Woman has 50 injuries after ‘holiday from hell’ without running water

A pensioner was left with infected wounds from mosquito bites after her hotel had no running water on her ‘holiday from hell’. Marjorie McCance, 66, from Westerton, paid £1,800 for the all-inclusive stay at the TUI Sol Dunas resort in Cape Verde.

A broken pipe left half of Cape Verde without any water supply, but Marjorie claims it was only after she settled into her room that she discovered there was no way to wash her hands, shower or flush the toilet. “What should have been a wonderful holiday turned into a complete nightmare,” said Marjorie.

“Nobody told us anything. It was only after we asked our representatives and the hotel staff what was going on that we discovered that the place had been without water two days before our arrival. I just couldn’t believe that TUI was still transporting people to a large hotel without a properly functioning water supply.

“We had to find out what was going on from other guests who were also at the reception asking for answers. To make matters worse, there was no hand sanitizer and people used buckets of pool water to flush their toilets. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

Marjorie told how the holiday went from bad to worse when she was left covered in painful mosquito bites, which then became infected and required medical attention. After speaking to TUI representatives and hotel staff, she says she was moved from the first floor to the ground floor, but claims that even after the room was sprayed with insecticide, the problem continued.

After speaking with the doctor at the scene, he was prescribed antibiotics to treat more than 50 wounds on his body. Marjorie said: “I was bitten badly but even to get an antihistamine there you need a prescription.

“By the time I made the TUI reps or the hotel staff realize I needed one or something to wash my body, I was pretty sick. I asked Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and only then did I see the on-site doctor, at which point a serious infection took hold.

“I had to go into St Mary’s myself to find a chemist for antibiotics, antibiotic cream, antihistamines and a foot spray. At this point I was feeling very uncomfortable. I felt terrible and it was a struggle to do anything. At one point I even started counting the bites on the body, but gave up when I got to 50.

“I was just counting down the days until I could fly home – it really was a holiday from hell.”

Marjorie claims that even after the luxury hotel’s supply was restored, problems persisted. She added: “The water was cut off between April 25 and 29. It finally came back around 8am but it was a thick brown sludge and didn’t drain clear into our room until around 11pm.

“We were only given two bottles of drinking water each day and I had to stock up on wet wipes to stay clean. I discovered on Sunday that the whole island was unaffected and that there were two more TUI hotels, both within a five minute walk. which had water all the time, but I wasn’t offered a move there.”

Marjorie says the situation became so unbearable that she turned to the British embassy in Dakar and local MP Amy Callaghan for help. On her return to Glasgow, she also complained to TUI staff at her local branch about her experience.

She added: “Despite feeling awful and just wanting to rest, I went to my local TUI store and made the staff aware of how awful our journey had been.” Marjorie says the firm has since made an offer of compensation, which she has rejected.

She added: “I was offered £120 to make up for a ruined £1,800 holiday. In my opinion, it’s an insult – a lot more should have been done there to fix the problems or move the tourists elsewhere.” The company says that during a period in April some hotels on the island had low water pressure due to a broken pipe.

The company claims that the most affected guests were offered a free change at the hotel and that the problem only lasted two days. The firm also denied that there was no running water. They also say that meal services were not affected and that guests were given a courtesy call upon returning home for the “minor impact” on their vacation experience.

A TUI spokesman added: “We will not be providing any further comment.”