A dream weekend trip to see superstar Whitney Houston perform in the US turned into a nightmare for dozens of Bermuda fans.

The concert was cancelled -- minutes after they took their seats in the theatre.

Now furious concert-goers are demanding a full refund of the $525 package bought from Meyer Travel -- not just the $75 to $95 paid for concert tickets offered initially by the promoters.

Whitney Houston fan and United Bermuda Party MP Tim Smith and wife Sue were among the Bermudians stunned at the no-show.

And yesterday he called for similar packages in the future to carry guarantees of full refunds if concerts do not go ahead.

Mr. Smith said: "We expected to be stunned by Whitney's performance -- instead we were stunned by a non-event.'' He added that fans had bought programmes and T-shirts and taken their seats before an announcement was made that Houston was ill and the concert would not go ahead.

Mr. Smith said: "In order to bring some credibility to the customer, as well as trust and confidence in their packages, I think people would be looking at what guarantees were offered for such concert trips in the future.'' He added: "I'm a Member of Parliament -- if a constituent had contacted me about this, I would have been very concerned.'' Fans stumped up the cash for a Saturday morning American Airlines flight to New York and tickets for the Houston concert in Newark's New Jersey Centre for the Performing Arts.

The show was due to be held at the Centre on Saturday night, with concert-goers scheduled to return to Bermuda early on Sunday.

Mr. Smith said disappointed Bermuda fans were told they could expect ticket refunds -- but with no promise of full refunds.

But he pointed out: "The ticket price was a very small part of the total -- and I wouldn't have been in New Jersey on a Saturday night otherwise.'' And he said: "There's also some confusion over what to do if we're offered new tickets for a rescheduled show.

"I don't think that provides much comfort to people who have travelled by plane and bus and have to stay overnight in a hotel.'' Mr. Smith added that he was sure concert promoters carried insurance to cover no-shows -- and that the cost of the Bermudians' trips was tiny compared to the multi-millions earned by singing stars.

But Mr. Smith added: "I think everyone is prepared to give Meyer the opportunity to investigate what they can do in such circumstances.'' Meyer's boss Pat Trott -- who went with the Bermudian contingent of around 80 -- said this had never happened before on one of the firm's concert packages.

And she promised that the company would do everything it could to try and recoup the full cost of the trip for customers.

Ms Trott said: "At the moment, we're talking to the New Jersey Performing Arts Centre. They will refund the concert tickets, but I've also been given further contacts and we're pursuing the matter.

"We've done several concerts and nothing like this has happened before -- we've never had to deal with this.

"People were very disappointed and very surprised that they were only told when the concert was due to start.

"I'm not going to say people will get a full refund -- but we're looking into the matter and we will take the correct channels in pursuing this on behalf of our clients.'' ENTERTAINMENT ENT