9:00am Saturday 31st July 2010
A HAMPSHIRE family are demanding compensation from a tour operator after being sent to a hotel where many of the guests were ill.
The family say they were struck down by the same stomach bug and spent half their £1,000 holiday confined to their hotel room.
John Frankham, 67, and his wife Elizabeth, 63, went to the Savoy Gardens Hotel in Madeira with their daughter Helen to celebrate her 30th birthday.
Elizabeth and Helen began to suffer from vomiting, fever and diarrhoea within 24 hours of starting their week-long vacation.
They claim that when they arrived at the hotel up to half the guests were already ill. But the only indication of trouble was a small, partly hidden notice they saw by chance.
John Frankham said he asked Thomson if they could switch to another hotel but was told that the outbreak “wasn’t that bad”.
His daughter added: “We’re furious that we were not pre-warned.
“I think it’s appalling that a well-known travel company like Thomson would send guests to a hotel where there was so much sickness. We felt so ill and being prisoners in our hotel room for half our holiday just ruined it.”
Now the family, from Lyndhurst in the New Forest, are taking legal advice from travel law experts Irwin Mitchell.
An Irwin Mitchell spokesman said: “It’s unacceptable to send holidaymakers to accommodation affected by an outbreak of gastric illness.
“Thomson should have been aware of the problems. They should have warned the Frankhams about the risk of illness and offered them the option of changing to a different hotel.”
A Thomson spokesman said guests at the hotel were hit by the winter vomiting bug norovirus.
She added: “Outbreaks of airborne virus are common, particularly within contained environments and an outbreak in a hotel or resort is not indicative of a failing in hygiene standards.
“Thomson made every effort to prevent the spread of this illness.
“We take the lead from the Foreign Office in instances of illness outbreaks abroad and no restrictions on travel to Madeira were put in place.”
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