A woman claims she was hospitalized with “severe food poisoning” just days after staying at a five-star hotel in Turkey.
Jennifer Bowditch and her family booked a five-star all-inclusive package holiday from August 2 to 9 of this year in an unnamed hotel in Antalya, Turkey, through the travel company TUI.
According to the mother of two, it only took a few days for health problems to arise. She claimed she suffered “extreme diarrhea and extreme nausea” after eating the chili chicken at the hotel buffet.
Jennifer Bowditch became seriously ill while on vacation. (Kennedy News and Media)
The 41-year-old claims that she only ate at the hotel during her trip and was the only family member to eat chicken, and therefore the only one who felt sick a few hours later.
Jennifer repeatedly lost consciousness before she was taken to a private hospital and connected to an IV.
She later found out that TUI allegedly knew about food poisoning and hygiene complaints at the hotel after BBC Watchdog published an official report in 2023.
While staying at the hotel with her family, Jennifer allegedly filmed hotel staff using a net to fish feces out of the public swimming pool – the same action documented in the Watchdog report.
When BBC Watchdog contacted TUI in 2023, the company admitted that it was aware of “a small number of complaints” about illness at the hotel.
Jennifer later vented her anger over the situation on Facebook after the director of the football training company posted a message urging others to avoid the five-star hotel even though it was “not a five-star hotel.”
Jennifer became ill just hours after eating the chicken. (Kennedy News and Media)
She claimed: “It was a hell of a holiday. It makes me sick that we spent all that money on a nightmare. It was scary.”
“I’m disgusted by how this is ignored. People are screaming that it’s being noticed. The hotel is covering it up. I don’t think TUI is dealing with it well.”
“I have never been this sick. This is completely unacceptable.”
“I think it was because of the chicken I ate on Monday. I was fine before that. We didn’t leave the complex.”
Jennifer said that after eating the chicken dish, she felt “extremely tired” and later “could not leave the bathroom” because the nausea had become “uncontrollable.”
After being admitted to a private hospital, she says she had to pay £2,000 in medical bills for a 24-hour stay while she was given antibiotics via an IV.
She said: “I said I had food poisoning. I know that.
“I have all my reports. One said it was an infectious disease and one said it was a stomach problem. They’re trying everything except to make it look like food poisoning.
“But they gave me all the medicine you would take for food poisoning. They wouldn’t discharge me because I had low blood pressure. Another symptom of food poisoning.”
Jennifer claims the hotel was unhelpful. (Kennedy News and Media)
She claimed the hotel was “dismissive” and “claimed they didn’t know anything” after they saw her being taken away in an ambulance. She further claimed: “There was no accountability whatsoever. They kept saying, ‘Prove it.'”
TUI allegedly did not allow them to change hotels because they “had nowhere to go” and if they did, they would have had to pay for it.
Jennifer added: “We were afraid to eat there. For the rest of the two days my children survived on pizza, chips, croissants, bananas – beige food.”
“I was nervous. I didn’t trust them. I lost all trust in the hotel. The hygiene was appalling. We survived for two days because we had to. When I came back, I felt terrible.”
“The hotel manager let us eat in the adults-only hotel as a gesture of goodwill. He said there were different chefs and a different atmosphere there.”
After demanding a full refund from TUI for her £7,500 trip, she described the five-star rating as “misleading”.
The mother of two took a lot of medication (Kennedy News and Media)
Jennifer said: “I hope TUI looks into this and deals with it properly. They knew about this report last year and are still selling it as a five-star hotel.”
“Last year there was a BBC watchdog report on this very hotel.
“On the TUI website it is still listed as a five-star hotel. They make it look great. It is very misleading.
“I saw a five-star hotel and thought, ‘You can’t go wrong here. You know you’re safe here.'”
The hotel said that throughout the entire period, including during her hospital stay, the hotel management had been in “close communication with the family” and “in contact with medical professionals.”
They also claimed that the travel agency “can confirm that there have been no reports of poisoning” as it takes all “guest concerns seriously” and “has followed all necessary procedures and responsibilities throughout this situation.”
LADbible has asked TUI for comment.
