A resident shareholder of Plantation Bay Mactan’s was slammed due to his negative response to a parent of a child with autism who shared a negative experience in the high-end resort.
“I cannot imagine how a management response of a perceived high-end resort to a parent’s negative experience would be full of shaming and blaming,” Growth with OT Cesar said.
A parent named Mai P wrote a review of Plantation Bay Mactan entitled, “Not an ideal place for a child with special needs.” She said it would have been a perfect getaway for child Fin, who has special needs.
Mai P explains that whenever Fin is happy, he screams with excitement. She said everything was okay until lifeguards at the resort approached them and told them that squealing is not allowed. She then asked her child to stop and even covered his mouth every time he squeals.
She then realized that something was not right and decided to go back to their room as they were not allowed to “squeal and be merry the special way.”
“It’s a discriminating experience. We often get this a lot. When normal people are ignorant of people with special needs, give us stare of please control your child,” Mai P said.
“My Fin is a happy child. He has autism. He is special. Very special! I will never consider staying here again,” she added.
As a response to the parent’s review, Menny Gonzalez, a resident shareholder of Plantation Bay Mactan, said, “For your information, uncontrolled shouting is not a symptom of autism.”
Gonzalez went on to say that “autistic children” were typically “silent, non-verbal, and overwhelmed” and withdrawn when faced with strangers.
“Google ‘Autism’ and verify this for yourself,” Gonzalez added. “Therefore this parent is most likely deliberately lying, or has been given an incorrect diagnosis of autism, when what the child more likely has is a lack of discipline due to simple parental neglect.”
Shareholder of Plantation Bay Mactan slammed over response to parent of child with autism
“If their parents would pay attention to them, and would refrain from screaming at each other, there would be no need for the child to scream. In our experience, one word from a responsible parent is enough to make a child quiet down,” the reply continued.
Explaining that the resort has 10 times more water area than other Mactan resorts, “It is essential that our staff be able to hear cries of distress even from far away. Moreover, it is essential that our staff not become so used to hearing screaming that they ignore a real cry for help,” he said.
“Therefore since our opening, for the safety of all guests, we have imposed stricter rules on noise-making than other resorts. As a result of our policy, no child in Plantation Bay has ever come to serious harm, much less drowned. No other resort in Mactan can claim this safety record…0 deaths in 25 years is a good safety record, one we aim to keep,” he continued.
“Every customer should be respected, not just one parent and one child. Most of our guests fully understand and agree with this idea: it is not a resort for noise-makers, regardless of their reason. To demand that all the customers just shut up while one child screams his head off? That’s not our idea of fairness,” he said.
Gonzalez said that if Mai was truly concerned, she should have “read and noted our policies.”
“Therefore this parent is trying to blame the resort for her own failure to look after her child’s interest,” the manager wrote.
“While we are sorry that we are not the right resort for this parent and child, we hope that in the future, other parents who want their children to scream constantly and bother other guests, will do their homework and choose another resort, one which doesn’t care about 99% of guests who want to relax in peace and quiet.”
Plantation Bay Mactan has yet to issue an official statement regarding the issue.