Two women left with 200 bed bug bites after horror night in Blackpool hotel
Two women were left covered in horror bed bug bites after spending the night inside an allegedly infested Blackpool hotel.
Marian Pearson, 60, and Sharon Haslam, 65, claim they woke up with an itchy red rash when spending the night in the Calypso Hotel. Their "last minute" booking for two nights at the hotel on September 9 to September 10 was made to meet up with pals for a birthday bash in the northwest city. But the "cheap and cheerful" two-star establishment which set the pair back £170 for a twin room was less than ideal, with the pair finding droplets of blood on the bedding and bed bugs crawling around.
The duo were left with bite marks after their stay at the Blackpool hotel (stock) (Getty Images)Though the pair changed hotels that same day, they still found concerning marks which left them in agony. Marian and Sharon were prescribed strong antibiotics following a trip to A&E but found themselves in a gross amount of pain a week on from their night in the hotel of horrors. Marian says she is still feeling the pain of her encounter. She said: "It was terrible. It was horrible due to the amount of bites on my body.
"They are very itchy. I’ve rubbed my skin off - that’s why I went to the hospital. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I've been to India, Mexico, Australia, and I’ve been to a lot of hotels in the UK, and I’ve never seen bedbugs in my life. It’s the first time in 60 years. It’s medieval. It’s something from my grandmother's day when they were quite popular - but not today."
Marian added there were no signs of bed bug woes when she first arrived at the property, noting the lobby was as clean and tidy as she could expect. She added: "When we first arrived we thought, 'it’s ‘cheap and cheerful’. We stay in lots of hotels, and we’d previously come from Chester before we came to Blackpool. We thought, 'We are only here for two days.' The beds had crisp clean white sheets. They didn’t have any indication that we were going to end up having a rash."
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A spokesperson for Calypso Hotel has since responded to the bed bug claim (Google Mapz)Their holiday from hell became apparent when they took a bed bug down to reception, presenting staff members with the critter caught in a cup. Sharon said: "When we woke up, my friend pulled her sheets back and noticed there was blood. We thought ‘Where has that come from?' Then we found mine also had specs of blood all over the sheets as well. It took us ten minutes to work it out. We started to look around the floor and found droplets of blood, and then I found a live bed bug. I captured it in a little cup. I got to the reception and presented them with the bug in the cup."
The pair doused themselves in bug repellent spray and immediately left the hotel to find alternative accommodation, but days after their trip and bug bites were still appearing on the pair. Marian's partner even "took my luggage to the tip" for fear the clothing was infested with creepy crawlies. She said: "We tied up the clothes in air-tight bags and then opened them in the washing machine and washed them."
A spokesperson for Calypso Hotel says the property had previous reports of "bug issues". They said: "We have had few complaints about the bug issues. We take any complaint regarding bed bugs very seriously and deal with it immediately. Most of the times customers complain just to get refund. A few weeks ago we had had two rooms complaining about the same and when we checked with a UV torch no evidence was found.
Marian's partner took clothing used at the hotel straight to the tip (stock) (Getty Images)"I believe same customers complained to council and we had a visit from 2 EHOs(Environment Health Officers) on 7th September 2023. They found no evidence of that either in the rooms. Whenever we get any complaint regarding bed bugs, we use Death to pest company to get the room treated. Any room with complaint gets treated in three ways, 1) Vaccum and steam at 100 degrees plus 2) Chemicals by Death to pest 3) If Death to pest advice, we change everything from flooring to beds, mattresses and curtains.
"We have been advices by Death to pest to use heat treatment and have ordered commercial pest control heater that holds room temperature over 50 degree Celsius." Marian and Sharon were told their refund would be sent through Booking.com.
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