Gran left on hospital drip after dip in five-star hotel’s swimming pool that turned green
Sue Brewer from south Wales became violently ill with chronic diarrhoea after taking a swim in the pool at the 'horrendous' Grande Memories in Cuba
A GRAN of seven has revealed she was left on a hospital drip after taking a dip in her 'horrendous' five star hotel's green pool.
Sue Brewer, 61, had been swimming at the pool at the 'horrendous' Grande Memories hotel in Varadero, Cuba, when she became violently ill with chronic diarrhoea.
Days later the pool was closed down after it had turned a deep shade of green due to an alleged chlorine shortage and didn't reopen for the rest of the fortnight.
Sue and her husband Keith, 63, from Ebbw Vale, South Wales, had saved all year for the ‘special’ fortnight break with family at the five-star resort and are still dealing with TUI, who are still investigating the complaints from July last year.
Sue, a retired customer assistant, said: “We’d gone to Cuba on a family holiday with just the adults. We’d never been before and heard it was a beautiful country so decided to try it."
But two days after arriving, Sue joined a friend for a drink at the swim-up bar. As she climbed into the water, she found she was wading through green scum.
Sue said: "I got into the water and knew something wasn’t right. I was waist-deep and it looked really dirty and was a greenish colour.
“When I reported it, the rep said they had ran out of chlorine and there wasn’t any on the whole island. They closed off the pool then, took all the chairs in and no-one could go in it for the rest of our holiday.”
The next day, Sue woke up with diarrhoea which was made worse by the fact she has a stoma which needed to be changed "all the time."
Sue said: “By the Monday I had come down with an upset tummy with terrible diarrhoea. I can’t afford to have a virus because I have a stoma and kept having to go and change it all the time."
She said: “I had to go and see the onsite doctor and eventually, on the Thursday, they called me an ambulance to take me to hospital. There I was hooked up on an antibiotic drip for a full day."
Sue and her husband Keith also claim the urinals were blocked and there was poor food hygiene at the Caribbean resort.
She claimed: “The restaurants were so dirty and the food was inedible anyway, it was undercooked and covered in flies.
“The area around the tables was dirty too and whenever someone new came to sit down, the cleaner would just wipe the mess from the people before on to the floor with a dirty rag," she claimed.
The couple had expected an ‘absolutely stunning’ destination, but Sue says they feel so let down by the "horrendous" holiday, saying: "It cost us nearly £3,000 to go and we feel that TUI mis-sold us this holiday.
"I wouldn’t have even given it one-star, let alone five.
“I feel so let down, they charged us all this money for a rubbish holiday.
"It was absolutely horrendous," she added.
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Since returning home at the end of July last year, Sue and Keith have been battling with TUI to get a refund for their holiday. Initially, they were informed their case had been closed.
But after protests from the disappointed holidaymakers, TUI have now agreed to reopen the case pending further investigation, according to Sue.
Sue said: “When we booked we were lead to believe this was a fab hotel and everything was perfect but that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
A spokesperson from TUI UK said: "We’re really sorry to hear about Mr and Mrs Brewer’s experience and will be in direct contact with them to further review the matter.
"We’d like to reassure customers that we regularly audit all accommodations we feature in respect of health and safety, including hygiene."
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