Family Says Thomson Demanded Big Bucks to End Nightmare Travel Package Early

The vacationers told the Daily Mail that they learned too late their all-inclusive stay in the Dominican Republic would include filth, food poisoning, plumbing problems and physical injury.

The cautionary tale of the Hawkins family might make the rest of us just a touch more generous the time we write our next online review. The family’s hellish stay in the Dominican Republic will go a long way to putting that room with the broken TV remote or an overnight stay next to the ice machine into perspective.

Paul Hawkins says that the all-inclusive trip he booked to Punta Cana through Thomson Holidays was so miserable he eventually felt the need to go to the press to expose the dangerous and uncomfortable conditions his family was subjected to on the trip. If not for the ample photographic evidence, Hawkins’s story, as detailed by the Daily Mail, would read more like the script of a Hollywood movie than a firsthand trip report.

The father of two told the newspaper that it was weeks after the ill-fated vacation before he and his family had fully physically recovered from the experience. Adding insult to injury, Hawkins says that Thomson Holidays expected him to pay an outrageous fee to cut his losses and take his family home from what he says were unsafe and inhospitable conditions at the so-called resort where they were staying.

“I wouldn’t wish that holiday on my worst enemy,” Hawkins told The Daily Mail’s Simon Lennon. “It was a complete disaster from start to finish. Things went from bad to worse and just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse something else happened. It’s the closest thing to Fawlty Towers.”

The “Fawlty Towers” experience reportedly included inedible food choices, filthy rooms, backed-up and out-of-order toilets, a lack of bedding and a kids pool that “smelt and was dirty.” Hawkins reported that by the end of the vacation, he, his wife, and both his four- and eight-year-old daughters were stricken with food poisoning. He also says that his daughter had to be treated after stepping on an exposed nail on her way to the lobby.

The UK resident said that his family’s awful holiday started to go wrong before their flight even landed when his daughter was subjected to cold water leaking from a panel above her seat. “I complained but I was just told to sit down.,” the dispirited father explained. “All I wanted was a towel. So in the end I strapped her under my seat belt in my lap. When we landed her seat was soaking.”

Hawkins says it was only after spending several hours in a medical clinic while his family was being treated for a variety of vacation-related ailments that he decided to try to get back to the relative safety of home a few days early. Unfortunately, when he contacted Thomson, he learned that ending the hellish holiday early would cost him almost an extra $2,000 per family member.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Hawkins recounted. ”It was just money they were after. They offered us another hotel but that would have cost us £2,300. We were all sick to the back teeth of the place and wanted to go home as we didn’t know what else was coming.”

Hawkins said that complaints to Thomson Airways have more or less fallen on deaf ears. He added that he is now planning legal action against the company.

“We’re sorry to hear of Mr and Mrs Hawkins’ holiday experience and would like to thank them for bringing this to our attention,” Thomson Airways said in a press release. “We’re currently investigating the complaint and will be in touch with the customers directly. We’d like to reassure customers that we regularly audit all of the hotels we feature in respect of health and safety, including hygiene.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]