Happy ending for a holiday horror story

Dozens of holiday makers who booked with First Choice and stayed at The Golden Beach Holiday Village couldn't wait to leave the resort after a mysterious illness swept through the hotel.

Among the symptoms holiday makers suffered from were dizziness, stomach cramps and even projectile vomiting.

When we featured the Bradshaw family in our April 2007 report they told us that they had spotted similar stories like this circulating on the internet. Shortly before they were due to travel to the resort they tried to contact First Choice to ensure that everything was OK. The Bradshaws had spent £3,000 on their holiday and were naturally concerned about some of the things being said online.

The family fell ill on holiday
Once in the Dominican Republic the whole family fell ill and eventually had to have an emergency doctor come to the house.

It wasn't until after they returned from their holiday that they finally got a reply to their letter from First Choice. It claimed that everything at the hotel was fine.

The Bradshaws tried to complain to First Choice, but when they had no success, and after we aired our report, they teamed up with 39 other holidaymakers to take legal action against the company and seek compensation.

Compensation for some families
Now, two years later, First Choice has started compensating some of the families involved. IT hasn't admitted liability but has paid £10,000 to the Bradshaws in an out of court settlement.

Clive Garner, head of travel litigation at Irwin Mitchell, the law firm that negotiated the Bradshaws' settlement says:

"It would have been nice if they got that at the start of the process, but we're delighted that the story does have a happy ending for them and they can put this whole incident behind them."

Do pursue the companies
Brad Bradshaw wasn't always convinced that his pursuit was worthwhile and considered giving up, but his wife convinced him to keep battling on. Now he says: "Even after two years, it really is worth pursing these companies."

First Choice told Watchdog
"First Choice is genuinely concerned to hear of any illnesses reported in our properties. The ongoing legal action prohibits any further comment as regards to these individual cases. However, according to the independent experts who investigated this case at the time, the sickness was caused as a result of a natural incidence of the airborne virus gastroenteritis that is consistent with other holidays in tropical destinations, and is not connected to health and hygiene standards at the hotel.

"First Choice closely monitors all the hotels to which it operates to ensure that the health, safety, hygiene and comfort levels our customers expect are maintained. The First Choice Holiday Village Golden Beach is, and continues to be, a very popular hotel. We are confident that guests due to travel there in the future will experience the high levels of quality and standards they expect from a First Choice property."