It now seems that hundreds of holidaymakers are suing one of the leading holiday companies, First Choice. They are claiming that they became ill on trips to the Dominican Republic that were set up by First Choice.

Claimants from all over the UK say that they suffered acute gastroenteritis following their stay at an all inclusive four start hotel in the summer of 2007. 409 holidaymakers complained of food, crockery and cutlery at the Bahia Principe Hotel in San San Juan not being properly washed. They also went on to say that the food was undercooked, and the food which should have been served hot, such as a poached egg, was stone cold.

The holidaymakers say that the hotel was not up to four star quality. It smelled of sewage, urine and vomit. They noted that the pool was also dirty. One guest said that sometimes things would be scooped out of the pool and the pool would never be decontaminated. Apparently during all of this, First Choice was very reluctant to record these complaints. Also, hotel staff were not willing to investigate any of the complaints.

The law firm who is presenting the claimants, Irwin Mitchell, said that there was an outbreak at the hotel in 2007, which involved more than 1,000 people. 500 of these people will be pursing a claim against Thomas Cook and its subsidiary My Travel. These claims settled for around £3.5 million. The lawyer said they estimate that the potential compensation claims, if successful, cost First Choice a similar amount again.