Bed bug attack leaves woman covered in bites after Travelodge stay

A woman says she was left covered in painful red bites after spending a night at a Travelodge hotel, in what she describes as a horrifying ordeal that has dented her confidence and left her too embarrassed to wear short sleeves in public.

Hannah Stephenson, 34, checked into the budget hotel chain expecting a routine overnight stay. What she got instead was a night she says she’ll never forget — and dozens of bites to prove it.

What happened during the stay

Hannah noticed the first few red marks on her arms and legs the morning after her stay. By the time she got home, the bites had spread across her torso and shoulders. She counted more than 40 individual marks. A visit to her GP confirmed the likely culprit: bed bugs.

“I was absolutely mortified,” she said. “I’ve stayed in budget hotels before and never had anything like this. I just wanted a decent night’s sleep and I came home feeling disgusting.”

She says she reported the issue to Travelodge directly but felt the response was dismissive. She’s since shared photos of her bites on social media, where the post has attracted thousands of reactions.

The emotional toll

It’s not just the physical discomfort that’s hit Hannah hard. She says the bites have left her feeling self-conscious and embarrassed in a way she didn’t expect.

She avoided a friend’s birthday dinner because she didn’t want people staring at her arms.

“People look at you differently when you’ve got marks all over you,” she said. “They don’t say anything, but you can tell they’re thinking it. I felt dirty, even though I’d done nothing wrong.”

Bed bug infestations, while not a direct health emergency, can cause significant psychological distress alongside the physical symptoms. Bites typically take one to two weeks to fully heal, and some people experience allergic reactions requiring medical treatment.

What Travelodge says

A spokesperson for Travelodge said the company takes all reports of this nature extremely seriously and has a thorough hygiene and inspection protocol in place across its more than 570 UK properties. They said the specific room in question was taken out of service for immediate investigation following Hannah’s complaint.

“Guest welfare is our absolute priority and we encourage anyone who experiences an issue during their stay to raise it with our team immediately so we can respond as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

A growing problem for UK hotels

Bed bug reports at hotels across the UK have risen steadily in recent years, with pest control companies noting an uptick following the post-pandemic return of international travel. The insects are notoriously difficult to eradicate and can spread rapidly between rooms through luggage, clothing and bedding.

But Hannah says for now, her concern is simpler. She wants her bites to heal, she wants an apology she feels genuinely means something, and she wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else. She hasn’t decided yet whether to pursue formal legal action.