The owners of the Holiday Village resort in Sarigerme were ordered by the High Court in London yesterday to pay a group settlement, which will see more than 160 children and 435 adults who stayed at the hotel receive damages of up to £25,000 each.

More than 400 holidaymakers suffered gastric illness during the summer of 2009, with more than 100 contracting infections such as Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter and E.coli.

A further 150 did not suffer illness themselves, but had their holidays affected by the sickness of family, friends or other guests staying at the hotel.

Holidaymakers reported seeing feces floating in swimming pools, while some food was seen to be undercooked and left uncovered for long periods. Crockery and cutlery in the restaurant was often found to be dirty and public toilets were grubby and had no hot water.

Some travellers were so ill they needed hospital treatment at the resort, while others still had to be treated after they returned to the UK.

First Choice said that it did not comment on settlement payouts.