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‘UK operators are holding Spanish hotels to ransom’


Spanish hoteliers are bearing the brunt of increased costs of fighting scam sickness claims, say Spanish lawyers. Ian Taylor reports from Madrid


Lawyers in Spain have challenged the belief that an epidemic of scam holiday sickness claims is being brought under control.


They say Spanish hoteliers


are being forced to pay for UK operators’ new determination to fight fraudulent claims. Marie Rogers of Madrid-based


law firm Rogers & Co said: “There is a lot of noise, [but] when tour operators fight [these claims] the


128 travelweekly.co.uk 25 January 2018


hotels have to pick up the costs.” Fellow Rogers & Co lawyer


David Diez Ramos, who acts for hotel insurers, said: “The situation is worse than a year ago. “There are fewer claims, but


they are more expensive. “Last year we received


20 instructions a month [on sickness claims] and perhaps one or two with a lawyer acting for the tour operator. This year almost every claim has a solicitor


acting for the tour operator. “We used to deal with in‑house lawyers; now we deal with intermediary solicitors or para‑legals. It’s adding to the bill. They are reviewing the documents of 100 claims to find one to defend and charging to review every document. We see lists of 35 documents requested by tour operators’ solicitors and they are charging for this.” He insisted: “Appointing more and more lawyers is not going to make the claims more defendable. It just increases the costs. It would be much easier to defend


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