Hotel Borges Chiado — Hotel in Lisbon

I am not one to write hotel reviews for no good reason. However, there was a serious health and safety issue with Hotel Borges Chiado that future guests deserve to know. ||||I stayed four nights in this hotel, and although my room was dated and the air conditioning was not working , the real trouble started when I noticed welt/bites on my arms and back after two nights of my stay. I initially relegated this to mosquito bites. But in the morning of my third day of stay, I noticed drops of blood on my bedsheets. This triggered me to inspect further, under the sheets and mattresses for any signs of bugs/insects. That was when my worst fear was confirmed - the bites were from bed bugs. I clearly saw the dead bed bug, which I must have swatted in my sleep, causing the trail of blood. I kept this bug for the hotel management to see. One might question whether I know how a bed bug looks like. Fortunately, two of my travel companions worked in a downtown Emergency room in Toronto, and, needless to say, they have seen bed bugs on patients. Both confirmed that the bug I nervously held in my ziploc bag was indeed a bed bug. Upon further assessment of my bites, the signature pattern of bed bug bites, that is usually a group of three red welts in a line (pictured below) came to light. The bed bug usually travels in a line or zigzag to find a blood vessel, resulting in multiple bites in this pattern. ||||I immediately alerted the hotel frontline staff about this situation. The response I received from João the front desk staff was non-apologetic, non-empathetic to say the least. No “I am sorry”, nothing. I got a blank stare and was told to wait for “ a couple hours, until they can see if they can move me to another room”. I had told them that there was clearly no other option. I had also asked whether there was a manager on site to speak with, I was told there was none. Upon further deliberation, João decided that he will move me to another room. I had asked whether this was an upgraded or renovated room (similar to the one my travel companions had). The response was a chuckle (I kid you not !), and he said “no it’s just same standard room but just no bed bugs”. There was no offer of recompense, not even an apology. The nonchalant way of how João acknowledged “bed bugs” though hinted that this may not be the first time that staff have had heard these complaints from guests. ||||The hotel clearly has to address the bed bug infestation in their facility. The onus must not be on the customer to alert the pertinent travel and healthcare agencies to outline a clear intervention. Moreover, hotel staff need a clear re-education of how to handle customer concerns, with empathy and compassion. I had multiple bites all over my body from a hotel room I paid for with good intention with an expectation that, at a minimum, I can sleep peacefully with no safety concerns. Instead, I had suffered immensely from...

I am not one to write hotel reviews for no good reason. However, there was a serious health and safety issue with Hotel Borges Chiado that future guests deserve to know.

I stayed four nights in this hotel, and although my room was dated and the air conditioning was not working , the real trouble started when I noticed welt/bites on my arms and back after two nights of my stay. I initially relegated this to mosquito bites. But in the morning of my third day of stay, I noticed drops of blood on my bedsheets. This triggered me to inspect further, under the sheets and mattresses for any signs of bugs/insects. That was when my worst fear was confirmed - the bites were from bed bugs. I clearly saw the dead bed bug, which I must have swatted in my sleep, causing the trail of blood. I kept this bug for the hotel management to see. One might question whether I know how a bed bug looks like. Fortunately, two of my travel companions worked in a downtown Emergency room in Toronto, and, needless to say, they have seen bed bugs on patients. Both confirmed that the bug I nervously held in my ziploc bag was indeed a bed bug. Upon further assessment of my bites, the signature pattern of bed bug bites, that is usually a group of three red welts in a line (pictured below) came to light. The bed bug usually travels in a line or zigzag to find a blood vessel, resulting in multiple bites in this pattern.

I immediately alerted the hotel frontline staff about this situation. The response I received from João the front desk staff was non-apologetic, non-empathetic to say the least. No “I am sorry”, nothing. I got a blank stare and was told to wait for “ a couple hours, until they can see if they can move me to another room”. I had told them that there was clearly no other option. I had also asked whether there was a manager on site to speak with, I was told there was none. Upon further deliberation, João decided that he will move me to another room. I had asked whether this was an upgraded or renovated room (similar to the one my travel companions had). The response was a chuckle (I kid you not !), and he said “no it’s just same standard room but just no bed bugs”. There was no offer of recompense, not even an apology. The nonchalant way of how João acknowledged “bed bugs” though hinted that this may not be the first time that staff have had heard these complaints from guests.

The hotel clearly has to address the bed bug infestation in their facility. The onus must not be on the customer to alert the pertinent travel and healthcare agencies to outline a clear intervention. Moreover, hotel staff need a clear re-education of how to handle customer concerns, with empathy and compassion. I had multiple bites all over my body from a hotel room I paid for with good intention with an expectation that, at a minimum, I can sleep peacefully with no safety concerns. Instead, I had suffered immensely from...

The hotel is well located centrally and close to a metro station. The main reception area and many of the communal areas within the hotel are permeated with the scent of a tardy Arsenal Supporting father of two's sphincter - which is not the most pleasant stench to march through on your way to the breakfast room. The rooms themselves were clean, with the previously mentioned stench only noticeable in the ground floor rooms, ironically room 101 was the stinkiest room in town! But hey, we're here for a good time not a long time, and it wasn't my room, so I wasn't too bothered. Reception was friendly and helpful, particularly with the regular stream of stag do attendees who frequently managed to either misplaced their room keys, mobile phones, dignity or indeed forget what room they were actually in. Breakfast at the hotel was mixed, one day I was quite late to the buffet due to a 7 out of 10 hangover - arriving 20 minutes before the end of service - big mistake. Not a rasher of bacon or baked bean in sight - despite many a greedy patron (mainly Lee) finishing his breakfast with plenty of bacon/beans and a smug look on his face of a man that had been napping for 6 hours the day before and subsequently was nursing only a 4 out of 10 hangover having arrived some 45 minutes before the end of service. Similar to most other communal areas, the stench (which I'll attribute to Ads or the drains) was only noticeable in some places within the breakfast room, rather disorientating and unappetising that the bread cupboard should be the recipient of the greatest concentration of Ads particulate musking the air - probs safest to toast the bread so long as you have about 30 minutes to spare at the hotel toaster - failing that it would probably be quicker to find a candle and use that to toast your bread ( albeit the atmosphere in the bread cupboard could be explosive so just tread carefully).||I wouldn't recommend this hotel for a nice weekend away with your other half, but for a stag do, I think it was more than sufficient.||If someone tapped the bottom of my glass and shouted "HOWZATTTTTT?" I'd be inclined to say "Hotel Borges?! Itssssss gottttttaaaaaaa...