Tui Group has agreed a five-figure compensation settlement with Gary Cushnie, 63, after he was hospitalised with Legionnaires’ disease following a holiday in Cuba in June 2022. The settlement was reached without any admission of liability, and the case centres on his stay at a hotel in Havana booked through Tui Group.
Illness struck during the June 2022 trip
Mr Cushnie began feeling unwell six days into the holiday with his partner Julie, with chest pains, shortness of breath and a loss of appetite that left him totally exhausted. For the final week of the two-week trip, the couple stayed at the hotel and he mostly lay on covered sun beds or sat in the shade because he did not have the energy to do more.
After an eight-and-a-half-hour flight back to the UK, he was too ill to drive home from the airport, and Julie took over mid-journey. Once they returned to East Yorkshire, Julie called NHS 111 when his condition did not improve, and he was taken by ambulance to Hull Royal Infirmary, where he stayed for more than a week.
Diagnosis, treatment and lasting impact
At hospital, Mr Cushnie was diagnosed first with pneumonia and pleurisy, before blood tests confirmed Legionnaires’ disease. He was treated with intravenous antibiotics, and he says the effects have continued more than three and a half years later.
“It has been shocking just how much it has impacted on me, ” Mr Cushnie said. “I find that still, even now, it takes very little for me to get out of breath and for my energy levels to drop. ” He added that he now has to wear a mask at night to help his breathing, takes more tablets to manage his blood pressure and brought forward his retirement by a couple of years because he feels exhausted much of the time.
Mr Cushnie said he and Julie had no idea what had caused the illness until the diagnosis was confirmed after he returned to the UK. He recalled that the first hotel in Havana had just been decorated, with hallways and the room smelling of fresh paint, and said the shower initially “coughed and spluttered” before the water ran freely.
Tui Group settlement and response
Tui Group initially denied liability for the illness at Iberostar Grand Packard Hotel in Havana, but later agreed to settle after the case was filed in court. Hudgell Solicitors, which represented Mr Cushnie, said he was given a five-figure compensation settlement.
Anne Thomson, Senior Litigation Executive at Hudgell Solicitors, said she was pleased the matter was settled out of court. She said holiday operators often deny that one of the hotels they use has been the source of an infection, making the agreement significant for the family.
Mr Cushnie said the settlement was not about money for him. “This was not about the money for me, it was about TUI recognising that they had failed to look after their customers, ” he said.
What this means now
The case has drawn attention to how Legionnaires’ disease can emerge after hotel stays and why symptoms can be missed until travellers return home. Mr Cushnie said he now takes extra care when travelling, including running taps after arriving at a hotel, and he says he has told others to do the same. Tui Group has agreed the compensation, but the wider consequences of the illness continue for him every day.
