British tourist leaves inheritance to hotel staff in Kuşadası

AYDIN

A British tourist has left a “remarkable amount” of his inheritance to the staff members of a hotel in the tourism hotspot Kuşadası in the Aegean province of Aydın, where he had been spending his vacations since the 1990s.

“We are affected. I will use the money given to me for my children’s education,” said Taşkın Daştan, the bellboy in the hotel, thanking Charles George Courtney, who died seven years ago.

According to the bellboy, Courtney first became the hotel’s guest in 1990. Since then, he spent some 52 vacations at the same hotel and the same room for decades.

He died in 2015, just two months after he made his last vacation at the hotel.

“Just after his death, we got a call from Britain that Courtney had left some money from his inheritance,” Daştan said.

Courtney had arranged his will days before his death, asking his nephew to sell his properties and share some of the money earned from the sales with the hotel staff.

However, the will had caused a stir in the family. Some family members opposed to it, while some supported.

After years of discussions, the nephew arrived in Kuşadası the last week of August.

On Aug. 22, the nephew allocated the inheritance money to the hotel staff and left for England.

When asked about the amount of the money, Tacettin Özden, the hotel’s manager only said, “Enough” without giving further details.

“We met each other when I first carried his suitcase. He always acted nice to me,” Daştan said.

“He trusted me so much that he was leaving all his money to me. I saw his money like mine. He was receiving allowances from me during his vacations,” Daştan noted.

Courtney was beloved by the hotel staff so much that he was seen by them as “our Charlie.”

“Charlie always used to stay at the same room. That’s why, years ago, the hotel gave the name of ‘Room Charlie’ to the room 401 he stayed,” the bellboy reminded.