her breaking point, prompting her to take to TikTok and share the harrowing details of her ordeal and the events that followed.
“But that’s not even why I’m coming on here. I’m coming on here [because] I wrote a scathing review on Tripadvisor and they won’t publish the review,” Sharpe said. She then shared a screenshot of the email she received from Tripadvisor.
The email read, in part: “Unfortunately, we cannot publish your contribution as it does not meet our review guidelines. For more information, please see our policy about Unique & Recent Experiences.”
Tripadvisor’s Unique & Recent Experiences policy requires users to submit reviews within a year of the experience and prohibits posting the same review to multiple listings.
The blocked Tripadvisor review of Majestic Mirage
After Tripadvisor rejected her review, Sharpe turned to TikTok to share her account of what transpired during her stay. She shared screenshots of the lengthy review, which accused the resort of multiple issues, including thefts from her and other guests’ rooms. Among the stolen items were a CPAP machine, laptops, and her $4,000 Van Cleef necklace.
The review goes as far as to allege that wait staff had taken wallets and phones from guests’ bags. The review also criticized the resort for foul-smelling rooms, inedible food, prolonged check-in times, and aggressive catcalling from employees.
Sharpe followed the screenshots with a clip showing her hotel room door barricaded with chairs and other furniture. “We also had to barricade the door like this,” she said. “Because if you didn’t pause and read the review I made, we were having our friends’ rooms broken into while people slept. Like, really scary.”
Although Sharpe is willing to let the loss of her $4,000 Van Cleef necklace go, she’s far from ready to move on from the ordeal. “We’ve already contacted an attorney and everything,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out all this out because again it wasn’t just me that this affected. It was not an isolated incident. There were 90 people at this wedding and it happened to the majority of the guests.”
Sharpe added, “Also, I don’t care about the necklace—it’s fine. I just feel more violated that something was taken from me.”
Does Majestic Resorts have a history of safety concerns?
Just a few years ago, another Majestic resort made headlines—and not for good reasons. In May 2019, 6abc Action News reported on the brutal attack of Tammy Lawrence-Daley, a Delaware woman vacationing at the Majestic Elegance resort in Punta Cana.
The incident, which occurred in January of that year, left Lawrence-Daley with severe injuries, including a broken orbital bone, a broken hand, nerve damage, and other traumatic injuries. She has since undergone half a dozen surgeries and medical procedures. According to Lawrence-Daley, the suspect—whom authorities never identified—wore a Majestic Elegance uniform at the time of the attack.
The resort later issued a statement on X (formerly Twitter) about the incident, which told its version of the events that took place and the steps the resort took to offer Lawrence-Daley and her husband support following the attack.
The support included paid hospital expenses, complimentary extended stays, and special meals for the victim. The statement ends by alleging that Lawrence-Daley had demanded $2.2 million in compensation, a request the resort said they refused.
A divide in the comment section
The comment section revealed mixed reviews, with most of the top comments echoing negative sentiments about the Majestic Resorts or Punta Cana.
“I was on this trip!!!!!!!!!!! I can attest that everything she said is 100% true,” one commenter confirmed. She went on to say, “I actually used my clothes to tie the doors in my room together extra tight because I was so terrified the whole time.”
Another commenter shared, “[I went] to Majestic for a wedding in 2022[, and] I had similar issues. [I] [had] to barricade my hotel room door because someone tried getting into my room at 5 [a.m.].”
“I will never go back to Punta Cana…ever,” someone else declared.
However, amidst the growing number of negative experiences, some defended the resort, recounting their own positive stays.
“I go to Punta Cana multiple [times] a year. Never, ever has this happened and I go off resorts all the time. Very safe!!! I hitch rides, too,” one person wrote.
“I’m sorry you all went through that. I went to [Majestic] in October and did not have this experience at all. This is crazy!” another comment read.
@whitneyrose617 Trouble in “paradise” @MajesticMirage #scammed #dangerous #travelnightmare ♬ original sound – Looking Sharp
“I’ve been to this resort multiple times and have had nothing but excellent service and have always felt safe,” someone else added.
Sharpe did not immediately respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment. We also reached out to Tripadvisor and Majestic Resorts for a statement.
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