BE CAREFUL: BED BUGS! AND OTHER PEOPLE’S BLOOD!

The 1st Room: The air conditioner screamed. Allocated room #2.

The 2nd Room: Returning at 11:30pm to find a bed bug crawling over a pillow! Receptionist said we needed to evacuate the room and she would go get the manager. Manager was “busy at the moment” and we were allocated room #3. Waited for the manager for ages when another receptionist asked if he could help and retrieved the manager.

The manager, SHEZAN, joined us and asked how he could help like he’d not heard what was going on. I told him about the bed bug room, and he replied, “So? I gave you another room!” That was it.

I advised that this was the third room we’ve been issued, I have a child waiting up and it’s now midnight, that surely he could understand the frustration and the need to be acknowledged that this was unacceptable.

Shezan shrugged and responded, “So what do you want me to do? I gave you another room.” I asked, what if the other room has bed bugs too, and he told me to “Go check it.”

The 3rd Room: Eventually Shezan agreed to inspect the room with us. I asked how would we know if there are no bed bugs? He said I was welcome to inspect the beds - I would have to undo each bed and thoroughly inspect them for bed bugs! I said I’d inspect their beds for bed bugs, so long as he has someone remake them. Shezan refused, then said, “You have a choice, you can have this room, or you can leave and find somewhere else to go.” It’s now after midnight.

I said my partner and I needed to talk about it, Shezan said we had 10 minutes because he was going home for the night, and that we could talk there in front of him, refusing to leave the room. I guess my death stare eventually sent him out.

We had no choice but to stay. Searching for accommodation, with a foreign phone, inability to dial out, a child, and a significant amount of luggage on the streets of London in the extremely early hours of the morning is not a good idea. Shezan insultingly offered us a 30% discount for the night.

I stripped the beds for inspection. One of the mattresses was stained like someone had urinated across the bottom of it and it was left there to fester for the rest of eternity.

We then had to re-make the beds with their ill-fitting linen. For one bed, the linen couldn’t even be tucked under the mattress.

If that wasn’t enough, when the toilet roll flew off its feeble handle towards the toilet on the floor, it was retrieved wet with heaven knows what and with someone else’s blood on it! The bathroom floor that hadn’t been cleaned from previous guests!

We slept on top of the linens with towels as pillows and dreamed about bed bugs for a few broken hours. At 7am, I went to reception to tell them that we were leaving and expected a full refund for the two nights we had booked. DERYA, the new shift manager, had no idea about what had happened, no incident report had been left. After explaining, Derya assured me she would make enquiries from Shezan to find out “what he’s done” and that she would email us back, advised us that she will refund the previous night in full, and that we needed to talk to Central Reservations or Customer Services to get the refund for the second night.

All this was on 19th/20th July. It’s been over a week, and we have not heard back from anyone at Travelodge.

Meanwhile, here are some of the complaints from other customers overheard while we waited at reception:

• One person complained they had no toilet paper in their room.

• One person complained they had to sleep on top of their bed the previous night because there was no mattress sheet.

• And the real kicker: one young woman complained that some random man she didn't know entered her room with a valid room key to her room while she was in there!