‘Rebuffed’ lesbians in honeymoon bias claim

Gemma Harman, 24, and Tamsin Harper, 36, from Brighouse, went to the Dominican Republic with Thomson after their civil partnership earlier this year.

But they claim the company refused to acknowledge their holiday as a honeymoon because they were a same-sex couple.

The newlyweds claimed that other couples they spoke to were treated “like VIPs”, being offered special romantic meals at the hotel and having bottles of rum and fruit put in their room, but they received nothing.

When they tried to book a meal it was never arranged and when they tried to complain, staff were “dismissive”.

“They just did not treat us the same as everybody else,” Ms Harman told Real Radio.

“It’s, quite frankly, disgusting in this day and age and I find it ridiculous that people who work for a company that is supposedly gay-friendly can be so rude.

“There was just nothing that made it special. It was possibly the worst two weeks I’ve spent ever.”

The couple, along with 60 other people, were also moved to a different hotel after a week, because were not enough guests in their original accommodation, and they had problems with excursions.

A spokesman for Thomson said the couple had been let down by the company for the poor customer service received on their holiday and said they had been offered compensation for these problems.

But he said the problems were nothing to do with their sexuality and were the result of a “communication breakdown”.