The five-star Sentido Perissia Hotel on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coast has gotten some bad press lately, as 144 fell ill during their August getaways. Loyal patrons have defended the hotel, however, on the travel site Trip Advisor.
Steve and Tina Currien of Worcester, England, began their 10-day all-inclusive stay at the Turkish resort on August 10, priced at 2,600 pounds (about $4,050), they told the Worcester News. After 36 hours, Tina began to feel ill, with stomach cramps and a high temperature. Steve’s symptoms were less severe, yet he also felt unwell.
“It wasn’t because I had over-indulged,” she told the News. “If I could have done, it wouldn’t have been so bad because at least I paid for that.”
She was still ill on the fourth day and went to the hospital, where she stayed for 24 hours. When more guests at the hotel showed similar symptoms and the scope of the problem became apparent, guests were all asked to undergo testing at the hospital—that was Mrs. Currien’s 45th birthday.
Thomas Cook, the travel agency that booked the guests, said it was probably a norovirus-like virus. Doctors are still working to ascertain the cause of the illness. The company said in an email statement that guests who have booked at Sentido Perissia up to September 2 have been offered alternative accommodation and Thomas Cook is reaching out to guests who stayed at the hotel during the outbreak to address their concerns.
On Trip Advisor, user “BigKirky” of York wrote that he had spent 11 days at the hotel during the outbreak without experiencing any problems: “We were lucky and did not fall ill. ... We were impressed overall by the cleanliness of the hotel. We never saw a single fly in the restaurants, the food was covered well and the staff seem to be constantly cleaning. I feel sorry that this hotel has had to go through this situation but everything I have seen seems to have been done by management to resolve it, they have even had a specialist flown in from the UK to assist them.”
“Jan106” of London wrote: “After reading all the press regarding the recent sickness outbreak at the Sentido Perissia, I feel obliged to let everyone know that myself and a party of friends have been going to this hotel for the last 7/8 years and have never experienced any problems. We return to this hotel each year because of the high standards they maintain.
“There is nothing negative that I can say and it will not stop us from booking for next year.”
Friends Read Free