Hi hoping some one can help i have booked to stay here from the 2nd october till the 7th october just had a call off thompsons this evening telling me the hotel is now closed due to health and safety reasons therefore i could either change my departure date this is not an option as my holidays are now booked at work or i could change my destation again this isnt a option for us as we have family in benidorm so as it stands thompson said theres nothing more they can do apart from give us a full refund i want a holiday not a refund so the woman eventually agreed we could keep flights and the cost of these would be £120 each excluding transfers i glimmer of hope i thought anyway having trawled the internet for hours thought i would just check thompsons accomadation for the dates of the flights and low and behold they have the ambassador playa available for the dates but at a dearer cost i rang the thompson woman straight back to be told she could do nothing about it her manageress was dealing with us now and she wont be in till tomorrow i hope wwe can stay at te ambassador at no extra cost if we cant im not sure what we are going to do anybody got any ideas or advice thankyou in advance catherine i will keep youu updated with the progess

catherinene ... this relates to the Holiday Complaints topic mentioned in my post above, where one of our members is already in discussion with Thomson and travel law solicitor Ros Fernihough regarding the situation at the Regente.

David

well at last they are doing the right thing i have said over and over about this bug now sanji do you believe me

I'll answer this now I'm back home and you have personally addressed your post to me.
Whether I believe you or not is irrelevant, however if you were so convinced the Regente had a bug, then why did you book and go back in September and spend Xmas there.?

havig stayed in the regente several times with no ill affects at all we were ther in september and it was attacking most people the trots sickness we have booked again for september what are my rights to change the hotel knowing the bug is still in this hotel it has to be the food or the air ????

I have said there may/may not be a bug in the Regente...having a bug that has been brought into a hotel and gotten hold, as oppose to a bug directly the fault of the hotel practises are two different things with the same outcome, in the fact that the guests will be affected.

Now with regards to the "bug" that is not only in this hotel, but is in Benidorm and other hotels as well.
I'm not saying people were not ill, but I do question the source of the illness and how long the symptoms actually lasted.

However I have responded to posts like yours which implied the staff at the Regente were not trying.

the bug is still in this hotel and they dont seem to be doing anything about it it is a shame as this is ai brilliant all english hotel if they dont soon do something we wont be returning again

That is misleading and not the truth, I guess you never made a point of watching the staff clean the place, ask any questions or noting the changes that were made like the toilets being cleaned many times a day and the staff having to sign the timetable, the notices that went up in the toilets urging people to wash their hands, the ice cream scoop being got rid of and individual tubs of ice cream being bought in, the computer area being steam cleaned and it's a wonder the whole lot wasn't blown up, or the nibbles that used to be placed on the bar being got rid of because men were using the toilets and then whilst they were waiting to be served at the bar, they were putting their hands in the bowls of nibbles and contaminating them.
I guess you were never there whilst the water system was out of use for a few hours while they disinfected it and added chlorine or the fact that Health Inspectors were coming into the hotel to check things out...."¦I could go on .

The first time I went into the Regente was on behalf of members of this forum and I booked to go back in the April and June of 2006, then again in April 2007.
The first visit I was ill with diarrhoea and sickness and having arrived at the Regente in time for lunch we had something to eat and then went upstairs to unpack and have a sleep as we had had an early start.
I never went out of that room until the next day and it would have been quite easy to blame the food that I had eaten and the hotel, but I sat down and back tracked the previous 24 hours.

I'm 99.999% certain that I picked the bug up on the plane as I was sat next to a disabled woman who was already throwing up into a sick bag on the flight to Alicante, she then decided to go to the toilets just as the breakfast meal was being served, she wasn't having one and like a fool I waited for her to get back into her seat, consequently my breakfast was nearly cold and the scrambled egg was already separating, basically I should never have ate it, we also shared the same armrest that she used to hoist herself out of her seat.
I ate in the Hotel for the next 13 days and had no further problems and haven't on my further visits.

Criticism is sometimes required, but I believe that credit should always be given where it is due and I stand by that.

