Holidaymaker got compensation from Thomas Cook after falling ill at Hurghada hotel where British couple died

<em>Compensation – Nick Hawkins said Thomas Cook compensated him last year after he became ill with food poisoning while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, where a British couple recently died (Picture: AP)</em>
Compensation – Nick Hawkins said Thomas Cook compensated him last year after he became ill with food poisoning while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel in Hurghada, where a British couple recently died (Picture: AP)

Thomas Cook compensated a holidaymaker last year after he became ill with food poisoning while staying at the same Egypt hotel where a British couple recently died.

Nick Hawkins, 51, says he was paid £2,000 after a doctor diagnosed Salmonella following a seven-night holiday at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in June 2017.

The hotel hit the headlines recently after John and Susan Cooper, who were both in their 60s and from Burnley, Lancashire, died on August 21 this year while staying there.

Their deaths prompted Thomas Cook to move 300 guests out of the hotel 24 hours later as a precaution.

Mr Hawkins, a warehouse manager from Witham, Essex, said he became ill early during his holiday to the same hotel last year.

<em>Audit – Thomas Cook has ‘audited’ the hotel where the Coopers were staying (Picture: Getty)</em>
Audit – Thomas Cook has ‘audited’ the hotel where the Coopers were staying (Picture: Getty)

He said: “It ruined my holiday. Luckily we were only staying for seven nights or I think I would have ended up in hospital in Egypt.

He added: “When I got back my doctor diagnosed Salmonella. It must have come from the hotel because we had an all-in package deal and the only food I’d eaten was in the hotel.”

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Mr Hawkins said the holiday cost around £2,500 and Thomas Cook agreed to pay him £2,000 compensation after negotiations.

“I don’t know if anyone else was ill while I was there and I don’t know if any investigation was carried out,” he said, adding that while the hotel seemed “pretty clean” he would not stay there again.

A Thomas Cook spokeswoman said Mr Hawkins had been compensated after returning home.

She said: “The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our first priority and we would never send customers to a hotel which we do not believe to be safe.”

She said it was standard procedure for hotel checks to be carried out if a holidaymaker had become ill and was compensated.

Results on checks at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel following the Coopers’ deaths are expected soon, Thomas Cook has said.

Staff are expected to received ‘audit’ results from the Hurghada hotel within the next few days.

The spokeswoman said Thomas Cook audits its 3,000 “core hotels” every year.

She said the Steigenberger Aqua Magic had been audited in July, and again after Mr and Mrs Cooper died.

The spokeswoman said the firm had removed 47 hotels from its core hotel list for health and safety reasons and another 150 which did not meet “our strict quality criteria”.