Thomas Cook has confirmed 29 cases of “mild illness” reported by guests staying at the Hotel Playa Pesquero in Cuba in the first two weeks of April.
“This represents just 1.5% of the overall hotel population of 1,800,” the operator said.
“The 29 cases were a mixture of Thomas Cook customers and other tour operators; the Thomas Cook customers were offered every assistance by our dedicated resort team.
“All were treated on site, with two receiving attention at the hotel clinic for dehydration.”
The operator disputed allegations made by holiday illness compensation specialists Your Holiday Claims that 80% of holidaymakers had fallen ill due to an outbreak of salmonella at the hotel.
Cook said the cause of the outbreak is under investigation.
Your Holiday Claims alleged that many British holidaymakers had been taken to hospital during their stay. Many were believed to be on saline drips for severe dehydration after being violently ill, the law firm said.
Cook responded by saying: “We are aware that a statement was recently issued by a no-win, no-fee lawyer.
“This repeated as yet unsubstantiated allegations and we consider this to be deeply irresponsible.
“We ask any customers who may have concerns relating to their holiday to contact us directly and as quickly as possible so that we can deal with them personally in an open, honest and fair manner.
“We are confident that those customers due to travel to the resort in the future will experience the excellent levels of quality and standards they would expect from a Thomas Cook property. Accordingly, normal booking conditions apply.”
Cook added that it was working closely with management at the Hotel Playa Pesquero to ensure that internationally recognised Prevention of Spread of Infection (POSI) procedures are in place.
“We will continue to follow the rigorous processes to establish the cause of the illness reported to our staff as this investigation continues,” the company said.
Cook said that its legal team has yet to receive any correspondence from customers or their legal representatives regarding alleged illness at the hotel.
Anne Thomson, head of travel law at Your Holiday Claims, said: “We are already instructed by a number of clients who suffered similar gastric illnesses during their holidays at this hotel in 2013.
“Holidaymakers who have returned from their stay at the hotel who have been diagnosed with salmonella food poisoning or any other type of gastric illness should report this to their tour operator and contact us for help to make a successful compensation claim straight away.”