Sanji

To be fair though Sanji it's been obvious this bug has been in the Regente more than any other hotel and that's the reason they're shutting it, to try and finally get to the bottom of it!
It doesn't matter how it got there, fact is it's there and Thomsons are finally acting on it! (Or maybe it's the hotels decision).
I believe 100% that the Regente is a good hotel and their cleanleness is second to none!
What Pee's me off though is that for months Thomsons have not admitted there has been a problem and whenever guests have caught the bug the Thomson reps have acted like they know nothing about a bug!
Hearing from your reports last year it's obviously been a problem for ages and yet how can they tell guests that they know nothing?
The guy at the Regente reception told my wife that there were quite a few cases going round the hotel and they were doing all they can to clear up the problem! The Thomson rep said "I haven't heard of any other cases, maybe it was something dodgy you ate)
Now I know you visited this hotel and I obviously don't know for sure but maybe this bug is worse in the hotter months?
Also whether it's at this hotel or in the area Thomsons should have acted sooner as too many people have been ill from a place they were sending people to and kept denying a problem!
Infact I'd be willing to bet the only reason Thomsons have announced the hotel closure is because the Hotel have acted themselves and they alone have decided to shut the hotel leaving Thomsons with no other choice but to inform guests they cannot go!
I really hope this closure can sort out the bug and I hear nothing but bug free reports cus I would love to go back but right now I honeslty couldn't face it!

Chivas
I can fully understand the opinions of anyone who has been ill because during the first 24 hours that I visited the Regente I felt dreadful and didn't know whether to put my head or my backside on/down the toilet and in the end it was coming out of both ends at the same time and all I wanted was to be back home in my own bed, but I can't change my opinion having made a point of watching the standards of cleaning and never being ill myself since the initial 24 hours, I can't agree with people being ill on a mass scale when there wasn't when I was there.

It doesn't matter how it got there, fact is it's there

Yes and no, it matters if the problem is the fault of the hotel practises because you can fumigate a hotel, but, if for example someone in the kitchen is cutting raw meat on a chopping board and then neither disinfecting it or changing it before cutting other food, fumigation will make not one iota of difference in the long term or if they are storing raw food that can drip blood onto the food below, this is basic kitchen hygiene.

As far as I'm aware all these things have been addressed and a process of elimination was put into place including extensive cleaning and paying particular attention to certain areas that are vulnerable to cross infection.

Infact I'd be willing to bet the only reason Thomsons have announced the hotel closure is because the Hotel have acted themselves and they alone have decided to shut the hotel leaving Thomsons with no other choice but to inform guests they cannot go!

You'd lose the bet Chivas
Nobody wants this, neither the Medplaya group, the staff at the Regente, Thomson or Benidorm itself, there's a lot of people involved and the decision to close the hotel was a joint decision by all the parties involved.
Thomson don't own the hotel Regente, the contract between them and the Medplaya enterprise can be ceased at any point by either party, but all the parties have a vested interest and whether the decision should have been taken earlier to empty the hotel and fumigate it, in hindsight it probably should have been taken earlier, but all the parties involved are a business and they don't just lose 4 days business, as anyone booked either side of the dates when the hotel will be closed will be affected by the decision.
It is a decision that is the only option left open to them after the staff have worked their @ss's off trying to disinfect the place and it is comments that suggest the place is responsible for this by being dirty etc which ignites my comments.
I might be foolish at times, but I'm not bloody stupid enough to book into a hotel time after time if there is a higher chance of being ill or if it is dirty.

You asked another question in the thread that BBB started in the complaints forum and I couldn't answer because I was in a hotel on the Costa del Sol at the time, the question was why is the bug more prevalent in the Regente and not other hotels

I firmly believe that people walking straight off the street and into the restaurant without washing their hands, people who have no concept of basic hygiene, people who don't know what a pair of tongs are there for, are helping this bug on its infectious cycle.
You name me one hotel in Benidorm where you can walk directly off the street and straight into the restaurant and therefore, not only is the airborne Norovirus present, but you introduce other bugs that produce the same symptoms and unless a sample was taken from everyone being ill and analysed, then we will never know what strain of bug is responsible for each individual who is ill.

By the way, I'm no lover of Thomson, I have no loyalty to them and I'm in the middle of a dispute over the treatment I received in June from them, they are not addressing the points raised in my letters and are replying to me in a condescending manner as though I am retarded, but I do have sympathy for people who are on the bottom rung of the ladder, working for a pittance until their knuckles are raw.
If they (staff) were not doing anything about it, then I would say so, without any hesitation
I still have to send an e-mail requesting a room just like everybody else and I'm just another guest amongst the thousands they see every week, but unlike some people I have collared the top man and asked questions, I've videod the place and made a point of observing certain things, I can't change my opinion on what I have seen with my own eyes, but I have no doubt that if I had been ill and could say it was the fault of the hotel, then I would have a different opinion.

