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This was posted Jan 3, 2016 on Trip Advisor:
Tawali Resort (Alotau, Papua New Guinea) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor
As resorts go it is paradise! the view is wonderful, the cooks and guides are great BUT there is a sheer lack of security. We planned to be there for a week, but on November 26th, at noon, the resort was held up by 10 armed gunmen, with homemade guns,two of them escaped prisoners from the Alotau jail one pointing his gun at my husbands head and others pointing axes,marchetes and guns on the other two guests that were there. We endured 4 hours of agony as hostages before any help came. Luckily my second mobile was not stolen so I could call for help from the embassies and our travel agent. Money and cell phones were stolen, fuel lines cut at the jetties, folks injured as they were beaten by the rascal intruders. Lots of interrogations and discussions followed by the police and the dept. of tourism, but we have not heard from the Resort management after we left. We are glad that we came out alive. The divers were gone for the day, they came back to a broken and disheveled environment, we had stayed on at the resort choosing to take the village walk that day. The next day we all left to go and stay in town. This is a great diving/snorkling place, BUT good security needs to be put in place.
Room Tip: all rooms have a great view but can be vulnerable to intruders
Tawali R, Director of Sales at Tawali Resort, responded to this review, 4 weeks ago
Thank you for taking to the time to comment.
Our sincerest apologies that you were present during this incident. It was a huge shock to all involved.
For those guests who chose to relocated for the remainder of their stay the Resort Owners' representative immediately flew up to meet with those guests and discuss any concerns they may have. He then travelled on to the Resort to meet with other guests and our staff.
We are very grateful with how quickly the Alotau police responded to our request for help and for their on going assistance. We have been able to provide trauma counselling for our staff to ensure that they feel secure and comfortable continuing to work with us.
The safety and wellbeing of our staff and guest is a high priority for us at Tawali. There has always been security onsite at the Resort. We now have two police who (discretely) remain at the Resort on a full time basis.
If you wish to discuss this incident any further feel free to contact myself sales@tawali.com or the Manager, manager@tawali.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.
Tawali Resort (Alotau, Papua New Guinea) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor
As resorts go it is paradise! the view is wonderful, the cooks and guides are great BUT there is a sheer lack of security. We planned to be there for a week, but on November 26th, at noon, the resort was held up by 10 armed gunmen, with homemade guns,two of them escaped prisoners from the Alotau jail one pointing his gun at my husbands head and others pointing axes,marchetes and guns on the other two guests that were there. We endured 4 hours of agony as hostages before any help came. Luckily my second mobile was not stolen so I could call for help from the embassies and our travel agent. Money and cell phones were stolen, fuel lines cut at the jetties, folks injured as they were beaten by the rascal intruders. Lots of interrogations and discussions followed by the police and the dept. of tourism, but we have not heard from the Resort management after we left. We are glad that we came out alive. The divers were gone for the day, they came back to a broken and disheveled environment, we had stayed on at the resort choosing to take the village walk that day. The next day we all left to go and stay in town. This is a great diving/snorkling place, BUT good security needs to be put in place.
Room Tip: all rooms have a great view but can be vulnerable to intruders
Tawali R, Director of Sales at Tawali Resort, responded to this review, 4 weeks ago
Thank you for taking to the time to comment.
Our sincerest apologies that you were present during this incident. It was a huge shock to all involved.
For those guests who chose to relocated for the remainder of their stay the Resort Owners' representative immediately flew up to meet with those guests and discuss any concerns they may have. He then travelled on to the Resort to meet with other guests and our staff.
We are very grateful with how quickly the Alotau police responded to our request for help and for their on going assistance. We have been able to provide trauma counselling for our staff to ensure that they feel secure and comfortable continuing to work with us.
The safety and wellbeing of our staff and guest is a high priority for us at Tawali. There has always been security onsite at the Resort. We now have two police who (discretely) remain at the Resort on a full time basis.
If you wish to discuss this incident any further feel free to contact myself sales@tawali.com or the Manager, manager@tawali.com and we will be more than happy to assist you.