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Sat, Feb 11 2012
British tourist 'contracted salmonella' in Bulgarian resort
Local British newspaper the Birmingham Post is reporting that a British family was struck down with severe food poisinong within days of arriving at the four-star all-inclusive Riu Helios Bay Hotel in the Bulgarian resort of Obzor Beach.
Anita Riley, 42, was reportedly diagnosed as suffering from - potentially deadly - salmonella food poisoning on her return. Anita and her husband John, 44, and their two children Megan, 16, and Jack, 13, apparently visited the resort in July for a one-week all-inclusive holiday with UK tour operator, Portland Holidays Direct.
The newspaper quotes Anita Riley: "The first 24 hours were fine and at first glance both the hotel and the food looked lovely, but then things rapidly went downhill. During our stay we noticed that the food, which was often left uncovered, appeared to have been reheated and was under-cooked. On one occasion we found the chicken that was served was still pink in the middle. One by one John, Jack and I fell ill. Only Megan managed to escape illness and she couldn’t go anywhere or enjoy her holiday because the rest of us were all confined to our room with stomach cramps and diarrhoea."
The Birmingham Post reports that it is not the first time that illness has affected the hotel's clients. "Problems were first reported at the hotel back in 2006 and law firm Irwin Mitchell is still pursuing a group legal action on behalf of its clients. But once again this summer dozens of British holidaymakers are being struck down by serious gastric illness – including four confirmed cases of salmonella – three years after problems were first reported. The law firm is now calling for hygiene improvements to be made at the Bulgarian hotel."
A spokeswoman for Portland Holidays Direct, which is part of the Thomson group, is quoted in the article: "At Thomson, the health and safety of our customers is our primary focus. We closely monitor all the hotels to which we operate to ensure that the strictest health, safety, hygiene and comfort levels our customers expect are maintained. The RIU Helios Bay is a very popular hotel with Thomson customers and continues to score highly in our customer satisfaction questionnaires."
Anita Riley, 42, was reportedly diagnosed as suffering from - potentially deadly - salmonella food poisoning on her return. Anita and her husband John, 44, and their two children Megan, 16, and Jack, 13, apparently visited the resort in July for a one-week all-inclusive holiday with UK tour operator, Portland Holidays Direct.
The newspaper quotes Anita Riley: "The first 24 hours were fine and at first glance both the hotel and the food looked lovely, but then things rapidly went downhill. During our stay we noticed that the food, which was often left uncovered, appeared to have been reheated and was under-cooked. On one occasion we found the chicken that was served was still pink in the middle. One by one John, Jack and I fell ill. Only Megan managed to escape illness and she couldn’t go anywhere or enjoy her holiday because the rest of us were all confined to our room with stomach cramps and diarrhoea."
The Birmingham Post reports that it is not the first time that illness has affected the hotel's clients. "Problems were first reported at the hotel back in 2006 and law firm Irwin Mitchell is still pursuing a group legal action on behalf of its clients. But once again this summer dozens of British holidaymakers are being struck down by serious gastric illness – including four confirmed cases of salmonella – three years after problems were first reported. The law firm is now calling for hygiene improvements to be made at the Bulgarian hotel."
A spokeswoman for Portland Holidays Direct, which is part of the Thomson group, is quoted in the article: "At Thomson, the health and safety of our customers is our primary focus. We closely monitor all the hotels to which we operate to ensure that the strictest health, safety, hygiene and comfort levels our customers expect are maintained. The RIU Helios Bay is a very popular hotel with Thomson customers and continues to score highly in our customer satisfaction questionnaires."
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"Tom" is Robert the Great from FYROM;)))
4 years, almost daily eating out... NEVER even lightly stomach pains.... nor my partner (but we are not eating in those terible tourist traps, like SunnyBeach...)
By the way, I've been living in Bulgaria for more than 18 years, eating every day and never a problem. I love this country.
Tom, if you dislike Bulgaria so much, why on earth do you spend time reading Bulgarian news and writing comments.
@mimi yeah I'd be happy to stay and stuff my American face full of Turkey sausages. Turkish food is fantastic.
At least I would be far away from a disgusting country like Bulgaria.
Turkey beats Bulgaria in almost every hands down, Bulgaria doesn't have a chance in a million years to become like Istanbul.
hear we go again.i have been in bulgaria now for just over 2 years and i am still alive and eat every day over hear dont blame all hotels for the sake of one if you want salmonella their are good chip shops in the uk that will sell you a good old beefburger cut it in half and their you are a loverly pink center i rest my case.tom dont listen to people book a holiday in sunny beach or many other great locations over hear you mite change your mind.
TOM, go to Turkey and have yourself stuffed with Turkish sausage ...
Bulgaria is not even a tourist destination it happened to be recognized as one by mistake.
Tourists should never come to Bulgaria again because this happens time and time again, there are far worse problems then this I have been told from people who went.
This is one of the reasons why I would avoid Bulgaria at all costs. Also Bulgaria doesn't deserve to have all the tourists it gets.
I happily spend my time in Croatia or Turkey. Now that's what I call a holiday in paradise.
to me this happens all around the world, its bad cooks not the destination let them go to another country see if they dont contact anything like this there i can remember when on the tele a whole hotel got this cost del sol .toramelenos beach club . you see, if they saw it pink in side at first why did they not send it back.or do they already know the english have a reputation for moaning. after all now matter what other people think .if you dont think or it looks right or tastes right dont eat it.
Expat:
"another horrifying message from a location, which desires to be tourist destination. "
Not really.
BG is a tourist destination, and we, most of us, would like it not to be so much so. We have too many tourists. We aren't Disneyland, nor some island which lives off service. We would like manufacturing instead of foreign drunks...
Exactly!! service,service,service=profits!
another horrifying message from a location, which desires to be tourist destination.
there is no easy money in tourism! money comes with quality and satisfied customers....