Hotel apologizes for horrifying 'dummy' of family's deceased son

FILE PHOTO: The logo of travel company TUI AG is pictured at a partner hotel of TUI in Platja de Muro, a town in the north of the Mediterranean island Mallorca, Spain, 09 June 2013. FILE PHOTO: The logo of travel company TUI AG is pictured at a partner hotel of TUI in Platja de Muro, a town in the north of the Mediterranean island Mallorca, Spain, 09 June 2013. Photo: Picture Alliance/picture Alliance Via Getty Image Photo: Picture Alliance/picture Alliance Via Getty Image Image 1 of / 34 Caption Close Hotel apologizes for horrifying 'dummy' of family's deceased son 1 / 34 Back to Gallery

Travel operator TUI UK has apologized to and refunded a British couple after hotel staff at a resort in Jamaica attempted to create an effigy of their now-deceased son.

Karen Baker, a friend of the couple, told the BBC that her friends, Andrew and Faye Stephens, have made a tradition of celebrating their deceased son's birthday every year since he died in 2014. The Evening Standard reported that Alex Stephens died after falling from a balcony while on vacation in Spain.

Baker, who traveled to Jamaica with the Stephens family, asked the hotel staff at the Royalton Jamaica Resort to put balloons and cake in the room to honor Alex.

Instead, Baker found a dummy of Alex that left her "horrified."

TUI refunds holiday for 'horrifying' dead son tribute https://t.co/tc2A1rY6yJ pic.twitter.com/PbNLPekXOW — BBC London News (@BBCLondonNews) December 7, 2018

"When I walked into the bedroom, all I can describe is a dummy body on the bed," she said. "Staff had gone through my friend's wardrobe and stuffed the clothes with towels to make it look like a body on the bed. They even put tears down the face and a can of lager in his hand."

Baker removed the dummy before Faye and Andrew Stephens could see it.

"I was absolutely horrified, as you can imagine I was sweating and shaking," she said. "We just didn't want our friends to see it."

TUI UK refunded the group £1,300 per person (approximately $1,479 in US dollars) and apologized for the incident.

"We offer our sincere apologies to the Baker party for their holiday experience in Jamaica," a company spokesperson said. "We're following up with the hotel and believe it was a misunderstanding with no intention to cause upset."

TUI UK also told The Guardian they are in touch with the resort, and the "group" responsible for the dummy will apologize and "offer a gesture of goodwill."

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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