Naked hotel guest says worker opened shower door. She’s suing in Miami for $7M
A man appearing to be a hotel worker barged into a guest’s room at a Bal Harbour luxury resort while she was naked, entered her bathroom, opened the shower door and stared at her, according to a lawsuit seeking $7 million.
The woman, visiting from Jamaica, was vacationing in South Florida with her boyfriend at the St Regis Bal Harbour at 9703 Collins Ave. and managed by Marriott.
The woman’s name and age aren’t in court filings and the Miami Herald is not identifying her because the allegations may involve a sex crime.
The civil lawsuit against Marriott International, which includes a request for damages and a jury trial, was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on May 21 by the woman’s attorney, Justin Shapiro, a partner at Miami firm Leesfield & Partners, P.A.
In addition to Marriott International, the suit names Clearview Building Services, a cleaning company used by the hotel chain.
Executives at Marriott, St. Regis and Clearview have not responded to multiple requests by phone and email from the Miami Herald.
According to a Bal Harbour police report, filed on Dec. 12, 2023, a day after the incident, the woman said an unknown man wearing a hotel uniform entered her room without permission, went to her shower, stared at her naked body and didn’t leave until she yelled at him and chased him out.
Bal Harbour police, which classified the incident as a burglary, didn’t return several phone calls about the case or whether an arrest warrant will be issued. The police report names a male suspect with a business address listed as Clearview Building Services.
According to the lawsuit, when the hotel guest was showering, the man in the uniform “pulled open the shower door” and “leered at” the woman’s naked body while her back was turned to him. She heard him close the shower door and then saw him as he left.
She yelled at him but he stayed in her room, the court filing said, “to continue his voyeuristic invasion.” He continued to stare at her body, “for what felt like an eternity,” according to the lawsuit.
In leaving the room, “he brushed up against, and made physical contact” with the woman’s naked body, according to the lawsuit. The police report doesn’t mention physical contact.
The lawsuit claim that the woman suffered “severe and lasting psychological trauma, requiring extensive psychiatric treatment and a variety of powerful psychiatric medications” and a host of other problems related to the incident.
The lawsuit also claims the St. Regis was negligent in how the hotel responded after she “immediately reported the incident” and requested they call the police.
The woman contends that St. Regis management deliberately delayed contacting police for more than 24 hours, falsely told officers she didn’t want them involved, refused to show her photos of hotel employees and allowed her original room to get cleaned before police could inspect it for fingerprints.
“St. Regis management obstructed the investigation at every turn,” the lawsuit says. The resort’s loss prevention manager told her, “I cannot show you photographs of the employees without a subpoena,” according to the lawsuit.
But the hotel moved the woman and her boyfriend to a larger suite — and then charged the couple for the upgraded room.