Woman arrested at airport over £2.1k all-inclusive holiday ‘dine and dash’
As sad as it is for the restaurant owners, it’s not uncommon to hear stories of diners skipping out on bills.
Some establishments will even plead for help, sharing CCTV of alleged dine and dashers who have dodged paying for the odd meal here and there.
But you rarely hear about someone doing it over an entire holiday.
And yet it seems that’s what woman reportedly attempted to do over a £2,100 all-inclusive holiday – yeah, that sounds like a lot of dining and one big dash indeed. A resort and run? A getaway and runaway?
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Whatever you want to call it, a woman was reportedly arrested at Gran Canaria Airport after leaving her near-fortnight-long stay at an unnamed all-inclusive hotel with her partner and child.
The Irish mum apparently alleged problems with the bank card she had used to book the family stay in San Bartolomé de Tirajana. She is then said to have ‘blanked’ the hotel staff who tried to contact her after leaving.
Her family’s stay was valued at 2,483 euros (£2,112) as the National Police explained hotel managers reported two adults and a child leaving after an 11-night all-inclusive stay without settling up at the end.
The stay had apparently been booked directly through the resort’s website and the customers had given a credit card number as a security deposit. But when the staff tried to process the bill at the end of their stay, they couldn’t get the transaction through.
No payment was received after several attempts to contact the customers and police officers ended up intervening before the mum left the country.
She was arrested for fraud and taken to a police station in the resort town of Maspalomas on Gran Canaria’s southern coast before handing her over to a judge.
Her identity and age have not been released but police confirmed on Friday (17 July) that she is Irish.
“Officers have arrested a young foreign woman as the alleged perpetrator of a fraud offence after she allegedly left a hotel in the municipality of San Bartolome de Tirajana without paying for a stay valued at EUROS 2,483,” a spokesperson for the National Police on the island said yesterday.
“The investigation began after the hotel management reported that a family consisting of two adults and one minor had left the premises after staying for eleven nights on an all-inclusive basis without settling the bill.
“According to the complaint, the reservation was made through the hotel's website with a bank card provided as a guarantee.
“However, when the hotel attempted to charge the card after the stay had ended, the payment method did not allow the transaction to be completed.
“Hotel staff repeatedly attempted to contact the person who had made the reservation in order to resolve the situation.
“Although she initially stated that she intended to make the payment, claiming she was unable to access her bank card because she was already at the airport, she ultimately ceased all communication without paying the outstanding amount.
“After becoming aware of the incident, National Police officers launched a search that enabled them to identify the alleged offender at the Border Control Post at Gran Canaria Airport, where she was arrested before leaving the island.
“Following the arrest and the completion of the appropriate judicial procedures, the detainee was taken to the Maspalomas National Police Station for the preparation of the corresponding case file and was subsequently brought before the judicial authorities.”
The police force added that it remains committed to protecting the Canary Islands’ tourism sector.
“It also reminds visitors that attempts to evade payment for contracted services will be subject to police investigation in order to determine any criminal liability that may apply,” it said.
Jess Battison