Tour operators and travel lawyers have reported an increase in allergy-related personal-injury claims by holidaymakers.
Speaking at an Abta Travel Law Seminar last month, Tui UK customer claims manager Ian Bates said: “We’re seeing more allergic reaction claims, especially in big hotels. We’ve had nothing too serious, but we see these claims gathering momentum.”
Asked whether this was most likely to be due to more incidents of allergic reaction or to people being more aware of allergies, Bates said: “I suspect the latter. Most hotels are on board with this and trying to do the right thing. The claims we tend to see are [due to] genuine mistakes.”
Bates also reported “a surge in disability and equality claims”, suggesting this has included some from customers “with unrealistic expectations”. He cited a complaint from a customer who “didn’t get a late checkout” and another who “wanted to be first off the plane”.
Travlaw partner Nick Parkinson told the seminar: “We’re definitely seeing [more] allergies claims.” However, he said: “There is no massive sign of sickness claims. We’re not seeing a rise in these.”
Travel Weekly has reported a growing number of group action sickness claims being brought by Irwin Mitchell, a law firm specialising in personal injury.
Irwin Mitchell lawyers have filed 11 group action claims over gastric illness at all-inclusive resorts in Cape Verde and Mexico against Tui, plus a claim against Jet2holidays on behalf of holidaymakers to Turkey.
Tui and Jet2 have declined to comment on the cases, but a Tui spokesperson said: “We were very sorry to hear these customers were ill.”
Sarah Prager KC, a barrister at Deka Chambers, said: “We are getting group claims. We’re seeing gastric illness claims arising out of the pandemic, from hotels being mothballed and there is not a lot of documentation.” She said: “There is some discussion about whether these are [due to] claims companies. But hotels were closed for a year and now claims are coming through from when operators started sending people away again.”
Prager also agreed there has been an increase in allergy cases, saying: “More people have allergies and we’re more aware.”
