EXCLUSIVE Hotel guest who was bitten 30 times by bed bugs in infested room tells how she woke up to see them 'crawling on the bed'
Sharon Aggarwal, 53, shut herself in the bathroom for two hours after she woke up in the middle of the night 'scratching' at a three-star hotel in Henley-on-Thames.
The IT worker, who frequently travels to the picturesque town in Oxfordshire for work, said she pulled back the sheet and could see several bugs 'crawling on the bed'.
Mrs Aggarwal said she squashed a large one on the pillow and was horrified to see blood spurt out of it.
The 53-year-old from the Midlands was staying at The Catherine Wheel last month - a historic 12th century pub and guesthouse that is now owned by JD Wetherspoon.
Mrs Aggarwal told MailOnline: 'I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night - all itchy.
'I pulled the sheet back and all I could see were these things crawling on the bed. It was pretty gross. I squished on of them and blood spurted out onto me.
'After seeing them all over the news a couple of years ago, I was like oh no, I know what this is.
'I looked at my hand and I could see these bites. Then there was this quite big one on the pillow. I was like "oh God that was right by my head".
'At this point, I just went into the bathroom and shut the door. It was around 3am in the middle of the night. I just stayed there until 5am until the sun started to come up.
'I was covered in bites. I had like two on my face, three or four on my neck and another three around the waistband of my pyjamas.
'Then about ten on one hand and around seven or eight on the other.'
Mrs Aggarwal said the bites were unlike anything that she had experienced before - and the itching only started to subside when she went to the pharmacist.
'I've been bitten by mosquitos in the past but these were the most itchy things.
'They came up like big welts on my face so I also went to the pharmacist to take some antihistamines.
'I had to take them every six hours.'
Mrs Aggarwal said she managed to trap one of the bed bugs under a pint glass and showed it to the night porter at The Catherine Wheel.
She said she also called the JD Wetherspoon customer service line to complain and left a note at reception when she checked out.
'I did not hear back from the Catherine Wheel for ages. It's not exactly the Ritz but I would expect it to be clean,' she said.
'This is a popular hotel and they have a busy summer period coming up. Obviously they have the Henley Regatta and Festival.
'The hotel did get back to me and admitted they did have bed bugs in the room but could not find them.
'I said sleep in the bed and you'll find them. I heard that environmental health are investigating as well and will eradicate the bugs.
'I've since heard back from Wetherspoons and they have offered to reimburse me for the night and the room.'
A spokesman for Wetherspoons confirmed the presence of bed bugs in the room and said it had been 'immediately taken out of use'.
He said: 'We were informed by a guest staying in the hotel on May 6 of the suspected presence of bed bugs in her room.
'This was confirmed after her departure and the room was immediately taken out of use.
'We are liaising directly with the guest concerned to address her concerns. Like all hotel operators, Wetherspoons has procedures in place to minimise this problem.
'These include daily checks by trained staff when servicing hotel rooms and regular preventative visits by qualified contracts, which means episodes such as this are rare.'
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