I was looking for some thoughts from the membership. I've been traveling for the last three years and during that time had never come across bed bugs nor did I even much about them. Perhaps naive, but I always thought Hilton properties were better maintained.

I recently had a 5 night stay at a Hilton property (Hampton inn) and awoke on the second day with a few bites. At the time I thought perhaps it was a rash as they were on my hands.

On the third day I had then all over me, perhaps 50 - 60 dif sets. That night, using my phone, I checked out the mattress and box spring and didn't see anything, so I chalked up the swelling and itching to an allergy.

When I returned home Friday night, showered went to sleep and the following morning went immediately to the walk-in clinic where they told me all the marks were from Scabies. Freaked out by that, i did some investigation online, and went out and picked up 5 tubes of prometharin to begin treatment on me and the entire family. They weren't happy knowing why they were doing the treatment.

I also began washing every article of clothing I had in an attempt to kill the mites. Monday morning, I managed to get into see my reg doctor who looked it over and said the patterns resembled that of bed bug bites and not of Scabies. Although relieved, the research I was doing was stating that bed bugs can go up to six months without eating, meaning they would be much more difficult to remove if they made it back to my house.

I called the hotel and left a message for the manager. She returned the call and left me a message indicating that she was going to check out the room and would give me an update the following day.

The following day she returned the call and confirmed they found bed bugs hidden behind the bed headboard. She was very apologetic about the incident, and seemed pretty genuine. She said they bagged the mattress and box spring and tossed them out. New ones were ordered. She mentioned she was going to be getting exterminators in to treat the room and the ones adjacent. All of which was wonderful to see. She seemed concerned about what happened and wanted to make sure it was under control before it got out of hand.

That said, she mentioned that she wanted to provide me with some form of compensation for the incident.

What would be reasonable compensation in this sort of case ? It's not her fault I was initially mis-diagnosed with scabies, but at the same time had it not been for the bug bites, I wouldn't have had to deal with a crazy weekend.

Out of pocket costs are around the $300-$350 excluding hotel stay which would be another $670. That excludes the

What sort of compensation would be reasonable to request in this sort of situation where I've had out of pocket expenses exceeding the hotel stay, not to mention the disruption this has had one the entire family ?

My preference would be to get compensated points instead of having them refund the nights.

Thank you

One or two bites does not warrant compensation, but a severe attack does. A photo of your bitten torso could be useful to show it was not a minor incident. Unfortunately the odd person may look to scam hotels over one or two bites so some proof if needed later is useful to show hotel you really were unlucky.

It would not be unreasonable to ask for points to cover the whole stay so 5nights times xx,000 points/night. Whilst hotel may prefer to offer 5 free nights instead, that ties you to that hotel, which unless you use regularly is not great. I would not expect hotel to pay for the transport costs to/from hotel for your original stay.

Consequential compensation is very tricky (Doctors visit, ointments, fumigating your house). It would depend how badly you were 'bitten' but if that bad, you would likely have raised with hotel during your 5night stay. Like any insurance claims one has a duty of care to keep costs to a minimum. However you seem to be stating a reasonable preference just needing to be comped the number of stayed nights with points needed for that category of hotel.
It is hard to blame an hotel for such incidents, as it could be previous occupant who infected the bed not an ongoing infestation.

Note- Ask hotel for their offer first (don't set the high mark initially yourself)
Since it is impossible to increase your request once offering a lower compensation request, your first step, as it seems hotel manager(ess) is not being negative, is to ask hotel what they wish to offer you. Like you hotel can not offer less once first offer is made so they may well be prepared to go higher later. Really depends if first hotel offer is reasonable or down right insulting/cheap or somewhere in the mid-range

Then you take it from there, if acceptable you can say yes, if not you will need to state what you feel is reasonable and want. Points for five nights seems a good starting point to aim for.

I actually disagree with the post above, although respect that opinion.

With any negotiation, you need to clearly state your position first to anchor the discussion. This needs to be outside of the other party's "acceptable zone". By opening extreme, you can slowly ratchet back your ask until you are just inside their range where they will accept. It's a simple but very effective strategy as the other party will actually perceive that they are getting you to move off your ask when in reality it is a much different scenario playing out.

Just do your homework in what you think might be an acceptable range for your situation and open well above that.

Best of luck and sorry to hear that you had to deal with this.

Recently returned from Paris with a case of some bites or some other cause. Not sure if bed bugs and I have not launched a complaint against the hotel which in fact is the newest Hilton joining the family, Le Concorde Opera, which I always stay at in Paris.

