so you are actually a business trying to drum up even more business on this site using scare mongering tactics, everyone will be afraid to use pools now after reading this rubbish

Dunk,
Simpson Millar were invited onto Holidaytruths by myself as they are a leading travel industry legal company.

I have asked them to keep us abreast of ongoing issues that they are receiving reports about.

The illness at the Red Sea Village has been an ongoing problem and has been covered in great depth by the UK media.

Simpson Millar are handling the case against the tour operator for a large number of visitors.

Leaving holidaymakers to fend for themselves against the Tour Operators would mean individual court cases and could result in the complainant receiving little or no compensation.

I hope this puts the reasoning for my request that, Simpson Millar post, into context. They are not saying all pools are dirty, they are saying that some holidaymakers are returning from one hotel complex with cryptosporidium.

HTH

Van

Edit - To add...Simpson Millar also offer all HT members free legal advice as per our last arrangement with Ros before her retirement - contact details can be found in the Complaints forum - Van

Can I also say in addition to Van's post, ~I wish somebody had advised us a few years back about cryptosporidium in a certain hotels pool, then my daughter whom was only five at the time would not have got seriously ill from it, along with 27 others!

Why does any company need to bribe people into lodging a complaint ?

Simpson Millar's website wrote:

Simpson Millar's Holiday Claims Solicitors take claims on a 'no win no fee' basis. If you quote "claim250" at the outset of your enquiry and if your claim is accepted we will give you a £250 bonus upfront which you will keep win or lose and in addition to any compensation you may be awarded.

Do we really need to promote this 'ambulance chasing' mentality ?

Don&Pam

My daughter has just returned from the Tropical Azure Club on the 3rd Dec she was ill over there with Diaorha really bad and is still bad she still not returned to work yet Doctors here are doing test but nothings back as yet .When we went to Coral Sea Hotel last November i was really ill with the same thing and we drank lots off btl off water as advised
This has not put us off has we are all returning to Sunrise Island View hotel next July for 2 weeks

can i also say you can easily catch cryptosporidium in your local pools and don and pam i agree with you 100 % i wonder if h/t will let me tout for business on here too

Wow - they were only warning of problems at the hotel, maybe best to keep schtum and hope loads of people are ill in order to boost the 'ambulance chasing'

Wow - they were only warning of problems at the hotel, maybe best to keep schtum and hope loads of people are ill in order to boost the 'ambulance chasing' :duh

Always somebody out for a fight. As I~ said in my previous post, I just wish we had known about it a few years ago.

Plus all the media have been reporting on things like this for years as well, along with the mentioned hotel!

Wow - they were only warning of problems at the hotel, maybe best to keep schtum and hope loads of people are ill in order to boost the 'ambulance chasing'

If this takes off (and with help from this site giving them a platform to drum up business it will) then the cost of holidays will rise significantly to cover the claims from everyone who wants a 'piece of the action'.

Earlier this year at a number of hotels the management companies were faced with having to close swimming pools because of deliberate 'accidents' by morons who thought it funny to defecate in the pools. These hotels were then criticised for closing the pools and spoiling peoples holidays. No doubt people will also want to claim for loss of holiday time. The hotels can't win.

Whilst we agree that holidaytruths and similar sites do an excellent job warning people of problems we do not feel it appropriate to let this type of company benefit from free advertising. At the end of the day the people who benefit the most will be the company that collates the claims and puts forward a huge class action, it won't be the holiday makers who use this site as they will all end up paying more and more.

It's sad that this excellent site is being taken in by these people.
Don&Pam

We've actually had a meeting with Simpson Millar to discuss what WE want from them. They've agreed to assist our members with Contractual problems as that is where most of our members have difficulties, there's not many law firms who cover holiday contractual law, most only cover Personal Injury.

Ros had a hard time finding us a suitable replacement when she retired. Simpson Millar, who Ros knew personally, fitted the bill & are qualified in contractual travel law (not just personal injury). It's a case of we help each other. Simpson Millar will warn our members of any ongoing problems in hotels that they have on their files, but will also be there for our members who have either minor or major holiday contractual upsets.

well I think it is useful info..we have just returned from Egypt...I did not stay there but I have been ill for most of my holiday with pharoahs revenge..the first time ever in all my visits to Egypt I have been ill. I am still suffering now and this dose of whatever it is I have had/got went most of the way round the boat. I suspected that it was no ordinary dose of pharoahs but possibly a bug or food poisoning. The info has made me wonder what I do have. I wont be suing anyone though. I have just chalked it up to experience.

