Baby in hospital on drip after family falls ill at 'one of the finest hotels in Turkey'

A mum said her family "never wants to go on holiday again" after her baby daughter was rushed to hospital.

Holly Parkin, 27, said a £3,700 trip to Turkey left her family “traumatised” after suspected food poisoning left them all bedbound and her baby on an IV drip in hospital.

Holly and her partner Matthew Morris, 25, and their children Kaidan, four, Mireya-Grace, one, and Holly’s child from another relationship, eight-year-old Amelia, went on an all-inclusive five-star holiday to Granada Luxury Belek Hotel.

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But by the second day of the £3,777.21 holiday, Holly said the whole family except herself were left bedbound by diarrhoea and vomiting for around five days. 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 ambulance, where her youngest was put on an IV drip.

Holly said she spoke to several other families who were at the hotel at the same time as her and who also reported they were feeling unwell and she said she was invited to a WhatsApp group where other guests have been sharing their experiences about getting ill at the resort.

Granada Luxury Belek Hotel contested whether symptoms experienced by guests were derived from food poisoning, suggesting instead they could have a number of other causes including changed eating habits, sunstroke, over-consumption, swallowing chlorinated pool water and responses to a change in weather.

Comments and posts seen by PA Real Life on Facebook showed other holidaymakers complaining of experiencing the same symptoms while staying at the same hotel. The trip was booked through Loveholidays, which said it was “very sorry” to the family for their experience, and has contacted Holly to request medical documentation to support her claim for compensation.

Holly said 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.

The mum-of-three said: “It was horrible and heartbreaking, they were crying and, even now, they are sort of traumatised from the experience in the sense they never want to go on holiday again.

“It was something that we have saved up money for and it was like a once-in-a-lifetime holiday.”

She said booking the holiday "went well" and added: "Mireya-Grace was only a baby at the time so it was going to be her first experience. It was our first full family holiday together.”

Holly, from Dagenham, said the hotel initially seemed “great” and the staff prepared some food for the family when they first arrived as the dining was coming to a close for the night. She said: "The whole next day was great [too] and we got to experience the pool, the entertainment in the evening.”

But the next morning, marking their second full day at the hotel, Holly said her partner and three children were suddenly “bedbound”. She continued: “It was diarrhoea, it was vomiting, it was a lot.

“I felt a bit queasy but I did not really get ill myself, it mainly affected my partner and my three kids. It was all over the beds, I had to keep changing the beds myself."

After her family became sick, Holly said she refused to eat from the hotel and ordered pizza. She said: "[They] 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."

Holly said she spoke to other families at the hotel who also reported they were feeling unwell. She said a “lot” of the other guests tried to speak with the concierge but workers at the hotel’s front desk said they did not understand how they could help.

The mum added: “They offered to give us an extra night for free but we were like, ‘we are all leaving’. 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.

She said: "I was trying to find solid evidence of what was causing it. At the end of it, all we got was that it was food poisoning.”

Holly said her children’s blood and stool tests were “inconclusive” and her doctor put the family’s illness down to food poisoning but that "they couldn’t get anything conclusive as to what it was". She said she contacted Loveholidays “straight away” after the trip, with the company telling her it would need confirmation as to what the illness was before looking further into the matter.

Holly said she has also contacted the hotel directly but had not heard anything from them. She added: “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".

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.”

A spokesperson for the Granada Luxury Belek Hotel said: “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.”

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