£2,200 Awarded for Holiday Illness in Gran Canaria
Our team of Holiday Illness specialists recently secured compensation for a client who suffered severe gastric illness in Gran Canaria, Spain, due to the poor food hygiene standards at their hotel.
Our client booked a nine day stay at the 4* Hotel Riu Palace in the Maspalomas resort of Gran Canaria. The holiday was booked as an all-inclusive package holiday with tour operator Thomas Cook.
Holiday illness symptoms
As the holiday was an all-inclusive package deal, all food and drink throughout our client’s stay was provided by, and consumed within, the hotel. However, just a few days into their holiday, the Claimant began to feel unwell. They experienced various symptoms, including:
• Diarrhoea
• Abdominal cramps
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Raised Temperature
Hotel restaurant – poor food hygiene
Our client’s symptoms developed after they had eaten the food provided by the hotel. As a result, the Claimant avers that their symptoms were brought on by the poor food hygiene standards within the restaurant of the Hotel Riu Palace.
On the occasions that our client ate at the restaurant, they witnessed numerous breaches of hygiene and safety. According to the claimant:
• A buffet style food service that was often tepid in temperature and was left uncovered
• High volume of wild birds, insects and wasps around the eating areas
• The food was of poor quality
• The meat and fish products were served partially cooked and the food appeared to be reheated
• At no point did our client witness members of the catering team monitoring the food temperature
• Hot food was added to trays of cooler food of the same type
• Crockery was dirty and staff members were not wearing gloves when serving/handling the food
• Drinks were watered down and it was suspected that ice was made out of local tap water
Loss of enjoyment
As a direct result of their symptoms, our client was unable to thoroughly enjoy their stay at the Riu Palace. Day to day activities such as sight seeing and swimming were restricted, as due to the nature of our client’s symptoms, they required to be in close proximity to a toilet at all times. Furthermore, our client was unable to properly take advantage of, and enjoy, the all-experience package that they had paid for.
Unfortunately, there was no doctor on hand at the hotel and as a result, our client was required to self-medicate.
The claimant’s symptoms lasted a total of fourteen days, and due to the severity of their illness, our client was required to delay his return to the UK by an extra two days.
Almost a year after the holiday, the claimant still suffers with occasion stomach cramps.
Our Travel Law Solicitors managed to secure a total of £2,200 in holiday illness compensation on this occasion.
Holiday illness claims – expert advice
If you believe that your holiday illness symptoms are linked to poor hygiene standards within your package deal hotel, you may be entitled to holiday illness compensation. There are certain steps that you could take in support of your claim:
•Note all important dates
•Report any hygiene issues to your holiday rep
•Document any suspected poor hygiene (e.g. photo, video)
For further information on holiday sickness compensation, please see our ‘Package Holiday Claims’ page.
To discover how much compensation you could be entitled to, call our expert team of travel law solicitors today for instant answers. Whatever your experience with holiday sickness, we may be able to help. We offer you a FREE no-obligation consultation. Call 0800 888 6 888 or email .
