Stephen Kaufer, CEO, TripAdvisor:
Since seeing hundreds of headlines titled “TripAdvisor Apologizes to Rape Victim after Removing Claims of
Rape and Assault” yet not receiving a single phone call or email from your company, my immediate thought
was ‘hearsay’. It was then brought to my attention this so called ‘apology’ was in the form of a Press
Release dated Nov 1, 2017.
Mr Kaufer, I’d like to add a little more light to this situation. You see, my fight to expose the truth about what
occurred to me when I was sexually assaulted in Mexico in 2010 was for the sole purpose to educate and
protect others. I attempted to do this in many ways. Initially, I hoped to be able to just go away quietly and
forget everything that had ever occurred to me and leave it in Mexico …until the shock wore off 24 hours
later. It was then that it hit me, I would be equally criminal in NOT telling the truth as the Iberostar was in
HIDING the truth. God forbid, if this were to happen to one of my daughters, the blood would be on my
hands! And how I wished whoever this happened to before me had the same conviction to protect others.
And so my crusade began.
Upon leaving the resort 36 hours after the incident, Iberostar gave me every indication they would work with
me to apprehend this monster posing in the form of a security guard. Unfortunately, within ONE DAY of
leaving the property, all communication from the property ceased. They refused my correspondence, and
instead turned me over to their insurance company, Willis Towers Watson, who in turn threatened to sue me.
I IMMEDIATELY returned to Mexico to file a police report with the proper authorities as was necessary to
pursue my feat to simply protect others. Once this report was forwarded to Willis Towers Watson, they
ceased all communication with me as well.
In addition, Iberostar refused to work with the Chief of Police of Tourism when a subpoena was issued to the
property to provide a lineup in order to identify the criminal and remove him from inevitably striking again.
Unfortunately, a few months later, the Chief of Police was murdered execution style in his vehicle on his way
to work.
My final and only other resource to warn others of my terrifying experience was to post it on TripAdvisor.
Once again, another path which refused to protect the people, but only concerned with their own growth and
earnings.
Mr Kaufer, six months after my warnings were deleted, my nightmare and motivating reason for pursuing this
criminal became reality. I was contacted by the parents of a 19 year old girl from New Jersey who was also
raped by a security guard at the same property while on vacation with her family.
Could you imagine if this had been YOUR daughter that was not protected? And THAT is what I can never
forget. Even more than the crime committed against myself, this innocent college sophomore traveling with
her family had her life FOREVER changed. Since the family owned a travel agency and significantly relied on
the reviews of TripAdvisor both in their business and personally, I am quite confident this would have never
occurred had my story NOT been removed.
………….
I would also like to address the ‘Family-Friendly’ guidelines. To make it clear, there were no four-letter words
used, very little opinion expressed, simply facts stated. The extent of language rejected entailed ‘rape’ and
‘sexual assault’.
The full review on TripAdvisor can be read here:

 https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g150812-i23-k4093926Iberostar_Paraiso_Maya_Rape_October_19_2010-Playa_del_Carmen_Yucatan_Peninsula.html
The Full story can be read here:
http://mexicovacationawareness.com/highlights/iberostar.pdf
Lastly, I was very happy to read in your Press Release the following statement referencing why my post was
removed and the changes that have transpired to ensure it will never happen again:

At the time, we had a policy whereby we judged content to be in breach of
our guidelines if it did not adhere to family-friendly language.
More than seven years ago that meant all language needed to be G-rated.
A few years ago, we changed that policy to allow more descriptive reviews
on the site about first-hand accounts of serious incidents like rape or
assault. We recognized then that our previous guidelines went too far in
preventing information like this from being shared.
We are horrified that this victim and others who have posted or tried to post
on our site have experienced assaults on their vacations, and other
travelers should be aware of these incidents.
Therefore, I must ask you, when I reposted my story on TripAdvisor on November 1, 2017 at 11:00 am in
response to the article published, why was it immediately removed deemed ‘inappropriate’? Once again, I
had to repost the story a second time less than an hour later at 11:47 am in order to get it published. Can
you please help us ALL understand?
Sincerely,
Kristie Love