Family claim they were treated ‘like prisoners’ during £3k quarantine stay at Holiday Inn Express
‘Food not fit for an ANIMAL’: Family claim they were treated ‘like prisoners’ and waited NINE hours for stale sandwiches during £3,050 quarantine stay at Holiday Inn Express… where staff said ‘you can always order a takeaway’
- Muhammad Imran and wife Tahira Sultana were required to stay at Holiday Inn Express in Luton for 10 days after returning from red-listed Pakistan last month
- During their stay, the couple say they were served stale, cold and bland meals
- Mr Imran says when he complained to staff about the food they were told they could order takeaway despite forking out more than £3,000 for stay at the hotel
- Holiday Inn and company that organises quarantine hotels deny responsibility
A couple who stayed in a quarantine hotel have revealed how they were served stale food they could barely eat and sometimes made to wait more than nine hours for it to be delivered to their room.
Muhammad Imran, 62, and his wife Tahira Sultana, 57, fumed that during their stay they were ‘treated like prisoners’ and when they complained to hotel staff about the dire meals they were told: ‘You can always order a takeaway.’
Mr Imran and his wife spent 12 days at the Holiday Inn Express in Luton after arriving from Pakistan in June.
They were forced to extend their mandatory quarantine period of 10 days for arrivals from a red list country by an extra two days after Ms Sultana tested positive for COVID-19 while at the hotel.
They paid a total of £3,050 for three people, with Mr Imran’s sister Zaeema sharing a room with them to save costs.
The hotel quarantine scheme costs £1,750 for one person for ten days with £650 for each additional person sharing the same room.
Muhammad Imran and his wife Tahira Sultana have said they were treated like prisoners during their quarantine stay at Holiday Inn Express in Luton after returning from red listed Pakistan
Mr Imran said they were served substandard meals (pictured) which included sandwiches made from hard bread, oily fish fingers and cold bland vegetable curry throughout their stay
But Mr Imran and his wife have been left seething about their meals which included sandwiches made from hard bread, oily fish fingers and cold, bland vegetable curry.
Mr Imran, from Romford, Essex told MailOnline: ‘The food was disgusting – it was cold, stale and hard to swallow. It wasn’t fit for an animal, never mind a human being.
‘When we complained about it, the attitude of the staff was horrendous. They didn’t seem to care and just shrugged their shoulders and told us: ‘You can always order a take-away.’
Ms Sultana added: ‘We paid a lot of money for our stay and deserved better food and respect. The staff behaved like prison wardens, and we were treated like prisoners. To be honest, you probably get better treatment in prison.’
Mr Imran and his wife travelled to Pakistan earlier this year but decided to remain in the country hoping that it would be removed from the UK Government’s red list.
They returned to the UK after being unable to tolerate high summer temperatures in Pakistan.
The Holiday Inn Express in Luton (pictured) denied responsibility for matters relating to quarantine guests at the hotel and said responsibility lay with the Department of Health
Mr Imran said when they complained about the food (pictured) they were told by hotel staff, who they say seemed unconcerned, that they could order takeaway if they were unhappy
He added: ‘We stuck it out for as long as we could but then thought we’d pay the money to quarantine in the UK because it was so hot in Pakistan.
‘We tried to save costs by sharing a room with my sister. We had no choice over which hotel was allocated to us and ended up in a cramped room with lots of luggage. When I complained about the size of the room, the staff just said if I don’t like it, I could go back to Heathrow.’
Ms Sultana, a diabetic, revealed how matters came to a head after they were served breakfast on some days at 7.30am with lunch arriving more than nine hours later at 4.45pm.
She said: ‘I started feeling unwell and was crying to the manager “We are old people, I’m sick. Please send us decent food on time”.
‘But like the rest of the staff he didn’t seem that bothered. It was the hotel from hell and I’m so happy that I’m no longer there.’
After their repeated complaints went unheard, Mr Irman, his wife and sister eventually resorted to ordering takeaways, which they claim cost them hundreds of pounds.
Corporate Travel Management, who is responsible for organising quarantine hotels on behalf of the Government, has said it is not responsible for the standard of the food served to guests
They are demanding Corporate Travel Management (CTM), the company which organises quarantine hotels on behalf of the UK Government or the Holiday Inn Express compensate them for the extra money they were forced to spend.
Mr Imran said: ‘We’ve kept the bills in the hope that we might get compensation from CTM or the hotel but in truth, I don’t think we’ll get very far.
‘It’s impossible to get them to answer the phone and even when they do, they’re not very helpful.
‘I understand the need to quarantine but it should be done properly. The current system is just a money-making scam.’
The couple are amongst hundreds of people who have vented anger at their quarantine hotel stays.
Many have taken to social media, with a special Facebook page set up to allow people to share their experiences.
One man posted a picture of a mouldy orange, which he claimed had been given to his nine-year-old nephew, who ended up getting food poisoning.
The couple say that on occasion their lunch arrived nine hours after they had eaten breakfast
Others have complained about lengthy waiting times for test results and the cleanliness of rooms.
One irate traveller, who posted pictures of his quarantine hotel near Gatwick Airport moaned: ‘My room is so dirty that I can’t imagine letting my 8 month old crawl on this dirty carpet or touch anything, food isn’t great with small portions…we have paid so much yet did not get the service we deserve.’
Earlier this year, a family of three complained of the ‘inhuman’ conditions at the same quarantine hotel in Luton.
Shabana Shah and her children Rida, 15, and Raiyman, 20, had been holidaying in Dubai but were forced into quarantine after they travelled home through Turkey due to flight cancellations.
Ms Shah said her stay at the Holiday Express Inn hotel in Luton was ‘awful’ as they were forced to stay in one small room with all their luggage and she said the food was substandard.
When Sabana complained to hotel staff about the conditions, she was told to contact Australian firm Corporate Travel Management (CTM) Ltd, which has the contract with the government.
Shabana Shah (pictured) and her children had to stay at the same Holiday Inn Express hotel in May and said the room was too small for them with their luggage and that the food was ‘awful’
She said: ‘They were just blaming each other and were just playing games. We were in there for 10 days and nothing was done. We were treated really badly.’
The Shah family were put in a ‘family room’ at the Holiday Inn at a total fixed cost of £3,050.
Pictures showed two double beds have been squeezed into a single room to accommodate the three of them.
With luggage taking up what little floor space that is left, the trio have been forced to climb across a bed to get to the bathroom.
It is understood they could get an additional room at a further cost of £650 but declined.
They family said they were permitted to leave for fresh air for only 15 minutes at a time.
In response to the most recent complaint, CTM said in a statement that it was not responsible for the quality of food and the treatment of guests but when any complaints are raised, it does its utmost to address them.
It said in a statement: ‘Service level experiences at each hotel within the Managed Hotel Quarantine Programme are the responsibility of the hotel operators.’
It added: ‘Where comments and complaints relate to elements of the programme outside of CTM’s involvement, CTM has a robust complaint management process in place to share feedback with the relevant providers to enable continuous improvement to the hotel quarantine programme.’
The Holiday Inn Express in Luton said: ‘All matters relating to quarantine hotels are the responsibility of the Department of Health.’
The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.
