Thomas Cook forced to pay out nearly £100k after dozens of guests suffer ‘food poisoning epidemic’ and wasp infestation at 5* Turkish resort
Guests at the Lykia World Hotel suffered 'horrific' stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea at the nightmare hotel
HORRIFIED guests have told of their holiday from hell at an all-inclusive Turkish resort where so many people fell gravely ill the hotel was forced to pay out nearly £100,000 in compensation.
Holidaymakers visiting the 5* Lykia World hotel were promised a luxurious stay – but were instead met with a wasp infestation and food poisoning “epidemic”.
Hotel guests claim staff brushed off their complaints, despite dozens of people falling ill during their stay – with visitors telling horror stories of children throwing up all over dinner tables and adults being sick in bins dotted around the resort.
Travel law firm Your Holiday Claims, a division of Farnworth Rose, had so many complaints about the 645-room hotel they ended up settling £97,801.86 for 42 peeved-off guests.
Adam Hanson, from Mansfield, was one of 30 guests staying at the complex for a wedding in October 2014, all of whom fell ill with food poisoning and were stung by wasps during their two-week stay.
His best friend’s wedding, which was taking place at the hotel, was ruined after all 30 of their group, including 15 kids, vomited, had diarrhoea, stomach cramps, fever and were bed-ridden for days.
Adam said: “The bride fell ill the night before the wedding day, which came in the middle of our two week stay. She was forced to suffer through her own ceremony.”
All of them were also stung by the “inescapable” wasps, with Adam saying: “They swarmed all over the food, especially anything sweet and were all over you as soon as you sat down. You may as well have pulled up a chair for them.”
His daughters Ellie and Ava, eight and three, have been left petrified of flying insects after getting painful wasp stings on the first few days of their nightmare stay.
The plasterer, who paid £3,300 for the holiday, also complained to the “unhelpful” hotel staff about mould in his “nothing like a 5*” room, as he was worried it could trigger an asthma attack – but
was offered no alternative.
Rod West, 58, also visited the Lykia World Hotel in October 2014 with his wife Gillian, 56, son George, 25, and George’s partner Jade, 25, who was four months pregnant at the time.
The family, from Dover, were terrified for the safety of Jade’s unborn baby as she fell violently ill on the second day of their stay and was admitted to hospital after complaining to staff.
Jade was unable to take any medication for the sickness as she was pregnant and Rod says his wife became distressed, as she feared Jade may “lose the baby”.
Gillian said: “I was so worried for my daughter-in-law, but the hotel just weren’t really interested. They just told us there was nothing wrong.”
She claims there were dozens of disgruntled holidaymakers in reception when she went downstairs to complain, and says one woman was even showing staff a piece of uncooked chicken breast she had picked up at the restaurant buffet.
Eventually after complaining to hotel staff Gillian, Jade and George were admitted to hospital – Rod remained in the hotel room as he was too ill to even make it down to reception.
He said: “My wife asked if there was anything she could do and I just said ‘Find a pretty place and bury me.’ It was that bad, I’ve never had sickness like it.”
Both Gillian and Adam claimed a manageress, who Gillian described as “really awful and so unhelpful” slapped a guest who had gone to complain about the horrific illness.
Lykia World did not respond to this allegation in their comment.
Rod paid £3,200 for the family’s week-long all-inclusive stay – and was offered just £1,000 back in travel vouchers when he complained to “unhelpful” Thomas Cook, who they booked through.
Astonishingly the company allegedly told Rod “you can expect to get ill” with a mass catering hotel, something Rod says he “didn’t see in their brochure”.
After taking the case up with Farnworth Rose the family managed to claim £2,000 each in compensation after the horror trip.
Michelle Gilbert, 34, from Guildford, was also staying at the hotel during the October half term in 2014 with her husband Carl, 30, and their two children Nicole and Jay, who were 13 and nine at the time of the visit.
Both Nicole and Jay have autism and as their first family holiday abroad, other than to Michelle’s parents’ apartment in Spain, it was a huge step for them.
All four fell violently ill on the second day of their stay after eating at the all-inclusive buffet and were unable to leave their single hotel room for the rest of the stay.
Devastated Michelle said her children now feel too afraid to travel abroad again, as their autism made them distrust the stressful experience.
Michelle said: “We spent two years saving, looking forward to it and preparing the kids who, being autistic, needed printed off guides and plans – but none of it happened, which was traumatic for them.
“What we hoped to be a magical experience turned out to be horrifying.”
On their final night the family tried to have dinner at the hotel, but as Michelle stirred the bolognaise sauce – which was all her kids would eat – she noticed seven or eight dead wasps in the food.
Thankfully Michelle managed to get around £4,000 back in compensation after forking out more than £2,000 for the nightmare trip.
She says she never received an apology from Thomas Cook, who she booked the holiday through, or the hotel itself.
Sue Robinson, who has handled the majority of cases, said: “Many hotel guests suffered gastrointestinal symptoms during their stays at this hotel. In our experience over the years of dealing with these types of claims it is overwhelmingly likely that our clients’ illnesses were acquired within the Liberty Hotels Lykia World as a direct result of poor hotel food safety practices and/or
inadequate swimming pool hygiene.
"There were repeats outbreaks of illness within the hotel that affected handfuls of people. The wedding party, unfortunately, was the largest group among them.”
A spokesman for Liberty Hotels Lykia denied there was a food poisoning problem at the hotel and suggested guests “with a delicate physique” fell ill due to “long-distance flights, a lack of personal
hygiene, weather conditions, different eating habits and alcohol”.
They added: “During the month October 2014 we hosted an average of 2,500 guests per day. Our red alert ratio starts with a minimum of 1 per cent of the in-house of our total guests on a daily basis. This amount has never been exceeded in the four years since [Liberty Hotels] took over.”
The hotel said guests would need blood, urine and faeces tests to confirm they suffered “food related illnesses”.
Lykia World added: “This was never the case experienced for the last four years we haven’t been notified of any extreme cases of any illnesses as claimed by guests contacted by The Sun.”
The hotel, who pointed out a list of awards they have won, added: “There is not really an effective way of fighting wasps and bees on Earth. We do cope with these issues via different methods, but as we are in a natural environment it is still not one hundred per cent effective.”
A Thomas Cook spokesman said: “The health and safety of all those who travel with Thomas Cook is of the utmost importance, and we are always concerned to hear of any sickness reported while on holiday.
“It is never our intention to disappoint our customers, and we are sorry that a number of our customers became unwell while they were on holiday at Lykia World in 2014.
They added: “We know how important holidays are to our customers and how upsetting it can be to fall unwell while overseas. We have been liaising closely with our customer’s appointed solicitor and are pleased to have reached an agreement with them to amicably resolve this matter for Mr Hanson, Ms Gilbert and Mr West.”
“We are confident that our customers staying at the Liberty Hotels Lykia continue to experience the excellent levels of quality and standards they would expect from a Thomas Cook property.”