NP at the hotel or an attempt at a typical British tourist scam? A lawsuit is brewing between the Turkish luxury hotel Mukarnas SPA & Resort Hotel and a large group of British tourists, in which the parties present counterclaims to each other. Tourists claim that they were seriously poisoned at the hotel this summer, and the hotel representatives, in turn, claim that this is a typical British fraud, which has already developed into a real industry, the main purpose of which is to “extort” the money paid for the vacation from the hotel.
It is not clear how many tourists are complaining exactly. The British Daily Mail, which gave tourists a platform for the “painting of horrors”, claims that 140 tourists were injured. Turkish sources assure that only 50 tourists are registered in the lawsuit.
Typical complaints were voiced, for example, by a British couple – 45-year-old Julie O’Sullivan and 46-year-old Gary Hunt, who rested in a hotel from the tour operator Jet2holidays in May. In addition to them, two of their children also went on vacation – and it was the children who began to suffer from stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea first. “The disease appeared suddenly, vomiting and diarrhea were constant during the first day. It was terrible because we spent most of our vacation in the room. The vacation was a complete disaster, and it’s still sad to remember it,” laments the tourist. She also assures that at the hotel, “flies sit on the food in the buffet, sewage mixes with the pool, disinfectants at the entrance to the restaurant are usually empty, and the toilets are disgusting and dirty.”
Another married couple – 42-year-old James Bird and 27-year-old Lauren Scott add to this description that they saw feces in the hotel pool. Both of them and their three children aged 10, 9, and 6 also fell ill. 38-year-old Mark Clifton, who rested at the hotel with his wife and two children, also complains – he experienced stomach cramps, diarrhea, sweating, and flatulence on vacation, and the stomach cramps continued after returning home, and he still cannot recover 100%.
Jennifer Hodgson, a lawyer for those who said they got sick at the hotel, says these are just a few of the many vacationers who have become infected at the resort: “We represent more than 140 people who have stayed at this hotel this summer and many questions about, how they got sick “It’s worrying that so many people are reporting that they got sick with similar symptoms,” said a British lawyer.
However, Muqarnas SPA & Resort Hotel denies all these allegations. The hotel admits that problems such as “rotavirus, which spreads throughout the country, especially in the summer months, especially among children”, do happen. However, according to Nihat Onur, the hotel’s sales and marketing manager, neither the hotel’s doctors nor the tour operators recorded massive problems and complaints in the summer season. Several cases, especially children’s cases, may occur from time to time in each hotel. But none of our guests had such a massive situation. All this is fixed by medical conclusions. In addition, in a hotel with a total capacity of 1,500 people, it is not logical for 50 people to be injured and the rest of the guests to be unharmed,” the hotel representative said.
He also reminded that according to the document, food and drinks offered to tourists must be kept cold and hot, served according to a certain standard, and kept at a certain temperature and cold. “All this is periodically checked by independent audit firms and inspectors of the Ministry of Health, and no side effects were detected during the entire season. Tour operators TUI and Jet2, with whom we work, also have reported in this direction. The hotel also has a health and safety certificate and an ISO 22000 food certificate,” Mr. Onur reported.
He went on to directly accuse British tourists of “malicious smearing” to “recoup their holiday expenses”. “In connection with the damage to the value of our brand, a lawsuit was filed against these tourists and their lawyers for compensation of material and moral damages through a law firm agreed with our company in England”
We will remind you that in Great Britain – at least from the point of view of Turkish hoteliers – a kind of “industry” of almost legal withdrawal and return of vacation money through claims has really developed. “Tourists return to their country after vacation. At the airports where they landed, lawyers are waiting for them with signs and brochures in their hands offering to return part of the money for the vacation through the court. A dishonest tourist, with the help of such a lawyer, files a lawsuit, claiming that he was poisoned at the hotel. As a result, hotels lose serious money,” Turkish experts explained. How they intend to fight this business, read in the article “DIP” at the link.