‘Travelodge tried to silence me with £89 after I was attacked by bed bugs'
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Dear Katie,
For my birthday, I stayed at the Leicester City Centre Travelodge on May 26 for one night, and suffered the most dreadful shock during the night.
I started feeling itchy, and thought something was biting me. When I searched the bed sheets, I found they were riddled with bed bugs. As it turns out, the room was severely infested, and not in any way fit for guests to stay in.
I reported it to reception the next morning, where a staff member reviewed the photos and videos that I took. She was very apologetic, and said the manager would get in touch that same day to arrange compensation. However, no one ever did.
Not only was this a horrible taint on my birthday, but I've also got underlying health issues including diabetes, which means my skin doesn't heal as fast as other people's. The stress of all this has seen my diabetes markers increase, and I have to seek medical advice.
After chasing a few times, someone from Travelodge's customer services team finally responded. He confirmed that 'an infestation of pests was found in your room', which has apparently since been treated.
He offered a full room refund of £38.99, as well as £50 compensation, but only if I agreed to a confidentiality clause preventing me from telling anyone about the incident or posting online. Quite honestly, this feels really off to me.
Do you think this is a reasonable offer considering what happened?
– Anon
Dear reader,
I was so sorry to hear that your birthday night away was ruined by this infestation of micro predators that feed on human blood during the night.
Following the initial horror of discovering the room was severely infested with the pests, you've been left with scores of itchy red bites all over your skin.
Possibly due to your diabetes, these have not healed after a few weeks, and since your wedding is coming up in just a couple of months, you are extremely stressed about them disappearing in time for your big day.
Given the stress caused, you feel Travelodge's offer of £88.50 – if you sign a confidentiality clause to say you won't tell anyone about it – is unacceptable, and I completely agree with you. Especially after the way your serious complaint was pushed into the long grass and ignored.
In fact, I have rarely heard of a company asking anyone to sign a confidentiality agreement for such a laughable amount of money before, so I was more than happy to take up your case.
I told Travelodge that I felt the amount of compensation was far too low, and that you would not be happy to remain silent about your experience or any compensation you receive. You had already told me for a start, and I was planning to write an article about it in a national newspaper.
It got back to you with a significantly higher offer of £500, which it said was 'full and final'.
You asked me whether I thought this was fair, and I said I felt this amount certainly felt more proportional to the degree of suffering you had been subjected to. However, I warned you under no circumstances to accept the offer as 'full and final'.
This was because there was now a very real risk that you could have inadvertently taken the bed bugs home and your own bedroom could be infested.
After all, this is how bed bugs are spread – it's not necessarily because of poor hygiene or uncleanliness. Once they take hold in homes, they can be a nightmare to exterminate, potentially costing thousands of pounds to remove.
So you replied saying you would accept the £500 on the basis that you reserve the right to bill Travelodge should a subsequent infestation arise at your home.
Travelodge came back and offered to send out a pest control expert to your home to proactively inspect it and treat any infestation it finds, which we were both very happy to accept.
However, there was a catch – it was not prepared to remove the confidentiality clause. I phoned its press office to let it know I was running this story with all the details, meaning the clause was pointless. Their reply was: 'Policy is policy.'
Happily, just before this article went to press, common sense prevailed. Travelodge changed its mind and dropped the need for confidentiality from the agreement.
It is still happy to pay you the compensation though, and organise the pest control visit. You have accepted its terms and will move on with your life. I wish you all the best with your upcoming nuptials, and sincerely hope the itchy bites are gone by then.
A Travelodge spokesman said: 'We are very sorry to hear about the customer's recent stay with us. The safety and wellbeing of our customers is always our priority and we have robust prevention measures in place for bed bugs, an issue that affects the hospitality industry.
'Instances of bed bugs are extremely rare in our hotels, and we train our housekeeping colleagues to be vigilant and to spot early signs wherever possible.
'We have carried out a thorough investigation into the matter, apologised and offered her a gesture of goodwill. We hope that we can welcome her back to our hotels in the future and reinstate her faith in our brand.'
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