Over 1,100 tourists – including 200 from the UK- are taking legal action against holiday company TUI, after falling seriously ill following a visit to a 5-star hotel at the popular resort destination of Cape Verde, off the western coast of Africa.
The beautiful Republic of Cape Verde is a popular destination for Scottish tourists who want guaranteed good weather and an escape from the rain and snow of winter.
However, Diane Taylor, 57, from Bridge of Don in Aberdeenshire, told the SWNS news agency that she had ‘never felt so ill’ in her life as she did during what was supposed to be a luxury break to the tropical paradise.
She was travelling with her husband, John, when she was struck down with severe diarrhoea and nausea, becoming one of 1,107 people to be hit with serious gastric illnesses at luxury hotels on the African island in the last three years, Birmingham Live reports.
Hundreds have been left hospitalised as a result of their symptoms after their five star breaks turned into ‘holidays from hell’ – including children and toddlers as young as three.
They’ve been afflicted with a range of serious and potentially deadly illnesses, including E.coli, salmonella and the bacterial infection shigella, which can have a long-standing impact on the bowel, and can even prove to be fatal.
Diane, an accounts co-ordinator, fell ill after paying a whopping £4,156 to stay at the Riu Palace Santa Maria in Sal, Cape Verde, in August with her husband. Just five days into the luxury break, she was struck down with severe diarrhoea, coupled with shooting pains throughout her body, shivers, fatigue and loss of appetite.
Riu Palace Santa Maria is a five-star, all inclusive hotel that sits beside an idyllic white sand beach on the island of Sal. As well as TUI, First Choice and Thomas Cook also operate package holidays to the hotel. It has a 4.5 star rating on TripAdvisor, but although the majority of its reviews are positive, it does have 94 “terrible” ratings.
One of the most recent, left in September 2024, says: “Upon arrival at check-in a hotel guest was overheard making a complaint regarding cockroaches, and being moved room five times.
“This person did not exaggerate, from the day of arrival… our group of 21 have been battling with cockroach infested rooms, the hallways, on different floor levels and cockroaches seen around the food at the buffet.”
Diane and John, who visited in August 2024, had a similar experience. The couple told SWNS that they had a number of concerns about the standards at the hotel and believed that others had fallen ill at the same time they were staying.
They found cockroaches in their hotel room and said they were such a common occurrence that hotel staff gave Diane a can of bug spray to deal with them.
Diane was also concerned about food hygiene standards and the pair complained in a letter to TUI. She said: “Without a doubt this is one break away we’ll never forget – it was the worst holiday ever.
“Everything that could go wrong did. Right from the start our key cards didn’t activate and the room wasn’t clean and in a poor state of repair. It was really terrible and for those several days, I have never felt so ill in my life. I wasn’t able to eat due to the stomach cramps and nausea.
“As I started to feel better, I sought out bland food and lived off bread rolls and chips. The whole nightmare wasn’t what I was expecting for a five-star hotel. On the last night, I looked at the food again and it seemed dishes like the salmon were uncooked and we decided eating wasn’t worth the risk.
“We’ve now seen so many terrible reports and stories from people who stayed at this hotel. It feels like there are many concerns and that people need answers. I want to know what’s going on and what is being done to stop others from falling ill like I did.”
The UK Foreign Office issued a warning about travelling to Cape Verde in September 2024, around the same time that Diane and John visited, however the warning wasn’t related to gastric diseases. Rather, tourists were advised to take precautions after a spike in cases of the deadly mosquito borne illness, dengue fever.
Josephine Black, 53, a council worker from Glasgow, and her husband, Graham Lamont, 59, an NHS training manager, also travelled to Riu Palace Santa Maria on May 10 for a week for a family holiday with their children.
It was their first ever five-star all-inclusive holiday, to celebrate their daughter Freya finishing school and starting university.
Josephine started to experience severe sickness on May 11. Graham fell ill on May 16 and went on to lose 17lbs in weight, meanwhile, Freya, 18 and her 13-year-old sister, Nina, complained of stomach cramps and diarrhoea on the day they returned home.
Josephine, from Glasgow, said: “This trip was booked as probably our last family holiday together. We’ve never tried five star or all-inclusive before and this seemed a perfect time. We couldn’t have been more wrong.
“This is the last thing you expect from a five-star holiday and we now wish we’d never been. I just wish we’d seen some of these reviews before we left.”
Another woman suing TUI through Irwin Mitchell lawyers is Sarah Tootell, from Bury, Greater Manchester. The 44-year-old mum travelled to Cape Verde on May 8 for a week-long stay with her nine-year-old daughter, Halle.
Sarah lost her husband six years previously and the trip was the first time she had travelled alone with her daughter – her plan was to scatter her husband’s ashes whilst in Cape Verde.
She and her daughter were returning home in the early hours of May 16 when Sarah began to feel feverish and unwell. By the next day this had become severe sickness and diarrhoea and the symptoms became so bad, Sarah consulted her GP.
Tests confirmed she had tested positive for shigella. Sarah continues to feel nauseous and still struggles to eat normally. She said: “This was the first time I had travelled on my own with Halle and took a lot of courage to book in the first place, so I’m devastated by the way things have turned out.
“The room had a strange damp smell, but I didn’t complain we just wanted to get on with the holiday. I had concerns about the food, including the number of animals around and flies on some of the dishes left out.
“We always avoided these but there also seemed to be a lot of food brought back to life too, with ribs at lunchtime recycled in a rib curry at night. I felt unwell on the trip home on 16 May and by the next day I had the most horrendous diarrhoea and sickness that just went on and on and the stomach cramps were terrible.
“I’m pretty fit but you worry what would happen if someone more vulnerable went down with such an illness and people need the facts.”
Jatinder Paul, the international serious injury lawyer at Irwin Mitchell supporting the holidaymakers, said: “Despite all the reports of illness from guests who have stayed at hotels in Cape Verde, it’s staggering to think that three years after the first reports, we’re continuing to see significant numbers coming forward reporting debilitating illness.
“Our clients continue to report alarmingly similar illnesses and are understandably angry at how this state of affairs has been allowed to continue. Cape Verde seems to be a hotspot for these cases and our clients have many questions.
“As the numbers of cases continues to mount, we’re determined to help them secure the answers they deserve. We’d be interested in hearing from other guests who have fallen ill at these hotels in the Cape Verde this year as we investigate whether there is a common source of infection.”
The Daily Record has contacted TUI for comment.
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