Bedbug problem
 

But the issue goes farther -

I recently found a few in my room. I have to say, I was shocked and amazed by how the staff handled it. They were great, comped the stay, moved me to a suite, and cleaned all the clothes - which is what ended up being a problem. I was told they were going to dry clean the clothes - fine. Turns out, while they dry cleaned the dry clean only clothes, they washed the rest in hot water and hot dried them. Yes, I understand that's the way to get rid of bedbugs, but they ended up shrinking half my clothes. The other half now look old and worn out. I was preparing to send Marriott an email praising the staff for how they handled it, but now I'm not so sure. Am I overreacting about the clothes? Should I just drop it? I don't even want reimbursed, but I'm a little upset about it.

That's a tough one. My mom has had bedbugs at two different Marriotts in the last couple years. Both locations were up front, honest, admitted it and all was good. Points for a few free nights each time. This last time was major and mom ended up in the emergency room (no joke) but she didn't want to push it. Your case brings up an added element. I would probably present it to the local Marriott exactly like you did here. You aren't trying to get something for free, were really impressed by how they handled it, BUT you feel very frustrated by the clothes issue. See what they suggest. They'll give you 75k or 100k points pretty easily. That might make everything feel better!?

Could you share what hotel it was? Was this recent? Do they still have that problem?

I'd really rather not share until I decide whether to email them or not - and yes, it was recent. Not sure if it was a hotel-wide problem or just that room.

I've yet to hear of anything being building wide anywhere (hotel, Apartment, Airports, Home etc - yes they are found everywhere these days)...as far as hotels go the housekeeping teams are all trained what to look for and immediately notify management so they can be handled...it's not an easy process and takes weeks to fully certify (yes rooms are certified by outside vendors before being returned to service)

I had a friend that got bitten by bedbugs in RC in Tokyo and got offered measly 5k for the trouble. Not all Marriott properties are alike....

What does a room smell like after it has been rid of bedbugs? I was offered a room last night at the Stamford Marriott and it smelled off. That and the fact it didn't have a tub, I asked to be moved to a different room. That room smelt fine.

After reading this, it may have been a insecticide type smell.

They sprayed the luggage, which smelled slightly, and I do mean slightly. No idea about the room.

It always smells off. It's a fairly old Marriott.

the room will not have any odor - the room is taken out of service for a few weeks after the initial treatment and rechecked several times to be sure the situation has been correctly resolved

Wow. I must be lucky. 2000 nights in all sorts of Marriotts and never seen a bedbug to my knowledge.

Just speculating here...is it POSSIBLE some people bring bedbugs to the hotels and think they got them at the hotel?

Just a thought....

+1, but I'll add, with the comments recently posted about demanding compensation for this-or-that regardless of other factors or merit, perhaps someone is bringing the bugs to the hotel to start a claim?
I've seen reports of folks putting roaches in their soup and claim that's how it came from the kitchen......

Except the first 45 days all my stays where at Gold or Platinum member. Maybe they give the bugs to transients....

Well, I'm not demanding compensation, so.... :confused:

And if I brought bedbugs into this hotel, wouldn't I have brought them into the other 17 hotels I've stayed in this year? Including the one two days before this one?

Wasn't accusing you. They could have been brought there by one of the guests before you of course. Or maybe you picked them up at the property you stayed two days prior. I just find it curious that I have never run into bedbugs.

I guess the question I have is did you expect them to dryclean them all & were surprised they did 1/2 & 1/2? Did you expect them to throw away the other 1/2 of clothes?

If the clothes were going to shrink due to a hot wash, it doesn't matter if they did the hot wash or you did the hot wash. They would have shrunk regardless.

So to me it's either a case of drycleaning them all (although some clothes say do not dryclean) or tossing 1/2 of them.

BTW - I never understand the I'm going to report something on FT (good or bad), but not mention the property "until I've decided to email them or not" mode of thinking. If the property had a problem & rectified it, FTers need to know which. If the property had a problem & didn't rectify it, FTers need to know which. If a property did something great, FTers need to know which.

Cheers.

Not an assumption I'd automatically jump to; bedbugs happen at dif properties of all chains. I doubt people are carrying around cannisters to open into hotel rooms to try & get compensation. :rolleyes:

FWIW - I tend to give FTers the benefit of the doubt, especially when they start by praising a property's response to a situation (well, 1/2 praise).

