Sisters bitten so many times by bed bugs in London hotel they needed hospital treatment
By Richard Hartley-parkinson
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027312/Airways-Hotel-Sisters-bitten-100-times-bed-bugs-needed-hospital-treatment.html
Last updated at 12:56 PM on 18th August 2011
The two sisters were bitten more than 100 times by bed bugs
Two sisters had to go to hospital to be treated for 100 bed bug bites after staying at a hotel in Central London.
Melanie Carmen and Joy McDonagh were staying at the Airways Hotel in Pimlico when they were bitten by the creatures.
Mrs Carmen suffered from 86 bites while her sister had been bitten more than 30 times.
The pair, both in their forties, had to be taken to Queen Mary's Hospital in Bexley, South-East London, to be given antibiotics and anti-histamines after suffering from swelling and nausea brought on by the bugs.
Mrs Carmen, from Deal, Kent, said: 'The bites were extremely painful. We were left suffering from deep aches, itching and other flu-like symptoms, and it took months for the bites to disappear.
'It makes it worse knowing it isn't just us who have suffered because of the appalling conditions at the hotel.'
After her hospital treatment last summer, Mrs McDonagh had to go and see her GP, according to the Daily Telegraph, a month after staying at the hotel.
The pair have been given £1,600 in compensation in an out-of-court settlement.
The sisters' solicitor, Katy Bailey, said: 'Sadly it appears that their experience was not isolated and a number of other guests have also complained about problems with hygiene and particularly bed bugs.'
On TripAdvisor, the Airways Hotel has 412 reviews and only 16 of which say the hotel is 'excellent' compared with 146 people who rated it as terrible.
It describes itself as a 'budget hotel', but the cheapest available single room is £90 and doubles go from £130.
The latest review on the hotel is titled 'We hated it & would never recommend it!'.
The person who left the review, named as Joseph and says he is from Florida, said that 'breakfast wasn't worth the effort', the dining room was too small, the beds were uncomfortable because springs were visibly broken.
He added: 'The bed spreads looked as if they had not been cleaned in ages. We were told they change sheets every other day but it is more like every 3rd day.'
Another user of the website, zanardinia, wrote: 'On arrival we thought (the hotel) looked slightly worn, but clean and the banisters were newly painted, so refurbishment was obvioulsy in progress.
'However, in the first five minutes we discovered one bedbug crawling around the shower, and empty molts on the pillows. We left precisely one minute later.'
A spokesman for the hotel said that it had a contract with pest control experts and 'as soon as we have a problem, and other hotels have the same problem, they are dealt with.'
He denied the hotel had an infestation and that with the hotel's high occupancy rate the bed bugs arrived with people's luggage and hatched once they had gone.
With regards to the negative feedback he said that people who had a good experience were less likely to comment on their stay.
He said: 'It's not an honest opinion, some of them are an exaggeration.'
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