David and Julia Lofts say they were struck down with sickness and diarrhoea on their dream 10-day break to the five-star Riu Palace Boavista in Cape Verde to celebrate his 65th birthday last month
A couple claim their dreamy 5-star holiday was spoiled by severe ‘food poisoning’, only for travel company TUI to deny a refund as they couldn’t prove they hadn’t merely ‘overindulged’. David and Julia Lofts flew off to the five-star resort in Cape Verde for a 10-day holiday to commemorate his 65th birthday in January.
However, the couple report that they began suffering from sickness and diarrhoea just three hours after dining at one of the hotel’s restaurants – insisting they had only eaten within the hotel before falling ill. Julia recounts how they spent the entire night in the bathroom and had to seek assistance from other hotel guests the following morning, as their room phone was allegedly out of order.
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The 52-year-old explained that the couple had to be transported to the local medical centre in an ambulance and required wheelchairs due to debilitating stomach pains that left them unable to walk. The couple reportedly received emergency treatment with IV fluids and were prescribed anti-diarrhoea and anti-sickness tablets, racking up £713 in medical expenses.
However, when they brought this to the attention of the resort manager, Julia alleges he dismissed their complaints, stating they were the only ones affected.
Upon her return on 23 January, Julia revealed that she had done some digging on social media and discovered other holidaymakers who claimed to have suffered from food poisoning at the same resort. TUI responded to their complaint by stating that without a stool sample or photographic evidence of their illness, it was impossible to confirm food poisoning – a requirement Julia found absurd given how unwell they were, reports Wales Online.
The travel behemoth also dismissed any ‘causal link’ between their symptoms and any actions taken by the hotel. TUI suggested that there are numerous reasons why people might fall ill while on holiday, including factors such as climate, humidity, ‘stress’, or even ‘overindulgence’.
Julia, from Royal Tunbridge Wells, said: “It was a really nice restaurant on the beach, we had salmon, some basic salads and one mojito each. We went to bed and I started being sick. My husband started being sick soon after and we spent all night vomiting. We couldn’t sleep because we just went back and forth to the toilet, it was horrendous.
“In the morning I had to walk outside and knock on people’s doors to ask for help because the phone wasn’t working. An English-speaking couple stopped and went to reception for us. They called an ambulance and got wheelchairs. We couldn’t walk at all from the pain, it was awful. We had to pay over £700 to get an IV emergency treatment and medication.
“We made complaints to management and they said they expected more people to be ill in order to do something about it. That was quite shocking to hear. The manager took no responsibility and said it doesn’t happen very often. When we came home, I investigated online and found a whole group on Facebook with similar situations.
“I sent a complaint to TUI and they refused to deal with it all together. They said it could have been stress, overindulgence – and that was just taking the mick. They said we should have provided stool samples. At what point would we do that? You can’t have solid evidence at that time.
“They asked if we took any pictures. I wasn’t going to take pictures of me sitting on the toilet and throwing up. When they got back suggesting it could be anything, it was like emotional abuse. To suggest the experience is not true or that we’re making it up was very hard to hear. We don’t drink too much, we don’t eat too much, we exercise, we look after ourselves.”
The couple said they had to cancel their planned activities such as scuba-diving and snorkelling as they were too ill, while they were nervous to eat at the resort and had to fork out money on eating out. Although David felt better after the treatment, Julia claims her symptoms lasted up until her return to the UK.
After experiencing diarrhoea for seven days after the holiday, Julia said she went to her GP where she was given the all clear, but it took her two more weeks to recover.
TUI has confirmed that their customer service team had been in direct contact with the customer, but they were unable to assist as the customer could not provide any evidence of what caused the illness.