Instagram Influencer Sics Followers on “Maggot Infested” California Hotel
Jeff Edwards July 17, 2018
After discovering her $300-a-night hotel room was infested with maggots and then being denied a refund, hayleyyjay called on an army of social media followers to “avenge” her.
Instagram model and makeup artist, Hayley Johnsen says a romantic overnight trip to Palo Alto turned into a scene straight from a horror movie. The social media influencer told her followers how a relaxing bath at the Palo Alto Inn turned into an icky version of Psycho.
“As I’m sitting there, I see something… I’m like what is this tic tac on the floor…” Johnsen told her more than 14,000 Twitter followers. “Well guess the f**k what. It wasn’t a tic tac. It was a maggot. Then I really open my eyes. Maggot. Maggot. Maggot. HUNDREDS OF MAGGOTS IT SEEMS. COMING DIRECTLY OUT OF THE WALL. ALL OVER THE BATHROOM.”
WE PAID $300 FOR THIS ON A GOD DAMN MONDAY. IN ONE OF THE NICEST CITIES IN THE BAY AREA. pic.twitter.com/fR86V3Ytc5
— hayleyyjay (@hayleyyjay) July 10, 2018
Adding insult to injury, Johnsen says that the hotel manager refused to refund her money for the $300-a-night room. Once she escaped and packed her bags, Johnsen decided she wasn’t about to take this injustice lying down. She quickly posted a video of the wriggling bathroom larva and called on her followers to either “avenge” her or “block me back.” She also called local police to report the nightmarish state of affairs.
“This is disgusting,” she added in a later post. “The manager FLIPS out and says ‘that’s it you’re checking out, no refund!’ I said I’m calling the police then. I didn’t know who else the fuck to call — Batman?! I call the cops. Even dispatch was DISGUSTED. they send someone out. The cop takes four seconds to look at our room and says no you can’t stay here.”
In the end police decided that “The Case of the Maggot Covered Loo” was a civil rather than criminal matter. Johnsen, it seems, had much better luck with her internet fans. The hotel’s Yelp! page was soon suspended after a deluge of unfavorable reviews from Johnsen’s followers.
The Palo Alto Inn has since offered the extremely dissatisfied guest an apology as well as a full refund. Johnsen confirmed through her Twitter account that hotel reached out to her after originally accusing her of bringing the maggots to the hotel herself.
“We are shocked to hear about your stay and hope you will accept our sincerest apology,” the hotel management wrote in a letter obtained by The Mercury News. “Please know that we have issued you a full refund … Once again, on behalf every one of us here, please accept our sincerest apology for your negative experience with us.”
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Why would anyone waste the time of the police over this?
Instagram = millennial.. Are those maggots from her or did she place them there by chance? That's one way to make your pathetic blog get some more traffic.
We're just going to ignore her being barefoot in this video? She's far braver than me.
I'm calling BS on the hotel's apology. Their actions indicate their ethics, or lack thereof. An upstanding hotel would have apologized immediately and remedied the issue instead of blaming the victim and adding insult to injury by not refunding the charges. Only when they are exposed do they do the right thing. Sketchy!
Check out then call the credit card carrier to file a dispute. They are required, under US law, to suspend any charge to your card, until your concerns are addressed. It's called "holder in due course" doctrine--and the credit card carrier may suspend payment for as long as necessary until the dispute is resolved provided you have not waived that.