It is not uncommon for people to find bed bugs within their hotel room, as bed bugs are becoming a major problem for the lodging industry. When a customer spots one or several of the bloodsucking insects within a room, there is usually very little a motel or hotel owner can do to mitigate the bad press that usually follows such a finding. When people do spot bed bugs within a hotel room, they almost always capture video or photo evidence of the insect’s presence. In these situations, the only option facing a hospitality manager is to simply admit to the existence of bed bugs within a guest’s room before providing alternative lodging for the guest.
As you can imagine, many hotel and motel managers are reluctant to admit to the presence of bed bugs on their property for obvious reasons. For example, a guest at a popular resort in Colorado discovered one single bed bug crawling on tissue within her room. The female guest then recorded the bed bug’s movements on her phone before posting the video to Facebook. The video quickly garnered thousands of views, and there seemed to be little doubt that the guest did, in fact, find a bed bug within her room. However, after notifying management of the bed bug presence within the room, the manager simply responded by insisting that the woman had not found a bed bug; instead, the manager of the Great Wolf Lodge claimed that the woman found a beetle, not a bed bug. As you can guess, this is not the response that the female guest had been hoping for.
The female guest’s upsetting experience at the lodge was documented by Denver7 News. A spokesperson for the lodge also provided a statement for Denver7 News saying that all rooms are inspected for insect pests, and the female guest’s room was inspected thoroughly by a professional, but not one single bed bug could be found. However, the female guest’s daughter sustained bed bug bites that say otherwise. The spokesperson also claimed that the only way bed bugs could find their way into the rooms is if guests bring the bugs into the rooms themselves. Not surprisingly, the guest did not appreciate being blamed for transporting the bug into the room. Despite her bad experience with the lodge, the female guest says she may return, but only if she is given a chance to inspect her room beforehand.
Do you think that the female guest captured footage of a bed bug?