Cheers.

Sharon. Have you ever run into a bedbug during your 1000 + nights at Marriott?

Yes. Woke up w/ my body covered w/ bites. :eek::(:mad: And that hotel (Philadelphia Marriott) didn't really handle it well. It was several years ago, though. Lucky for me, they didn't get in my clothes or luggage & seemed to be confined to the bed (no, they weren't readily apparent when I got into the bed or I would have switched rooms immediately).

BTW - whether I encounter bedbugs or not is irrelevant to someone else's encountering them.

If you do a search on bedbugs in this forum, you'll find multiple FTers have (unfortunately) encountered them over the years. Same w/ some of the other hotel forums.

Cheers.

Sorry to hear. And I am not disputing the validity of bedbug reports. I just must be lucky.

Even so, the property I stayed at two days earlier...and all year....was a Marriott.

Perhaps more telling was the fact the staff didn't seem shocked.

In any case, I'm not upset about the bugs. I'm upset about my clothes, some of which are not replaceable.

I think, for the most part, hotels are bedbug-free, so we've all been lucky. But occasionally it happens, and I'm pretty sure the hotel is just as unhappy about it as the guest.

However, due to hearing more about them in recent years at dif chains, I do check drawers, bed, etc, before unpacking. I've not gone so far as to store my luggage in the tub, which some recommend.

Cheers.

I would be upset too. If the only way to get rid of the bugs is to nuke the clothes, what can be done? It's one of those unexpected costs about travel. can you get them claimed through insurance? Your employer?

I'll admit, I've never seen safe about it, exactly because I've never seen one. I'll start checking now.

Well, I was told they were going to dry clean everything. Dry cleaning would have been fine, washing in hot water and drying on high heat was not. Lots of things shrank, the rest look old and worn out. Maybe my fault for assuming they'd dry clean sweaters, but still - they did say "dry clean everything".

It was leisure travel, so it's nothing I can get reimbursed for.

I don't know. Of course there are always people out there scamming for a few bucks. My parents are world travelers so they could easily bring bed bugs with them unintentionally. The first time was at the Marriott Waikiki. The hotel was honest, said the bed was covered/deep in the bedding, and they were quick to handle it. My step-dad had bites but nothing major. The second time, 18 months later, was at a Residence Inn in the Bay Area. Again, hotel was quick to admit and not play games. In fact, the hotel seemed genuinely concerned about her well being. My mom had such bad reactions she ended up in the emergency room (as I stated above). She is not looking for money though she could easily hire a personal injury attorney and get money rather than points. It's not her style. A couple free nights at the hotel was offered and that's all she wants as she needs to be down at Stanford again. She had major reactions that second time. I won't post the photos but they are unbelievable; huge welts! Bed bugs are a very common problem.

All clothes are replaceable unless you're wearing vintage or your mother's wedding dress (no idea if the OP is a guy or gal). Perhaps not easily replaceable, but replaceable.

But let's go w/ the irreplaceable part for a moment - if they were truly irreplaceable, wouldn't you have discussed w/ the Marriott that aspect & asked them if all the clothes were going to be drycleaned or if some were going to go in the wash?

Did you assume all were going to be drycleaned? That's a fair assumption & one I probably would have made. But if something was truly irreplaceable, I would have had the conversation w/ the property re: those items at least.

It sounds like the Marriott did the right thing by comping your room, moving you to a suite & cleaning your clothes. You were going to write a complimentary letter after all.

It sounds like the Marriott didn't do the right thing if they told you everything was going to be drycleaned & then washed half, unless the items said, do not dryclean, in which case they probably thought washing was the only alternative & for bedbugs, it unfortunately has to be hotwashing.

I'd definitely write Marriott/the property & compliment them on what they did right, and let them know what they did wrong.

It's up to you on whether you want a) some reimbursement (in which case you'll need receipts & also it will be discounted if you've worn the clothes before), or b) whether you want some points, or c) you want them to have a meeting w/ whoever does the cleaning to go over procedures.

FWIW - I had a beautiful dress blouse. Without thinking it went into the wash vs. the drycleaner. My fault entirely. It shrunk, but still looked lovely. I donated it to a resale shop, & told them to put it in the petite section.

Cheers.