Sanji

Well I'd heard of a bug at the hotel before I went but all the reports before I went (end of may) seemed to not mention anything. Also from your own report in April it seemed things were fine.
Anyway on the friday I got very ill and not once did I think it must be the bug! It's just the next day and day after all we heard about was other guests being very ill. It seemed everyone we spoke to had either been ill or knew someone who had been ill!
Still, lets hope it gets sorted now!

I firmly believe that people walking straight off the street and into the restaurant without washing their hands, people who have no concept of basic hygiene, people who don't know what a pair of tongs are there for, are helping this bug on its infectious cycle

sanji you are spot on with this.

all so washing hands when you have been to the loo.

If thats the case then the hotel has resposiblity to close off access to the restaurant from the road! Obviously it's not their fault if people don't wash there hands! I mean they can't take everyone into the loo's and do it for them!
Sanji, you sugested shutting a door, did you mean the gate by the pool to be shut or the door into the resturant from the pool area? If I remember correctly you couldn't enter the restaurant from the pool area withought first going up some steps and then down into the restaurant, passing toilets on the way? (are there loo's by the restaurant enterance?)

The sad thing is, if the hotel is going to rely on people washing their hands to stop this bug, then it isn't going to happen, because some people just don't do it! I was amazed at how many people just walked straight past the wipes and into the restaurant! Only other thing to suggest would be someone at the restaurant door handing out the wipes to all guests and almost making them feel embarrased if they don't use the wipes!

We have stayed at the Torremolinos Beach Club which also suffered from a "bug", although not as severe as the Regente.

Hubby succumbed for 12 hours the first time we went and we heard of several other people who were ill. There were still people being ill when we went back a year later. It didn't stop us going back twice more and on the last visit in January, we didn't hear anything about the bug.

On all 3 visits there were antibacterial wipes available as you entered the restaurant, but on the last 2 visits there was someone handing them out to make sure everyone used them.

The Thomson reps insisted it was an airborne virus which was affecting the whole area, including Malaga.

luci

Chivas.

Sanji, you sugested shutting a door, did you mean the gate by the pool to be shut or the door into the resturant from the pool area? If I remember correctly you couldn't enter the restaurant from the pool area withought first going up some steps and then down into the restaurant, passing toilets on the way? (are there loo's by the restaurant enterance?)

I meant the door that gives access to the restaurant from the pool area at the bottom of the steps..
People walk through the gate as a short- cut after walking up the "drag" from "downtown" Benidorm. They cut across by the side of the pool and waltz straight into the restaurant and plonk themselves down at a table with their bags of shopping, walking sticks and god knows what else.

They never pass a toilet to wash their hands, even if they wanted too, they are literally coming off the street and sitting down at a table, then floating around the restaurant spreading everything they have picked up in town, on their hands.
They may have been to a less than hygienic toilet in some "dive" in town, but hey, do they care when they pick up food or contaminate the serving tongs and everything else that they touch, which includes the backs of chairs that you grab to pull out from under the table"¦it just goes on.

I have no problem with the gate being open as a short-cut, but I would make people walk up the steps, through passed the stage/bar, passed one set of toilets on the left, down the steps inside the hotel and just before the "official" entrance to the restaurant is another set of toilets.
I'm not saying this is the cure for the disease, but it could be one pill to ease the symptoms and if people are anything like me and they have had a couple of drinks in town, then by the time I have walked up the "drag", I'm bursting for a pee and it's second nature to empty my bladder in order to be comfortable whilst eating my meal at lunch time, therefore if I go to the loo I wash my hands and in actual fact I also use alcohol hand gel before I sit down at the table.
If 50% of the people wash their hands, 50% is better than nothing.

During the winter season when the poolside snack bar is closed, there is absolutely no reason to have this access open from the bottom of the steps, except you'll have a load of old codgers moaning at having to walk up the steps and I'm probably going to get flamed for this comment, but some of these old codgers are the least hygienic amongst us.
I appreciate that during the summer months when people are buying a snack from the poolside bar, it may be difficult because people take their snack and sit just inside the restaurant, especially if all the tables are occupied outside.

