Every year, college students plan their wild springs breaks, often times, in Mexico. This year, a group of about 300 Michigan State students, myself included, set out to Cancun. And why wouldn’t we? There’s great weather, all inclusive food and drinks, and entry to some of the best clubs in the world. It has everything us kids are seeking in that carefree week away from our responsibilities.

Tourism is the country’s fourth largest form of foreign exchange. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP in 2014 was 14.8% of GDP. That number is expected to grow to 16.3% by 2025, with the expected 39,209,000 international tourists. With tens of billions of dollars generated from American tourism annually, it’s a key source of revenue for the Mexican government.

What I am trying to relay is that Mexico is a country that thrives off tourism. The reason for the economy lesson is because after knowing this, I was surprised by what I was experiencing while there. Despite the great tourism spots, there were some upsetting things that happened on my vacation.

The second day at our resort, Barceló Tucancun, two of my friends that were staying at another resort a few blocks down the beach walked over and tried visiting some friends at the pool of our hotel. The pool was blocked off from the beach by 24-hour security guards to keep anyone aside from guests from entering. Before knowing how “strict” the hotel was, I asked one of the security guards if my friends can enter the pool area. After debating back and forth for a moment, he aggressively threatened to call the police and have me arrested. Not wanting to deal with authorities from an unfamiliar country, I backed down, walking away a rookie to his little game. The following day, I caught on when he approached me telling me my two friends can come if they pay him $80 at a distance from the hotel. Upset at this point, I refused his offer. The man made me feel as though I was a criminal, when what he was really seeking was an unauthorized bribe from the hotel guests.

The next incident occurred on a nightly basis at the clubs in downtown Cancun. It was a pretty typical night for those that were admitting people into the clubs to make up a price they thought each person would pay as cover at the door. Though the admission might have only been $40, they made up their own, on some nights up to $120, and made a personal profit on the difference, while refusing to let in those that didn’t want to pay more than the advertised cover.

Throughout the trip, our resort was determined to go to drastic measures to get every nickel and dime out of their “naïve” guests. A few days into the vacation, friends of mine went back to their room during one of the long days at the pool. In wet swim clothes, one friend laid in her bed, and left a wet mark. Later that day the cleaning service reported the wet areas on the sheets as an alleged urine mark. The hotel deactivated their room keys so the guests would have to go to the lobby, forcing them to come into contact with hotel security, who locked them in a room until agreeing to pay the hundreds of dollars management was charging for the alleged bed wetting incident.

Following this, on the last day of the trip, it was finally time to get out of this city and check out of our resort. Prior to our stay, my roommates and I put down a deposit on our room. We received a certain amount of towel cards and room keys that were to be returned at checkout. Though we only received four towel cards when checking in, the lady checking us out claimed we received six and were missing two, costing us $50 out of our deposit. After bickering with her, and trying to explain that we did only receive four, I knew she was not going to give our deposit back at all if we didn’t agree to pay $50, so I finally did. The conversion came out to 785 pesos, which she kept 1000 and handed me the change. Hesitant, I counted my change, and knew it wasn’t accurate. I pulled out my phone and did minor calculations which she scrambled to try justifying was wrong. I continued to do the math in front of her. Eventually, I lost all patience and handed her $50 USD to avoid all confusion and left with our full deposit in pesos.

These are just a few of the incidents where my friends and I were personally offended. As guests while traveling to any new country or new location, it’s always easy to be taken advantage of, and it's important to be aware. Regardless of our feelings, we were able to enjoy our stay, but left more enlightened about how to be aware and on guard.