'I flew home early from £7k holiday after stomach-churning cockroach discovery'

31 July 2023 , 10:13

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The group of nine flew home from their all-inclusive holiday due to the 'infestation' (Image: Kennedy News and Media)

A mum has been left "fuming" after her family were forced to fly home early from their £7,000 holiday after their hotel was invaded by "thousands" of cockroaches and ants.

Hayley Perry, from Barnsley, Yorkshire, booked a 10-day all-inclusive trip to the Beatriz Playa and Spa Hotel in Lanzarote following the death of her grandfather Paul Linstead, 79. The civil servant, 39, planned the vacation for her mum, husband, two children and family friends but the group of nine were soon desperate to come home.

Hayley, who had stayed at the same hotel five years earlier, said the resort was plagued with insects which even made their way onto a hot plate. She said her son Indi Perry, 9, was traumatised after another child at the hotel chased him whilst armed with one of the bugs.

Shocking footage captured the horrific conditions at the resort, including dozens of ants hoarding around a dead insect. Hayley claims she was ready to flee the resort after one of the critters reportedly appeared in her mother Karen's room.

Karen said she found a cockroach in her room (Kennedy News and Media)

The family found 'thousands' of ants at the resort (Kennedy News and Media)

Hayley said her family had noticed several cockroaches on the fourth night but didn't take it seriously before then. "On the fifth day my son came running up to me again and said a girl was chasing him with a cockroach," she recalled.

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"I asked how she managed to catch it and he said there were thousands of them and anyone could catch one." She added: "I went to go to the toilet near the entertainment area and they were all over the toilet. A man had to lift his little boy up out of the toilet block because he wouldn't dare walk on the floor."

After speaking to other horrified guests at the hotel, the civil servant refused to eat in the restaurant and avoided the entertainment area. "We were sitting speaking to another couple in the entertainment area and a gentleman said he saw a cockroach on the hot plate in the restaurant," she said.

Hayley claimed a hotel worker handed her cleaning items and told her to "sort the problem herself" after her mum noticed one in her room. Hayley explained: "A cockroach had gone into her room. She was in a separate room to me on the ground floor and my husband went down and killed it.

Hayley and her husband Dan wanted to take their family on holiday (Kennedy News and Media)

The group of nine were not happy with the conditions at the Beatriz Playa and Spa Hotel (Kennedy News and Media)

"I went to the front desk and I was nearly crying at this point, my mum was terrified. The woman on the front desk gave me a brush, a dustpan and some green cleaning fluid. She said there was nothing she could do because there was only her and a security guard in the hotel. She refused to leave the reception."

Hayley contacted the Jet2 emergency hotline who offered to move her mum to another room on a higher floor. But after spotting more bugs on other floors, they declined the offer.

The civil servant explained that things went from bad to worse and said: "On the sixth day we ate out all day and when we came back to our hotel late at night, we found the dead cockroach outside our [Hayley's] room with the dead ants all over it.

"There were literally thousands of ants. We went to reception to tell them and 40 minutes later a security guard came up with a sweeping brush and took away the dead cockroach but left all the ants."

Hayley said she met with a Jet2 rep who offered to move them to a new hotel but said the process would take up to 72 hours. The group of nine decided to fork out £225 on jetting home three days early. Jet2 said they were sorry to hear about the family's claims and that they would be "investigating properly."

Hayley said her son Indi was chased around the hotel (Kennedy News and Media)

Hayley said: "The Jet2 rep was lovely and didn't make any excuses. I think they [Jet2] were embarrassed. The rep said he had spoken to the hotel and was getting pest control on that day. We didn't see anyone come. Whether they did or not I don't know."

She added: "Due to the cockroaches my mum couldn't sleep and she's obviously still grieving. Since my dad died she's not as strong as she used to be. She would have never asked to come home because she didn't want to spoil her grandchildren's holiday so we made that decision for her. It was mentally devastating [the situation]. I wish we had never gone at all."

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The family flew out from Manchester Airport on July 13 and returned home on July 21. Hayley's mum Karen said: "My anxiety was so bad I didn't sleep. I would wake up thinking the roaches were on me as it was my room we found them in. I'm so grateful to my family for getting me home early. [When we found the cockroach in my room] I couldn't keep a limb still.

A spokesperson from Jet2 commented: "We are proud of the award-winning holidays that we provide to our customers, so we are very sorry to hear about this. We will investigate properly and respond to Ms Perry directly once we have concluded this investigation."

Beatriz Playa and Spa Hotel have been contacted for comment.

Monica Charsley