S..t happens. It's life. On the bright side, you get to go shopping. I have never heard of irreplaceable clothes, either. My maid washed my passport! Talk about irreplaceable visa pages....now there is a hassle!

This PS was supposed to go in my post above, but I accidently hit reply & can't figure out how to it so will just do the PS here.

PS - In my 1000+ nights at Marriott I've only enountered bedbugs 1x, & that was 15 years ago. I still don't think it's a common happening, although it can happen - and at every chain, not just Marriott. It might be more common now that people travel the globe. I'm only cognizent of it because sometimes tv shows do a report on it, or I read about it occasionally on the various FT hotel chain threads. When I say I check drawers/bed, I do, but it's somewhat of a cursory check as really I don't expect to find anything. Of course I don't also check under the bed for dildos or porn magazines either ;) :D

Cheers.

Yeah, and I'll admit I screwed up here (beyond assuming they'd actually dry clean everything just because they said they would). I had run out to the car, leaving my husband to pack everything up and when I got back, the clothes were all gone, including a beautiful silk dress he'd brought back from a deployment for me - I never even got the chance to wear it. When I, uh, "discussed" with him why he didn't let them know it was dry clean only, he said the same thing I did - that they said they were dry cleaning everything. It really has no momentary value, just sentimental and I truly have no idea how to replace it.

I'll just write them a complimentary letter and include the cleaning part. I just wanted to make sure I was't overreacting, since they did everything else right.

ETA: I read somewhere they can be transferred between suitcases on an airplane. If that doesn't scare you....

Edited again, because I apparently missed a few posts - the other reason I don't want to mention the hotel is in case my husband googles the name + bedbugs. I don't want him surfing in here and reading my posts. Just an oddity of mine.

Well the dress is DEFINITELY a bummer. The sweaters not so much. I'm a bit surprised they'd wash a silk dress. The sweaters I get, but silk you'd think they'd automatically dryclean (unless the dress said don't dryclean & said something about handwash).

I would write the hotel. Compliment them on the part they did right (addressing it quickly, comp, suite, offer to clean clothes), and let them know of the issue w/ the cleaning - ie, that they said everything would be drycleaned & only drycleaned 1/2, resulting in some damage to the clothing.

Again, you'll have to decide if you want compensation in $$ or points, or if you just want it to be a learning experience for them (ie, read tags of clothes or dryclean all when they say they're drycleaning it all).

Hadn't heard about bedbugs getting into suitcases on the plane. But then again, I don't use disinfectent on everything in the room. Sometimes you just don't want to know things!

Cheers.

Haven't you learned anything from Mitt and his tax forms?
 

But now you've got the rest of us curious as to what posts you may be afraid for him to see! :eek: :D

Ha, nothing specific. He just thinks forums in general are stupid. :rolleyes:

Are the adjacent rooms treated?

Well, there was no care tag - that probably didn't help.

Anyway, just shot them an email praising the staff's response - and added a "hey just so you know, I don't want compensation, but here's what happened, so it doesn't happen to anyone else" bit. We'll see what they say, if anything.

Just another opinion, I would have taken the depreciated value of the clothes and asked for a credit for that amount of money towards a future Mariott stay.
That takes care of you while preventing them from having to do a dollar reimbursement, and it's less of a loss financially to the property.

I can honestly say I've never personally seen one (yes that is correct....I've never seen one)...but that doesn't mean they aren't an issue everywhere these days in this country

bedbugs like fabric...they do not like case goods

yes...they create a 'block' - take those rooms out of service and treat them too...those rooms too are monitored to be sure there isn't an issue

Or so protocol says, doesn't mean that's how it plays out.

Recently exchanged a car with Avis due to air in the fuel line (can cause stalling and was a simple fix only necessitating bleeding of the fuel line). Hopefully SOP with regard to a maintenance exchange would require the car to be pulled from service and checked out before renting again, but upon realizing I'd left things in the old car about 45 minutes later, learned that the car had already been rented back out (yes, I realize this is a hotel forum, not car rental, but proof what a company is supposed to do and actually does is two totally different things).

I wouldn't mind see a sticky here where people can list hotel and rooms where they have seen them.

12 years traveling and haven't had an issue yet, but I'd like to know if I'm going to a hotel where they have had an issue before so I know to look out.