These people can obviously provide a service and they would not be allowed on here if Van did not think they could benefit the users on here.

Sorry to hear you were ill Val, what hotel were you at? I've been to the Red Sea Area 3 times and recently booked for a fourth trip for next year. Was ill once but was at the Red Sea Holiday Village - something dodgy on the buffet. Holiday Truths has always had a link with a Travel Solicitor that provides legal advice to the members of the site, can't see why people have a problem with it.

Holiday Companys are notoriously difficult to deal with as an individual and constantly ignore letters and use endless defering techniques, so that most people just give up and let the holiday companys not comply with their responsibilities to the people whose money they are happy to take on booking.

It's good to know that people with genuine compliants have some kind of support. You can have much more success with persuing a class action than persuing a problem on your own, as TO's just fob you off all the time, with the classic, haven't received your letter, or we are looking into it, style responses.

I'd rather use someone that was vetted by HT than take my chances on the High Street.

Justval wrote:

well I think it is useful info..we have just returned from Egypt...I did not stay there but I have been ill for most of my holiday with pharoahs revenge..the first time ever in all my visits to Egypt I have been ill. I am still suffering now and this dose of whatever it is I have had/got went most of the way round the boat. I suspected that it was no ordinary dose of pharoahs but possibly a bug or food poisoning. The info has made me wonder what I do have. I wont be suing anyone though. I have just chalked it up to experience.

These people can obviously provide a service and they would not be allowed on here if Van did not think they could benefit the users on here.

Val
Sorry to hear you were ill, did you manage to get any diving in at all? What a shame this happened you were so looking forward to your trip.

Oh Val .gutted for you . Hope you managed to get some diving in at least.

As Glynis said we went to Leeds to meet with Nick Harris the head of travel litigation at Simpson Millar.

At the meeting we explained what we were hoping to gain by allowing them onto the boards:

We need a company who were prepared, firstly, to offer free telephone advice under no obligation to our membership with no pressure for anyone to pursue any case if they were not comfortable doing so.

We needed someone who would actually come onto the boards and answer general questions from members. It's impossible to offer personal advice on an open forum without having all the facts. Therefore they will only post general advice and request members contact them individually for a more personal assessment.

We needed someone with the expertise and knowledge of the travel industry to produce an updated copy of the Safe and Sound brochure.

We need someone to update the holiday advice section of the site to ensure the pre departure advise is correct and up to date.

Simpson Millar agreed to provide all these services.

Unfortunately none of this can be done overnight and it will take time to compile the correct info.

I asked Simpson Millar to post in the designated forum with info regarding complaints and/or illness at resorts or particular hotels. Hence the first post in this topic.

They are doing as I asked....They are providing information for holidaymakers which could potentially save them a lot of aggravation. Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes.

I hope this puts into perspective the work that we have done on behalf of the membership. In a perfect world there would be no need for companies like Simpson Millar but unfortunately the travel industry can be obnoxious and difficult when it comes to appeasing their clients who return home with issues and complications.

Regards

Van

Dear all who have taken the time and trouble to post your views. Thank you.

It is a difficult situation that we find ourselves in - on one hand we are criticised as 'ambulance chasers' yet on the other we are being contacted by people who have had an horrendous time at this hotel and have read our posts.

To fill you in a bit more, at this moment in time we represent approaching 150 holiday makers whose hard earned holidays were completely ruined through illness caused by unacceptably poor standards of hygiene.

The majority of those we represent did not just contract an ordinary 'holiday tummy' they contracted salmonella - ecoli - cryptosporidium - shigella (dysentery) and camplylobacter. Many of these people are children.

We have only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of the numbers of people affected. This incidence of sickness has been continuing unabated since March.

We are in a privileged position that we receive information about hotels that are poorly performing. We can keep this information to ourselves or we can post it, and share it, on sites such as Holiday Truths. Other sites are now monopolised by the major tour operators and consequently only appear to post positive reviews.

Whether or not you agree with the way we go about our business one thing is for certain - the large tour operators abhor bad publicity and through our highlighting problem hotels standards are raised which can only benefit those travellers arriving at such destinations.