I'd better just explain that what I'm referring too, is during the time that the Regente does full-board and the problem is at lunchtime, and considering this is from approx October until May, it's long enough to have bugs directly and constantly being brought into an area of food source and constantly being able to gain ground within a hotel, despite the best of efforts.
I'm surprised no one has monitored this, does the bug seem to clear up when the door is shut.? Does it come back with vengeance when the hotel goes to full-board.?

The Norovirus group of bugs can live in the environment, but the most commonest method of infection is via person to person contact or contact with infected surfaces and the most simplest solution to halt its progress, is by washing your hands.
It becomes airborne when it leaves the body during the time people are throwing up down a toilet with projectile vomiting or suffering from diarrhoea.

So, basically you can disinfect and scrub until your knuckles are raw, but it only needs one person to contaminate a tray of bread and the rest is history.
One vicious circle and back to square one.

Should people be forced to use anti-bacterial gel before entering the restaurant.? Well I'd have enforced it 12 months ago, but people are fickle things and to suggest your level of personal hygiene doesn't come up to scratch, is not a welcomed comment, much better to blame the hotel rather than yourself or other people.
PS: That last comment was a general comment and not aimed at you Chivas.

Sanji

I keep reading about the hand wipes on offer at the Regente been referred to as antibacterial wipes. but whilst we were staying there last year the wipes on offer were not antibacterial but only lemon wipes, the type that accompany your spare ribs which I suppose are better than nothing but don't really tackle the problem.

Sue

Has anybody the Hotel Regente's manager's reply on another website, probably using Thomson Holidays as a spokesperson as you can't post opinions here from abroad.

He states that the virus has been identified as the Norwalk virus which is an airborne virus. As he obviously has no medical qualification perhaps he should have done a little research or taken advice first on the Norwalk virus which is actually a faecal-oral contanimating, food borne or water borne bug which very rarely spreads by air unless you have the misfortune to be right next to somebody who is vomitting. This bug is known for it's tendency to concentrate in one place such as hotels, hospitals, cruise ships etc. and not as he insinuates "all over Benidorm"

It isn't fair to try and divert the cause of the bug to all Benidorm in an attempt to safegaurd his own bookings. He contradicts himself by saying that it's an airborne bug and then uses anti-bacterial measures for person to person cross-contanimation but nothing seems to be working.

I'm glad that the Hotel has closed to try and get this virus sorted as I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It's reallya shame that this has happened in the Hotel Regente as it was always one of my favourite hotels in Benidorm but I could not possibly risk going back there again and being so ill.

What a shame!

Edited to remove potentially libelous comment
David HT Mod

It isn't fair to try and divert the cause of the bug to all Benidorm in an attempt to safegaurd his own bookings..

he obviously has no medical qualification

He isn't medically trained and he doesn't have to safeguard his bookings, Thomson have a contract with the hotel, therefore it is Thomson who have to safeguard their bookings, as Thomson have a monopoly on this hotel.
He is employed by Medplaya, not Thomson and it makes no difference to him personally if there are 50 people or 2,000 people in the hotel
Don't start blaming one man, who is well qualified to run a hotel, he was the manager of a nearby hotel that gets rave reviews in this forum and there are some who are not helping him to get it under control and break the cycle by not washing their hands and he is spot on because he has seen them himself in the gents toilets....and so have I, in the ladies of course.!

taken advice first on the Norwalk virus which is actually a faecal-oral contanimating, food borne or water borne bug which very rarely spreads by air unless you have the misfortune to be right next to somebody who is vomitting
He contradicts himself by saying that it's an airborne bug and then uses anti-bacterial measures for person to person cross-contanimation but nothing seems to be working.

which very rarely spreads by air unless you have the misfortune to be right next to somebody who is vomitting. This bug is known for it's tendency to concentrate in one place such as hotels, hospitals, cruise ships etc. and not as he insinuates "all over Benidorm"

He is not contradicting himself at all.
Airborne doesn't mean you MUST be stood next to someone vomiting.
You can't get norovirus from simply breathing it in as it doesn't affect the respiratory system and apart from the routes you mention, you can get infected by the virus being airborne and swallowing it, as it infects the mucous of the mouth, it lives and floats around in the air after someone has vomited, it doesn't stay in one place like the bathroom or a building and the virus can lie dormant in a persons digestive system for months on end before becoming infectious.
The norovirus group of viruses can live in the environment and be viable for up to 12 days, but what do you expect the manager to do about the air outside the hotel.?
Are you suggesting no one is vomiting in Benidorm ?, how do you know someone infected hasn't thrown up in a toilet in town? and the nature of the virus means it will become a viral aerosol that will move and settle on surfaces, Food and drinks can very easily become contaminated because the virus is so small that droplets from vomit can travel through the air and land on food, water and surfaces and it can take as little of 10 viral particles to make a person ill, therefore you still have to put person to person anti bacterial procedures into place for the people picking the bug up from infected food/drink and surfaces and then transferring the bug to their mouth.

