Just because a place has bedbugs doesn't mean it's dirty or low-class. I once was bitten about a dozen times after staying with a girl I was dating in a multi-million dollar beach home her parents owned. It was the *most miserable* skin affliction I've ever had. I scratched the bites on my legs until they were raw and bleeding because they just wouldn't stop itching. I couldn't sleep.

Ever since my bad experience, I check every hotel I stay in vigorously when I get into my room. My luggage sits on the ironing board in the opposite corner of the room. I strip the bed when I arrive and check all the creases and under the mattress. Yeah, being paranoid sucks, but it's definitely better than getting bitten.

I signed my first lease in NYC this year -- the law states that the landlord has to provide a bedbug disclosure. I thought that was really interesting. It'd be nice for hotels to be required by law to provide the same info...

Just wanted to bump this thread....

Why?!

Waiting to shake it all out before I post details. So far Marriott is being top notch. Didn't want to lose the thread as I figured best to post in existing thread on topic so bumped it to the top to make it easier to find. Details within a couple days.

A gentle suggestion? Next time when you bump a thread, have the details ready to go vs just bumping 'so it's easier to find'.

Cheers.

I tend to agree I should have waited to post but I didn't. Now I am curious what you frequent travelers think is reasonable compensation. Bed Bugs were confirmed by Marriott. They had an outside company inspect and they admitted to finding them in the bed frame. I thought that was big of them to admit. They then offered 50,000 points to settle the matter. We were there 3 nights and it's a cat 5 hotel so that's not even enough points to cover the stay... not to mention the $600 we spent on the stay. I told him I was insulted by the offer. Curious what you think is proper compensation for 20-30 bed bug bites, confirmed bed bugs by Marriott, and I am a plat if that matters. Assuming Marriott takes care of this properly I don't plan to mention the name of the hotel because this can happen anywhere. With that said, maybe 50,000 points is fair compensation since it is not really the hotel's "fault" that they have bed bugs. Thoughts?

I think I'd ask them to launder all my clothes I brought as well, to be sure I didnt' transport them back and move me to a really nice bug free suite for the remainder of the stay. Assuming you discovered this mid-stay and not after you got home.

How does one become a Marriott Platinum lifetime?

By searching the forum and finding the right thread.

I'd ask for 3 free night coupons _and_ enough points to cover the stay (75K, right?).

There are other issues as well: all your clothes and luggage need laundering. If you drove there, have the car checked. And, if you were bit, there's a doctor's visit you'll want to do as well. All those should be covered by Marriott's (or the Franchisee's) insurance (imo).

Mitigating this is how bad the infestation was and if this room/property was known to have bed bugs previously. I don't expect housekeeping to tear the beds down the the rails to clean/look for bed bugs (if, indeed, they had to dig that far to find them) but if this room had been infested before - they did an inadequate job of cleaning it.

Depending on how mellow you (and the hotel staff) are, there's a lot of room for negotiation here....

laundering doesn't kill them (a dryer will have an impact on some of them but it's not guaranteed to resolve the issue 100%)...they are very resilient

When they are discovered most items with fabric are destroyed (including mattress) and then the room is quarantined along with the neighboring rooms (floor above, below and room besides to) for a lengthy time

It's very important to remember these suckers are hitching a ride into the hotel - hotels have programs to be on the lookout for them but with the recent changes in US Laws there are limited ways of combating them today (just look at the number of Apt buildings/Hospital/Schools etc that have been impacted by them, hotels aren't the only one and a better solution needs to be found sooner rather than later to help control them)

Please never answer a post of mine again if you're going to offer such a limited response. PLEASE!

Please don't post unless you're willing to accept all responses

Off-topic:

In fairness to Vicki you asked a question that had nothing to do w/ the thread topic, hence her response.

In fairness to you, Vicki could have said there are a lot of threads re: that topic & if you do a search you'll find the answer to your question. Granted, she said that to an extent but not to a full extent so nothing provided.

On-topic:

When people first started talking about this, I considered doing the tub etc thing re: luggage & then thought screw it. Life's too short. I'll take my chances.


Cheers.

I took this post asking about lifetime status as a jest-ful response to the question about compensation. I thought he meant that he thought lifetime platinum status would be just compensation, but I guess I was dead wrong about that!

It was my parents who had the bed bugs. We were staying at the hotel at the same time but in a different room. They are older and not platinum so I handled the "negotiations" with Marriott. Got their $600 back and got them 75k MR points. They are fine with it and so was Marriott. Obviously could have gotten more but didn't want to waste more time or energy and they weren't trying to be greedy. All was handled by the hotel and, all in all, handled professionally. Took about 10 phone calls which was about 8 or 9 too many but otherwise it was fine.