Riu Dominican Holiday Horror Cases Grow

Personal injury solicitor Andrew Morton, from Manchester law firm Pannone LLP, reports a massive increase in enquiries from disgruntled holidaymakers returning from the Dominican Republic. All have suffered severe gastric viral illness with sickness and diarrhoea, after staying at the Riu Bachata hotel in the resort of Puerto Plata.

Andrew Morton said, “Since the story hit the headlines this weekend we have been inundated with calls and e-mails from people who have holidayed at the resort. The Riu Bachata seems to be the main hotel affected but we are also receiving calls about the sister hotels, Riu Mambo and Riu Merengue. We already have well over one hundred cases on-board and expect that the total will at least double over the next few days.”

Hotels in the Dominican Republic have suffered similar problems over recent years with the Riu chain featuring in newspaper articles last year regarding complaints of poor standard of hygiene. Identical complaints are surfacing again this year as well as reports of vermin in hotel bars and restaurants, tour operator reps denying there were problems, unsupervised groups of Puerto Rican teenagers, some of whom were seen urinating in the swimming pool and medical staff treating patients without washing their hands.

Andrew Morton commented further, “These people paid a lot of money for their holiday at the Riu, very often around a thousand pounds for their supposed all-inclusive five star holidays. It was obvious there were serious problems last year and it seems as though very little if anything has been done to eradicate them.”

“Fortunately for the holidaymakers seeking compensation, they have the benefit of powerful consumer legislation in the Package Travel Regulations 1992. These regulations entitle them to bring a claim for compensation against the tour operator in the UK, under UK law.”

Andrew Morton is a personal injury solicitor and partner at Pannone LLP in Manchester, UK.
He is a member of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Travel and Tourism Lawyers Association.

Andrew can be reached in the UK on 0870 164 2372 or by e-mail to law@pannone.co.uk


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