By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-12 17:12:02 | Updated at 2025-03-12 21:44:06
4 hours ago
Riu Hotels & Resorts has come under fire after it posted a flash sale for its Dominican Republic property, where University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki disappeared a week ago.
The TikTok ad boasted slashed prices across the Riu portfolio of properties, including the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana, where a double room at the 'Five Star' resort can be had for just $88 per night.
Two other ads promoted rates starting at $95, which included a 10 percent discount.
'From 95usd!,' the hotel brand's promo for the five-star resort boasted, 'Don't miss out on the exclusive RIU Week deals!'
The timing of the offer did not sit well with TikTok users as authorities in Punta Cana continue to search for the 20-year-old Konanki, who was last seen on the resort grounds March 6 walking towards its beach.
'Focus on the lost American Indian student from RIU Punta Cana first,' one person commented on the ad for the resort, which was also blasted for lacking electricity and water for days on end during the young girl's disappearance.
Another chimed in, 'Lol please,' which drew the approval from the person handling the hotel company's TikTok account by replying with a heart emoji.
Despite the offer, some guests have elected to cancel their Riu Republica Hotel vacations citing food shortages, power issues, and safety concerns, others continue to pack the beaches.
Riu Hotels & Resorts did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment over its TikTok flash sale.
Riu Hotels & Resorts has come under criticism for posting a flash sale for the Riu Republica Hotel, its resort in the Punta Cana, Dominican Republic where University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki disappeared from March 6 after going out for a swim. The 20-year-old's body had not been found as of Wednesday
Sudiksha Konanki traveled to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic for spring break on March 3 and vanished from the beach at Riu Republica Hotel three days later
Surveillance video footage obtained by Dominican Republic news outlet Noticias SIN showed Joshua Riibe (left) and Sudiksha Konanki (second from left) following the young woman's friends and another man to the beach at the Riu Republica Hotel before Konanki disappeared March 6
While some guests have elected to cancel their Riu Republica Hotel vacations citing food shortages, power issues, and safety concerns, others continue to pack the beaches. PICTURED: Riu Republica guests sun themselves on the resort's beach on March 11
Surveillance camera footage obtained by Dominican news outlet, Noticias SIN, showed Konanki, a resident of Loudon County, Virginia, making her way to the beach outside the hotel with three of her female friends from Pitt and two young men, including 24-year-old Joshua Riibe, around 4:15 am.
Riibe, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, could be seen holding a cup with a beverage and placing his left arm behind Konanki' back as they trailed the group.
At about 4:55 am, the hotel security camera system showed two of her friends returning to the hotel. The camera picked up another female friend accompanied by a man, identified by Noticias SIN as Carter Johnson, walking into the building at 5:05 am.
The same camera would show Riibe, barefoot and shirtless, as he slowly walked back to his room at 8:54 am with Konanki nowhere in sight.
Riu Hotels & Resorts was slammed over its flash sale promotion for the Riu Republica Hotel, its all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic as authorities continue to search for 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing March 6 after going out for a swimming in the middle of the night on March 6
Joshua Riibe was the person who last saw Sudiksha Konanki on the beach at the Riu Republica Hotel in Punta Cana. Dominican authorities are in possession of his passport and have barred him from leaving the country, according to El Nuevo Diario newspaper
According to Riibe, the pair went for a swim but were caught by a large wave. He says he clambered back to the shore and then fell asleep.
A source with knowledge of the investigation told Noticias SIN that Konanki's friends left the hotel for an excursion in the morning, and returned at 4pm.
They noticed she was missing and alerted the hotel front desk.
Konanki's body had not been found as of Wednesday, but Dominican police remain convinced the pre-med student drowned.
The FBI joined the investigation and has interviewed all five people who were with Konanki before she disappeared.
As Dominican Republic authorities continued to search for missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki, the Riu Hotels and Resorts TikTok account ran a flash sale for the Riu Republica Hotel, the resort where the 20-year-old U.S. resident disappeared from March 6
Riibe had told Dominican investigators that he and Konanki went into the water and were swept by a wave. He said that he swallowed a lot of water and vomited after making it back to the beach.
He also told investigators that he eventually fell asleep at the beach before he woke up and walked back to his room.
Riibe turned in his United States passport to Dominican Republic authorities and is barred from leaving the country, El Nuevo Diario newspaper reported.
The US State Department has been working with the Indian embassy in the Dominican Republic, which has taken the lead in the investigation as Konanki is an Indian citizen who was a permanent resident of the United States.
While authorities suspect the likeliest scenario is that she drowned, her family are urging them to consider other lines of inquiry until and unless her body washes ashore.
'It's four days, and if she was in water, she would likely have been strewn to shore,' her father Subbarayudu Konanki said in his complaint filed Monday.
'She's not found, so we're asking them to investigate multiple options, like kidnapping or abduction.'
