Moms' getaway turns nightmarish when bedbugs feast on woman in southeast Calgary hotel
Colleen Underwood | CBC News | Posted: August 21, 2018 1:00 PM | Last Updated: August 21, 2018
Reyanne McKenna says she was ravaged by bedbugs leaving her with emotional and physical scars
Two months after a nightmarish weekend at a Calgary hotel, Reyanne McKenna still checks her bedbug traps and bed sheets every night before going to sleep.
It's become a distressing nighttime routine she can't shake after getting attacked by the pesky critters during a "moms' vacation" trip to Calgary with a friend in June.
"I don't wish this on anybody," said McKenna.
"It takes you three hours to fall asleep and then you wake up randomly throughout the night checking to make sure you have nothing on you, even two months after, it's a little rough."
McKenna and a close friend have been making the nine-hour trek from their homes in Sexsmith, Alta., just north of Grande Prairie, to Calgary every year for several years. The pair like to shop and enjoy nights out on the town without any kids.
For the last couple of years, they booked a room at the Town & Country Motor Inn in southeast Calgary without any problems.
And this trip started out well, too. McKenna said the first night was fine.
But the next night, McKenna woke from a deep sleep, feeling something on her arm.
"I wiped my arm and I felt something move, was like, what the heck is that?"
So she grabbed her cellphone, turned on the light and looked around. That's when she spotted a tiny reddish bug beside her and began to feel something on her leg. She ran to the bathroom, flicked on the light, and was shocked to see red welts all over her body.
"My arms, my hands, my face were covered in bites. I got 117 bites," McKenna said, adding her friend did not receive any bites.
McKenna complained to hotel staff, who offered them another room and a free night stay. She was also given a plastic garbage bag to toss her stuff into, which she did.
Filed report with Alberta Health Services
She said despite her growing anxiety, the two women decided to stay their last night in the new room. And, aside from picking up some anti-itch lotion, they didn't go out, too scared to spread the infestation to other places in Calgary.
They headed home the following morning.
McKenna said she called Health Link, who told her to report the incident to Alberta Health Services.
AHS confirmed it received a complaint on June 25 and investigated. A public health inspector ordered the hotel to hire an exterminator.
AHS said the room and an adjacent one were sprayed on June 26, but it's not required to do a follow-up inspection if it receives satisfactory documentation from the pest control company that the problem has been eradicated.
AHS said it hasn't received any further complaints about this hotel, although it did receive a previous one back in 2012.
No longer welcome at hotel
Complaints about bug infestations in hotels are not posted publicly.
The Town and Country Motor Inn declined to speak to CBC News.
McKenna sent a registered letter to the owner of the hotel because she was dissatisfied with the responses she was receiving from the manager and staff.
She said they do not want to address her concerns and told her she was no longer welcome to stay at the hotel because she notified AHS. McKenna said she had no plans to ever return to the hotel anyway.
McKenna said in the weeks that followed, she was in a lot of pain.
"It burned, they were hot, constant itching no matter what I did. I got lotions from the doctors after I got home and nothing worked," she said.
And she fears she'll be left with permanent scarring on her arms.
Financial setbacks
She said she also wrecked a lot of personal items by washing and drying her clothing and suitcase — all at high temperatures.
And she said she's been facing other financial setbacks. She runs a babysitting service and said five families have pulled out of her home, worried about bedbugs.
Despite these financial and emotional stresses, she said she's most upset with the hotel's response.
"It would be nice if they even talked to me and worked something out with me, but they won't have anything to do with me," she said.
Customer service issue
The head of the Alberta Hotel Association said it seems as though this is not a bedbug issue, per se, but a customer service issue.
"Somebody had a complaint and maybe it wasn't resolved to their satisfaction," said David Kaiser, president & CEO of the Alberta Hotel & Lodging Association.
"The goal at the end of the day should be to keep the customer so that they would come and stay with you again, so whatever that would take.
"And part of that is ensuring your customers are taken care of and ensuring if there is a problem, it's a resolved."
Kaiser recommended McKenna launch a complaint with the association to see if they can help mediate a solution.
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