Holidaymaker Left With Arthritis After Stay At Egyptian Hotel
11/09/2009
A group of eight British tourists have launched a holiday illness compensation claim against a tour operator after falling ill while staying at a luxury four-star Hilton hotel resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Holiday complaints experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell are pursuing the compensation claim after the holidaymakers claimed that their dream holiday was ruined by gastric illness while staying at the Hilton Sharks Bay Resort.
Complaints were made by the guests about the hotel’s hygiene levels, with concerns raised over unclean rooms, debris left at the bottom of its swimming pool and bad hygiene in the hotel restaurant.
Irwin Mitchell has previous experience in representing clients who have fallen ill at the hotel, having represented a couple in 2007 after they fell ill with salmonella food poisoning during their stay. Irwin Mitchell successfully secured compensation for the couple and specialist travel litigation solicitors are now looking into the holiday complaints of the eight holidaymakers.
One of the holidaymakers affected by their recent stay is Julian Rudd, who was so badly affected by his illness that he developed Reiter’s Syndrome, a condition that causes arthritis of the joints, inflammation of the urethra and conjunctivitis.
Mr. Rudd, a business development manager, was holidaying with his girlfriend at the resort, which they booked through Libra Holidays. He said: “We fell ill three days into the trip and the holiday was effectively over at that point.
“We both suffered from fever and diarrhoea while we were still out there which meant we couldn’t really leave the hotel. Then when we got back my partner had to take a week off work to recover and my condition just got worse.
“The first signs something further was wrong was a few days after we got home and it was very painful to pass water - it felt like razorblades. Then soon after that I got conjunctivitis and bad lower back pain.
“It was as if the hotel were aware there was an ongoing gastric problem, as they were selling the equivalent of Imodium behind the hotel reception.
“My doctor diagnosed it immediately as Reiter’s Syndrome and said it often comes about after serious bouts of gastric illness. I was run down having lost quite a bit of weight because of the diarrhoea and my body just couldn’t fight it off.
“Three months after getting back, I’ve just come off the medication but I’ve still got health problems.”
Speaking out about his stay at the hotel, Yorkshire based Mr. Rudd said that there were a variety of problems, including old food being placed on top of old food, dirty cups and cutlery and food being undercooked.
“It was so disappointing to have spent that bit extra to stay somewhere like a Hilton and discover it isn’t up to scratch,” he added. “Our room was dirty and my girlfriend had to buy antiseptic wipes to try and get things clean.”
Solicitor Helen Cheshire, representing the couple of behalf of Irwin Mitchell said: “It is appalling that what should have been a memorable trip for these holidaymakers was ruined by the hotel not ensuring that sufficient hygiene levels were in place - particularly when it has suffered similar problems in the past and should have learnt its lesson.
“Julian will be counting the cost of that for the rest of his life because Reiter’s is a serious condition that can flare up at any stage.
“It is a tour operator’s responsibility to ensure standards of hygiene are maintained in the hotels they choose to send holidaymakers to. Tour operators are well aware of the risks of long term illness to their clients if hygiene standards are breached and clearly more should have been done at this hotel to ensure that it was safe. We now hope that Libra and the other tour operators involved will work with us to promptly and fairly compensate Julian and our other clients.”
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