One concern many travelers have is being the victim of an infestation of bed bugs, something that unfortunately happened to the writer at the Moorfields Premier Inn, Liverpool last month.
So what’s it like? Well it’s horrible. The bites don’t really come out till two days after, when they itch maddeningly, and scratching too hard breaks the skin on the bumps that form and risks infection. Creams can stop some of the itching but I needed a course of anti-biotics and anti-histamine to properly clear it all up.
Just in case any of our readers, or their delegates, are similarly unlucky we are publishing the emails between ourselves and Premier Inn, part of Whitbread and these follow here.
1. From Premier Inn to Peter Cotterell 08 March 2019
Your unique reference for this contact: WHB-238297-####
Hello Peter,
Thank you for contacting us to share the experience of your stay at our Liverpool City Centre hotel. It’s important to us that you enjoy your time with us and I’m really sorry that your experience did not meet your expectations.
It’s disappointing to note that you think you might have had a reaction to bed bugs during your stay. We take this very seriously and so the team will be investigating this thoroughly.
We’ll be in touch in due course once we have a resolution for you.
Do you know we have a social media team that reply quicker? Try us now:
Kind regards,
Liz
Guest Relations Advisor
2. From Peter Cotterell to Premier Inn 09 March 2019
Hello Liz and thank you for your response.
This is to give you some more information about my stay at Premier Inn Moorfields, Liverpool.
My stay, with my wife Pauline, was for the three nights of Saturday February 23 to Monday Feb 25, cost £145 Booking reference ADCR40####, in room 306.
I was the only person affected with bites. My wife who slept beside me suffered none . However she normally wears nightclothes in bed and I just wear underpants and a top, which leaves my arms, legs and lower back exposed.
I didn’t notice any itching from after the first night but had a rash of around twelve maddeningly itchy bites on my lower back by the Monday morning after the second night. However I put these down to mosquito bites since we had been around Liverpool Dock area on the Saturday night and the weather had been unseasonably warm. It wasn’t umtil the Tuesday morning after the third night that I awoke scratching at my arms and legs as well and counted more than 60 bites in all. When I pulled back the duvet there were streaks of blood and pieces of what I discovered afterwards were bed bug faeces.
Around 11.30 on the Tuesday morning, after a hot bath, I went to reception and waited until there was no-one else there before I approached the receptionist and explained the situation, asking her to arrange for the duty manager to meet me in the room, which she did straight away. She also gave me the Premier Inn website address “if you want to get your money back”
Up in room 306 a Duty manager attended with two other female members of staff. She looked ant the bed and asked me “Have you been bitten ?” and I told her I had, for which she apologised.
As you know bites from bed bugs are at their most itchy two days afterwards and I experienced two days of misery with them on the Wednesday and Thursday, though I was helped by some bite cream I bought from the chemist on the Wednesday which contained cortisone to relieve the itching.
By the Friday it was obvious that some of the worst bites, on the lower back and legs, had become infected through my scratching them and so I went to our doctor’s surgery for advice. The nurse I saw looked at all the bites and commented “They really had a feast on you. You wont use that hotel again” She prescribed more cream to apply, a course of penicillin tablets and a course of anti-histamine tablets.
I don’t want anyone else to suffer similarly, as I am sure you don’t either since it damages the image of Premier Inn, of Liverpool hotels and hotels and Liverpool in general. You should know that I responded to your survey company with a balanced review of my stay and declined their invitation to send the review straight to Tripadvisor. I would therefore like to know what steps you have taken to avoid a repeat of my experience with other guests
I hope we can resolve this unfortunate case to both our satisfactions and look forward to hearing from you again soon
Peter Cotterell
3. From Premier Inn to Peter Cotterell 15 March 2019
Your unique reference for this contact: WHB-238297-####
Dear Peter,
Thank you for contacting us to share the experience of your stay at our Liverpool City Centre hotel. Thank you for your patience while we’ve investigated the matter.
Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience and disappointment caused. At Premier Inn we always strive to provide our customers with a high standard of service and I am sorry that on this occasion we failed to achieve this. The Management team have taken your feedback on board and acted immediately to ensure the issue was resolved quickly.
I am sorry to read that you were bitten by bed bugs during her stay with us at our Liverpool City Centre Premier Inn. Following an investigation into your concerns I would firstly like to apologise for the disappointment this matter has caused. I can confirm that since your stay a third-party hygiene company has visited the hotel to investigate and fully treat the room and the surrounding rooms and they will also make a follow up visit should this be needed.
Because of the disappointment caused we will be processing a refund for the 3 nights of your stay. Unfortunately, we cannot refund this back to the card used to pay, but I can confirm that our Central Refunds team will arrange for the £145.00 to be refunded by cheque. This should arrive in 2-3 weeks.
As a gesture of good will after this incident, we are also arranging for £75.00 Leisure Vouchers to be sent to you. You can use these in any Premier Inn hotel or any Whitbread restaurant, and these will arrive in due course. Please be advised that these can take a while to be processed and will arrive after the cheque. I do hope this goes some way to restore your faith in Premier Inn and that we can look forward to welcoming you back in the near future.
Thank you once again for taking the time and trouble to contact us.
Do you know we have a social media team that reply quicker? Try us now:
Kind regards,
Liz
Guest Relations Advisor