I will be a guest there soon again and will examine the beds closely this time before settling in. The key to finding bed bugs is usually in the mattress in its corners or under its overlapping stitching at the seams.

Then again the bed bugs could have been on my lie flat bed on the return flight.

All I know is I had a very bad rash on my chest (which moves around a bit) which as continued for several weeks but now seems under control. Rubbing alcohol and polysporin are all I have used.

Bed bugs are very common in hotels and other public seats. I had a colleague in Shanghai who was badly bitten in a hotel. That hotel a Radisson took immediate action.

In terms of compensation, I would think most major chains and airlines would offer some reasonable compensation to protect their reputation and to do so quickly and properly.

Thank you very much for the various responses from everyone, it certainly gives me some wonderful pointers. I also certainly wish I knew then, what I know now. It would likely have made me a more knowledgable traveller and avoided a lot of problems. One of the things I was suggested to try, was using a UV light when doing my inspection of the hotel room. I did some looking around and found heaps of them listed on amazon, many of which are very reasonably priced. I'll be adding that to the various items I typically pack when travelling.

As for the compensation, I think I'll take the advice of requesting more than I want & lowering from there as a concession until I'm closer to a number I'm willing to settle with. It almost feels like negotiating the purchase price if a vehicle. I'll likely request HH points to cover the same number of nights paid because it gives me more flexibility in how & where I choose to stay. I certainly can't see myself returning there on Vacation, but will be in the areas several more times along with others from the same company. I'll likely even ask that she make my reservations for me on the weeks I'll be returning.

As recommended, I also took pictures to show the manager in the event that I'm asked. I'm no longer the young stallion I used to be as a young lad, but will certainly provide the photos if necessary. I want them to know I'm not trying to pull a quick one with them.

If anyone should have any other advice or tips, I'm more than interested in hearing from you.

I wouldn't make more of this than it is. Hilton has pretty standard compensation for this stuff and that's what OP is going to get. It will likely be points/certificate for something approaching one night of the stay ("If you had informed us immediately, we would, of course have moved you to another room....")

Hilton is extraordinarily unlikely to pay consequential damages and the like because that gets into a liability area where liability risk exceeds reputational risk.

OP says $670 for 5 nights, so I'm thinking that OP sees something with an internal value of approx. $135.

Be careful not to upset the hotel manager who may be willing to be reasonable by making your 'opening bid' for an unrealistically high amount of compo. This can easily rebound on you, you may alienate them and get equally poor counter offer back which they will not budge on.

You won't get more than 5days of points, and should be prepared for half that amount (or less), as if room's bed was really that bad from first nights sleep you'd have been demanding a move after your first night.

If hotel is not usually sold out, taking free nights at the same hotel may give you more nights than the points hotel offers you, as afterall, you occupying unsold room only costs hotel room cleaning costs (not lost revenue).

I doubt that there's a negotiation at all. What's OP gonna do if the Manager laughs and walks away?

I was simply pointing out being that unreaslistic ... read greedy, when asking for compensation, is likely to get you less in the end.

The issue should have been brought up immediately to the hotel 1st or 2nd day of the occurence. The hotel could have mitigated the balance of the stay.

I've provided a different upgraded room in the past. We had to move rooms anyways. Small compensation but it was worth it to get a nicer view room.

While you can't do much to prevent being bitten, I did read in a couple articles that the most important trick to prevent bringing them home with you is keeping your luggage, clothes and other personal effects off the bed, carpet or upholstered furniture and away from drapes - meaning luggage should be placed on hard surface tables, glass, strapped luggage holders, etc and far away from the bed and carpet.

I think that there is this mis-conception that nicer hotels mean less bed bugs. The OP said as much when saying that he/she thought that Hilton hotels were better maintained.

Bed bugs don't discriminate. They can show up anywhere. Remember that the hotel is just as much a victim as you are.

There are huge expenses to the hotel every time bed bugs infest a hotel room. The hotel is not the one that brings them in.

This..

Bedbugs has become one of the normal hazards of the business. The hotel should be performing an bedbug inspection anytime the sheets are changed.

I agree if you have a problem with a property that you should bring it up right away. Sometime with bedbugs though, you may not get attached the first night or it has taken me a day or two before I've noticed what I'm scratching it.

I guess I'm not sure I'd ask for full compensation for the stay, but someone - either my employer or Hilton WILL find a way to reimburse eradicating them from my home. As my lodging provider, keeping the bedbugs out IS Hilton's responsibility, the same as it is for ants, centipedes, fruit flies, etc.