A woman who has travelled the world has been bitten by bedbugs for the first time – at a Travelodge in Cambridge.
Hannah Stephenson, 31, woke up covered in itchy, red lumps after staying a single night at the budget hotel along Newmarket Road on July 26.
She counted some 100 bedbug bites on her hands, arms, chest, back, legs and neck, with 37 on her left hand alone.
‘I’ve had to go to a family wedding like this, had to buy new clothes to cover the awful bites, been unable to sleep properly for weeks due to the constant itching, had a panic attack,’ she wrote on TikTok this week.
After a day sightseeing with friends, Hannah stayed the night in Cambridge rather than taking a taxi to her home in Bassingbourn to save money.
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She woke up to see blood smears on her bedsheets and tiny moving specks on her pillow – bed bugs.
Hannah told the BBC: ‘It was just a lovely wholesome time of Cambridge sightseeing and pubs, and now it is tarnished by these bedbug bites.
‘It wasn’t until I saw the blood and the bugs that I realised what had happened.’
The blogger complained to the receptionist at the hotel, who advised she email customer service.
As of Friday, she was still covered in bites, leaving her self-conscious.
Some people assume she has chickenpox or another skin disease.
‘There are certain social events I haven’t gone to, as I was so embarrassed at the way my arms were looking and the way my face looked,’ she added.
Hannah, who has blogged about her time in Cape Town, South Africa, says she never expected the bedbugs to bite in a Travelodge ‘of all places’.
‘I am just hoping these bites will go as soon as possible and I will look normal and get on with my life,’ she added.
Travelodge offered Hannah £2,000 in compensation.
Bedbugs, infamous for making hotel mattresses their home, are small parasitic insects that feed on the blood of sleeping mammals.
To these apple-seed-sized critters, we’re just a giant all-you-can-eat buffet.
Symptoms of bedbug bites include a speck of red blood, water-filled blisters, pus-filled spots and swollen, raised lumps.
They tend to heal within a week or two, though, while rare, skin infections are treated with antibiotics.
But bedbugs can go nearly a year without eating, giving them time to hitchhike on clothing, furniture, luggage and second-hand bedding.
The idea that bedbugs only scuttle around in unhygienic places is a myth, pest experts previously told Metro. It’s warmth, blood, carbon dioxide and darkness that draws them close, so cases peak in the summer.
Inspectors found Hannah’s room was riddled with bedbugs, which is now being deep-cleaned.
Travelodge told : ‘We are deeply sorry for Ms Stephenson’s experience and recognise how distressing an incident like this can be.
‘The safety of our customers is our priority and we maintain stringent, expert-led measures to prevent and manage pest issues, including training our housekeeping colleagues to be vigilant and to spot early signs wherever possible.’
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