This article in The Sun (UK) tells the story of a party of guests that fled the Park House View Hotel in Edinburgh after being bitten by bed bugs in room 23.
The report focuses on the “amusing” nature of the situation:
Paula said: “I can laugh about it now but it was a dreadful experience at the time.
“Fawlty Towers hasn’t got a look-in compared to this place.”
Paula stayed at the hotel with friends Debbie Singh and Paula Murphy.
She said: “I went to bed and woke up being eaten alive by bed bugs.
“I was so shocked that I screamed and knocked on all the doors in panic. Another party were also complaining.”
Others in the party called the police and the group were refunded the money for the room. They fled in taxis and spent the night waiting for a train.
Unfortunately, this article does not recognize that the group’s problems may only just have begun. I know it is too much to ask for The Sun to provide helpful information, such as noting that bed bugs spread easily, and that the hotel guests could discover themselves living with bed bugs at home a few weeks or months from now.
And some of them may not react to bed bug bites, and so may not have a clue they brought them home until they are in a very advanced state of infestation and are seeing bed bugs on the walls in daylight.
The story concludes with hotel owner Saeed Akhtar describing the treatment the hotel ordered:
Mr Akhtar said: “There was a problem with bed bugs in Room 23. We have changed the bed, taken up the wooden floors, and everything has been sprayed.
One traditional spray in one room is unlikely to solve this problem.
I can see how comparing a bad night in a hotel to the John Cleese comedy “Fawlty Towers” is a funny story The Sun’s readers can enjoy. But lurking behind the tale is the possibility of a long, costly struggle with bed bugs in the home which may plague Paula Carr or her friends down the line.
