Keith and Sue Brewer (pictured) had gone to Cuba expecting a ‘stunning’ holiday but were soon disappointed
A grandmother of seven was left needing a hospital drip after swimming in her hotel pool’s ‘horrendous’ green pool.
Sue Brewer, 61, had splashed out nearly £3,000 on the ‘horrendous’ Grande Memories hotel in Varadero, Cuba, when she became violently ill with chronic diarrhoea.
A few days after her dip in the pool, it was closed down and had turned a shade of green due to an alleged chlorine shortage. The pool remained closed for the rest of the fortnight.
Sue and her husband Keith, from Ebbw Vale, South Wales, said food hygiene at the Caribbean resort was shocking and that they urinal were blocked.
A Facebook group with more than 140 members contains similar complaints to the one made by Mrs Brewer.
Mrs Brewer complained to TUI, who are said to investigating the complaints from July last year.
The retired customer assistant said: ‘I was really upset. It was absolutely horrendous.
‘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. We’ve been ripped off completely. They’ve had us.’
Sue and Keith, 63, were joined by their daughter-in-law’s family on the two week break expecting a ‘stunning’ holiday – although they soon felt they were missold the break.
Sue said: ‘On the pictures the hotel looked absolutely stunning but I reckon they must have been taken when the hotel just opened because it looked nothing like that.
The pool had turned green due to the lack of chlorine, Sue Brewer claims
Mrs Brewer, 61, was rushed to hospital where she was put on a drip and given antibiotics
The colour of the pool began to turn murky and then turned to green due to a lack of cleaning product
‘The facilities that were advertised were not on offer. The lazy river was completely dried up and a number of the restaurants just weren’t there.
‘The food was inedible anyway and the restaurants were so dirty. Food 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. They didn’t even have the correct cleaning products.’
On Sunday, two days after arriving, she joined one her friends for a drink at the swim-up bar but soon realised her was wading through green scum.
Mrs Brewer 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.
‘I’d noticed since we arrived that there were people who stayed in the pool all day, heavily drinking, and my first thought was that they weren’t leaving to urinate.
‘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 family then spent time at a nearby beach after the pool closure and reluctantly returned to the hotel for their all-inclusive meals.
However the disappointment did not stop there, as just three or four of the advertised restaurants at the hotel were open.
Sue Brewer in the ambulance after suffering from a severe bout of dehydration
The urinals at the hotel were also blocked, as seen by this image
The following day, Mrs Brewer was suffering from a bout of diarrhoea, made worse by her stoma which she said needed changing ‘all the time’.
She was rushed to hospital and treated for severe dehydration and placed on an antibiotic drip to battle the infection she had contracted.
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.
‘I was so ill. The antibiotics cost us 300 pesos out of our money which has since been paid back by our insurance.’
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.
They claim to have contacted the travel firm nine days since then but last week were informed their case had been closed. After protests from the disappointed holidaymakers, TUI have now agreed to reopen the case pending further investigation, according to Sue.
Sue said: ”When I went into our local TUI store, one of the employees there actually turned around to me and said ‘we do get a lot of complaints but this is the worst I’ve ever seen.’
‘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.’
Mrs Brewer holding a rejection letter from TUI
In a private Facebook group, 143 members discuss their ongoing claims against the tour operator and illness is a reoccurring feature in many of their stories.
One member wrote: ‘In 50 years of travelling I’ve never encountered anything like this.’
Another member claims she was even interviewed for BBC One’s Rip Off Britain about the difference between what she was promised in the brochure and the reality she faced.
After being contacted about Sue and Keith case, TUI said they are investigating the complaints.
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.’