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'We bonded with guests during Hurricane Melissa'

Ellen KnightShropshire
News imageNikki Davies A selfie photograph - with three peoples' faces visible in it. It's taken up-close, and behind the people you can see they're indoors in a room with brown walls and a white ceiling. Nikki Davies
The Davies family was stranded in Jamaica and had to spend two nights sleeping on the floor in the conference room at their hotel

A family that was on holiday in Jamaica when Hurricane Melissa struck said people "made new friends" whilst hunkered down in their hotel.

Nikki Davies, her husband and daughter, all from Much Wenlock, Shropshire, spent two nights sleeping on the floor of a hotel conference room with other guests, as the hurricane roared overhead.

The Caribbean island was struck the day they were due to fly home. But, they say hotel staff "were amazing" throughout the storm and they have now returned to the UK.

Mrs Davies said the events of those few days will "stay with [her]" for some time.

She found out about the approaching hurricane "through social media", adding "it was quite unnerving because you didn't know what was going on."

On Sunday 26 October, two days before Melissa hit, the family's hotel held a meeting to brief guests on what would happen.

It was then the family of three found out they would be sleeping on sunbed mattresses alongside around 200 other guests inside the conference room.

"It was in the inner-most part of the hotel, with no windows," Mrs Davies said.

News imageNikki Davies A slightly grainy image of a conference room - it has a brown patterned carpet and brown walls. There are rows of dark grey mattresses on the ground, with white sheets and pillows on top. People are sitting and lying on them, with a few also standing up. Nikki Davies
Mrs Davies reckoned around 200 people were sleeping on the hotel floor

"You just start talking to people around you," Mrs Davies said, adding mainly about "what brought people there, and what they were up to".

"You make friends - chatting about anything and everything," she added.

The hotel staff were "amazing", Mrs Davies said, enabling guests to find internet connection and power, meaning her family was able to stay in touch with loved ones back in the UK.

"That's what actually kept everyone going," she said.

News imageNikki Davies A photo taken from inside the hotel - it appears to be a patio of some sort with glass fences. Parts of the walls have collapsed or been ripped away, with wires and cables left dangling down. Beyond the wrecked wall is a view of the light blue Caribbean sea, with blue skies and a grassy headland also in the distance. Nikki Davies
The area was "completely trashed" by the force of the hurricane, Mrs Davies said

They finally emerged from the building on 29 October to be greeted by the destruction that had hit the resort town of Negril.

"There were bits of building that had come down on the main reception area of the hotel," Mrs Davies said, adding that there was "debris on all the beaches" and the area was "completely trashed."

"You start to realise, 'My goodness, how lucky were we?'."

She added the family was now "just grateful to be home."

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