As someone who used to work for a property-casualty insurer we had our share of food poisoning claims submitted. It's not that easy to prove.

1. It could be the stomach flu. It's winter time and it's going around everywhere.

2. If it is food poisoning, someone else correctly posted that more than likely several people eating the same thing would be affected.

3. There are a lot of different types of food poisoning and blood tests can confirm what it is. Some of them actually don't take affect until 24-36 hours after the food is ingested. So if someone gets sick 2-3 hours after eating something, you have no idea for certain which meal caused the illness.

I'm sorry this happened to you (or anyone) but I can understand the motel not giving you anything. I got the stomach flu once in a motel and couldn't even get the clerk to deliver me a 7up even though I offered to pay for it. It's a terrible feeling.