A British family holiday costing almost £4,000 was left in ruin with children bedbound and a baby in hospital following a case of suspected food poisoning.
Holly Parkin, from Dagenham in east London, went to Turkey with her partner, Matthew Morris, and their children Kaidan, four, and Mireya-Grace, one, and Holly’s child from another relationship, eight-year-old Amelia.
But the £3,700 trip left the family 'traumatised' Holly's children 'never want to go on holiday again' after all falling ill from a suspected tummy bug.
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Their all-inclusive eight-day holiday took a turn for the worse after Holly said her partner and her children fell ill with suspected food poisoning on their second full day at the five-star Granada Luxury Belek Hotel.
The hotel contests that food poisoning was the reason the family fell ill.
Holly, 27 said the whole family except herself were then left bedbound by diarrhoea and vomiting for around five days – leaving Amelia and Kaidan, who both have autism, struggling to come to terms with the worry of seeing their relatives in such a 'heartbreaking' situation.
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Returning to the UK a day earlier than planned, Holly said her partner started to recover but her children were unwell for another 15 days and had to be taken to hospital via an ambulance – where her youngest was put on an IV drip.
The trip was booked through Loveholidays, which said it was 'very sorry' to the family for their experience, and it has contacted Holly to request medical documentation to support her claim for compensation.
Holly said she cannot provide medical documentation because although doctors told her the condition was likely food poisoning, blood and stool tests taken by the children were inconclusive so they could not provide documentation to confirm this.
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“Even now, they are sort of traumatised from the experience in the sense they never want to go on holiday again,” Holly told the PA news agency.
“It was something that we have saved up money for and it was like a once-in-a-lifetime holiday.”
Holly said the hotel initially seemed 'great', but on their second full day at the hotel, Holly said her partner and three children were suddenly 'bedbound'.
“It was diarrhoea, it was vomiting, it was a lot,” she said. “I felt a bit queasy but I did not really get ill myself, it mainly affected my partner and my three kids.”
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She also said her two older children, who have autism, 'do not handle being sick very well' and were 'quite delirious'.
Holly said her family members ate some food from the hotel buffet prior to falling ill.
After her family became sick, she refused to eat from the hotel and ordered pizza in from a Domino’s in the area.
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“[My family] were not eating at all, the only thing I could do was go to the shop and get them drinks and bottled water as they didn’t want to drink from the hotel,” she said.
“They offered to give us an extra night for free but we were like, ‘we are all leaving’,” she said. “They gave us an email address for the manager... when I emailed, it just came back saying the email was invalid.”
The family’s holiday was due to last for eight days but Holly said they managed to fly back one day earlier at an additional cost of £351 after 'just wanting to come home'.
Returning to the UK, Holly said she booked a GP appointment where she was given some sample bottles to test her children’s stool.
However Holly said after her baby, Mireya-Grace, started to develop a rash which was not disappearing, she phoned for an ambulance and her children were taken to the Queen’s Hospital in Romford, where her youngest child was put on an IV drip to replenish her fluids.
“From being so happy and so excited, counting down the days, to then being there and just wanting to come home – you shouldn’t feel like that when you go on holiday,” she said.
A Loveholidays spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear of Ms Parkin and her family’s experience at their hotel. As we were not made aware of their concerns while they were on holiday, we were unable to investigate or provide them with support during their stay.
“As soon as we were made aware of Ms Parkin’s complaint on her arrival home, we immediately raised an investigation with the hotel and requested documentation from Ms Parkin to support her claim for compensation.
"This was not supplied and, as a result, Ms Parkin’s claim was later closed. We have been back in touch with Ms Parkin to request the required documentation and will remain in touch with her throughout this process.”
Granada Luxury Belek Hotel meanwhile contested that the family had food poisoning and suggested other causes for their illness could be changed eating habits, sunstroke, over-consumption, swallowing chlorinated pool water and responses to a change in weather.
A spokesperson added: “Our hotel is one of the first hotels in Turkey to receive a safe tourism certificate.
“All our food and beverage units and pools are systematically inspected by state-accredited organisations.
“The results of these inspection reports are available and are shared transparently with all tour operators upon request.”
LADbible has contacted the Granada Luxury Belek Hotel and Loveholidays for further comment.
Topics: Travel, UK News, Holiday, Europe, Food And Drink
Tom Earnshaw