22-Year-Old Premier Inn Guest Shocked to Discover Pillows Infested with Bed Bugs as Hotel Goes into 'Lockdown'

PREMIER Inn was forced to “lock down” part of a hotel when a guest fled after discovering BED BUGS crawling out of her pillowcase.

Ellie Davina checked into the Premier Inn hotel on Runger Lane North for one night on June 17, before her flight to the following day.

Ellie Davina says she was ‘disgusted’ to find bed bugs in her Premier Inn hotel room Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media Ellie and a pal were staying at the Manchester airport hotel for one night before jetting off to Tenerife Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media

The 22-year-old says she lay on the double bed in the room “for a couple of hours,” while her friend slept in the single bed.

After getting up to use the bathroom and using her phone’s torch to find her way back to bed, Ellie says she was “disgusted” to find crawling out of the pillow case.

The self-employed jeweller claims there were “at least 10 bed bugs” lurking on the bedding, and some of them were so large they were “the size of her fingernail”.

Disgusted by the discovery, Ellie stormed down to reception and demanded a refund.

There were at least 10 bed bugs with one the size of her nail, Ellie claims Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media The self-employed jeweller claims a member of staff ‘giggled’ when she explained the situation Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media

Ellie says a reception staff member “giggled” when she explained the predicament, before he offered the pair a complimentary breakfast and a refund of £77.

After sitting in reception for more than an hour, Ellie was eventually moved to another room – but claims she sat on the edge of the bed unable to , until it was time to check out.

Ellie has since submitted a formal complaint to Premier Inn but claims she is yet to receive her refund and vows to never book with the hotel chain again.

The hotel chain said housekeeping teams are trained to look for bed bugs, and when a report is made the room is “immediately locked down” as well as surrounding rooms.

Premier Inn apologised for the “extremely rare” incident and said they hoped to welcome Ellie back again in future.

The chain also confirmed a refund had been processed.

Ellie, from , , said: “When I was coming back from the toilet, I noticed a bed bug crawling across my pillow.

“I looked further and the more I looked, the more I found.

“As soon as I’d seen one, there was another and another and another.

“I pulled the duvet back and they were absolutely everywhere – they were crawling out of the pillow cases.

“There were about four in the seam of this pillowcase; I’d had my head laid there.

“These bed bugs were absolutely huge, one of them was the same size as my fingernail.

“There were a good 10 and they were all massive, there were about eight big ones and the rest were like little babies.”

Ellie says she was left feeling “disgusted” by the discovery – and suspects a lump she found on her lower body earlier in the evening may have been a bed bug bite.

Ellie said: “I felt disgusting – [it was] absolutely disgusting, vile. I was actually in shock.

“I said to my friend before we went to sleep, ‘I’ve got a little lump on my leg ‘and she said ‘maybe it’s just a heat lump’, but I think it was a bed bug bite.”

After making the “vile” discovery, Ellie stormed down to reception where she says she was offered a complimentary breakfast, full refund, and was eventually moved to another room.

Ellie said: “We went downstairs and I asked reception for a full refund and he just started giggling.

“He was saying they couldn’t issue a refund and it would have to be in the morning.

“They were giggling at me and were just not really bothered that I could have been eaten alive in my bed. I was so annoyed.

“They said we could have free breakfast and a full refund, but I’d already paid for my breakfast.

“We sat in reception for about half an hour, by this point it was about 2.30am and we just couldn’t sit there any longer.

“I said ‘I want a different room on a lower floor and all new sheets so I can change the bed sheets myself’.

“I didn’t go to sleep. I went in there and sat on the edge of the bed until it was time for me to leave.

“They said they’d issued a refund and it should be with me within three to five days, but we still haven’t received it.”

Despite paying just £77 for the one-night stay, Ellie says the room was far below the level of cleanliness she would expect.

Ellie said: “You expect the room to be clean, it’s never justifiable.

“Premier Inn used to be the go-to, cheap hotel to use but now I will never go back.

“The bedding definitely hadn’t been changed because of the way those bed bugs were crawling out of those pillowcases.

“If those pillowcases would have come off and gone back on, then they wouldn’t have been there.

“It’s put me off staying at any Premier Inn, I don’t think I’d even stay at a cheap hotel in general.”

Ellie says the ordeal has left her so ‘paranoid’ about bed bugs that she checked the whole hotel as soon as she got to Tenerife, and even checked her own bed when she returned home.

Ellie said: “As soon as we got to Tenerife, we checked the whole hotel for bed bugs.

“Even when I got home [from holiday], I was checking my own bed [for bed bugs].

“I know for a fact I don’t have any bed bugs in my own bed, but I was even checking there. I’ve never experienced something like that in my life.

“Now I know they’re real, I will check everywhere that I go. You don’t ever expect it to happen to yourself.

“It’s lucky that I didn’t open my suitcase in there, or else we could have been taking the bed bugs with us [to Tenerife].”

A Premier Inn spokesperson said: “Bed bugs are incredibly rare in our , and we have rigorous processes in place as part of our daily housekeeping processes to both react to and prevent issues on the rare occasions they do arise.

“This includes taking complaints of this nature very seriously, and our teams are corresponding directly with Ms Merritt on the circumstances of her stay.

“In this instance, our expert supplier has visited the hotel in line with our extremely comprehensive protocols to treat the room and in line with these protocols as an additional level of precaution we have also checked other nearby rooms in the hotel using the same comprehensive processes.

“Following this visit, our expert supplier has confirmed that the impacted room has now been successfully treated and is now clear and have advised it was an isolated case with other rooms having no signs or evidence of bed bugs.

“Our team is always on hand 24/7 to help our guests, whatever the issue, and we were glad that our team acted quickly once notified of the situation and were able to offer an alternative room as well as a full refund for Ms Merritt at the time of her stay.

“However, we would like to apologise to Ms Merritt for this extremely rare incident, and we hope to welcome her again in the future.”