When people are infected on a cruise ship or in hospital they can be isolated, but you can't do that effectively in a hotel unless you keep everybody a prisoner and let no one in.
Maybe you would like to read the first line of the third paragraph of this article from the British Medical Journal in response to a Norwalk outbreak in a Scottish hospital, a few years ago.
HERE

I know you're angry, but please get your facts right and I don't think it is fair to use this forum as a platform for a personal attack, when you know he can't reply.
Oh and BTW, I am Qualified

Sanji

i am in benidorm now and the hotel is still open at the moment

I am not using this forum as a personal attack on this man but to advise people that the bug is still present and has not gone away with despite all the measures that the hotel has put in place. It is not in all of Benidorm and he should not have said that.
In answer to Sanji being qualified we are all qualified in something or other but having actually suffered and witnessed the bug I am certainly qualified to comment on it!
To try and defend the manager by saying that it doesn't matter to him if the hotel is fully occupied or not is not in fact defending him. The hotel has a guaranteed beds contract with Thomson but if the hotel continues to suffer the bug then I can assure you that MedPlaya will not be renewing his contract. I am half Spanish and have spoken to this man and I certainly got the impression that he couldn't care less. Perhaps his defenders should ask him why he left his previous hotel.
BTW my qualification is in Languages and Tourism and I dare anybody who has had this bug to give a positive comment on it because after all Forums are not just about positive comments are they Sanji?

but having actually suffered and witnessed the bug I am certainly qualified to comment on it!

You most certainly are, just as long as you get your facts right, you are very naïve if you think a virus floats up in the air and then lands back down exactly where it was propelled from, we live in a world of draughts created by windows/doors being opened/closed and air conditioning and to say the bug concentrates in one place like cruise ships etc is rather misleading, when you should have said that the virus is concentrated in these areas because of the environment that the bug finds itself able to thrive within. Which are : crowds/people/ food/water/ communal living/using the same facilities.
However you criticise the manager for his lack of medical knowledge, when you seem to have none yourself.

To try and defend the manager by saying that it doesn't matter to him if the hotel is fully occupied or not is not in fact defending him

I don't have to defend anybody, but correct your statement that was

in an attempt to safegaurd his own bookings

but if the hotel continues to suffer the bug then I can assure you that MedPlaya will not be renewing his contract.

Really ? well that gives him all the more reason to save his job.

have spoken to this man and I certainly got the impression that he couldn't care less

I have also spoken to him and I can also speak Spanish and that was not the impression that I got.

Forums are not just about positive comments are they Sanji

Nope, I've just slated one hotel in the Costa del Sol, but they are also about the truth and your opinion will be clouded because you were a victim and nothing and nobody will change your opinion.
But I'm not the one who has had to have their post edited for potentially libellous comments.

Sanji

I have absolutely no idea what has been edited from my original posting it looks completely intact to me. Perhaps the managers' comments on another website shouldn't have been printed but he did say it was going to close on the 3rd October. Does anybody know if this has happened because he said it was going to open again on the 7th October after the deep cleansing. Some friends of mine who had booked to go there have been offered another hotel or alternative dates but they did say they were going to call by to see what was happening. Did the person who "speaks" Spanish have a complaint when he spoke to the manager because I didn't on the first occaision and he was fine and chatty but he was a different person when we complained. Will the person from Thomsons stop pretending to be somebody else!

Please note that what is written on any other website by or on behalf of the manager, should not be reproduced or discussed here on this website.

Some may dispute the origins, nature, presence and spread of the virus. However, as we are a holiday discussion site rather than a medical discussion site, such discussion is probably pointless here and would be best avoided.

What is clear from forum discussion and hotel reviews posted at Holidaytruths over the last two years at least, is that holidaymakers have been reporting a bug or bugs at this hotel for some considerable time. The hotel may or may not have been the original source of the bug, but its apparent continued presence has affected many.

Hopefully these more stringent measures to permanently eradicate the virus will be successful.

David