People, we’re never going to attract Canadian tourists if we keep scaring the hell out of them with fireworks and bedbugs. Esmond and his girlfriend were staying at a Travelodge in Sandusky, Ohio on July 5th, and couldn’t sleep because of fellow Travelodge guests shooting off fireworks in the parking lot. Around 1:30 a.m. there was a loud boom:

I went to the window, to have a look. Turns out there were kids letting off more fireworks outside, the parents had let them roam freely. My girlfriend stood behind me to ask what was going on. I told her it was just some kids. We then turned on the lights and to my horror, there were BED BUGS on the bed!

Now he can’t get a refund from Hotels.ca because Travelodge says their hotel is bedbug-free, and that Esmond just saw “some dirt kicked up on the bed.”

Esmond and his girlfriend packed up and left, but the only person at the front desk to help them was a teenager who told them he only worked there once a week. “He gave me the number of Peggy, the manager, to speak to about the situation.”

We’re not sure whether Esmond tried calling Peggy or not, but the following Monday he called Travelodge’s Customer Relations Center:

Their representative told me that they have to speak to management and get back to me within 48 hours. Well 48 hours went by and no one called me back.. I tried calling again. This time leaving a few messages, but no one called back! Finally, today [July 14th] I spoke to a representative and she told me that I would have to take it up with Hotels.com since I booked it with them and that they would call the management of the hotel to find out what situation is.

Hotels.ca put me on hold for like 7 minutes while they argued with the manager at the Sandusky Travelodge. Turns out the people at the Travelodge hotel wouldn’t credit our account because they claimed there were NO Bugs in the hotel at all. They claimed it was merely some dirt kicked up on the bed. Give me a break people! I know what I saw. It didn’t help that they were crawling about on my bed. Hotels.ca only wanted to give me $40 in travel coupons to credit my next stay. Please people I merely check into a hotel, sleep 20 minutes in it and i have to pay $100 for it? There were freaking bed bugs in there!

(Photo of dirt: DRB62)

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