A man has shared his ‘disgust’ after claiming to find bed bug bites all over his body after a hotel stay – and is warning others to check their beds.
William Coomber was staying at The Waverley Hotel in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on Sunday, May 25, with his brother-in-law, sister, nieces and nephew.
When he returned home to Harwich, Essex, after the one-night stay, he found ‘unbearable’ bug bites on his back, head, arms and legs.
The bites measured between 1.5cm across and 2.5cm tall, and are incredibly painful, prompting him to warn others to check their hotel bedding.
Despite the photos of his large bites, the Waverley Hotel has denied that there were bed bugs in the room and insisted ‘thorough checks’ took place.
‘It’s horrible. Where it’s on my hands and on my face, and when I’m out in public, I’m thinking about what people think of me,’ William said.
‘It makes you feel like people might think you’re dirty. There is constant itching, and it is painful on my hands where I’m driving. When I go to sleep at night, I’m wearing layers and layers because I’m worried they’re still here. I can’t wait for them to go.’
William and his family had stayed at the three-star The Waverley Hotel following his brother-in-law’s winning at bingo.
Though he noticed the bites shortly after his stay, he thought they were gnats – until placing photos of it in Chat GPT, which claimed the bites were from bed bugs.
At 1 am, William said he spotted a singular baby bed bug – known as a ‘nymph’ – running across his bed sheet.
He said he called the hotel to inform them, but was told the cleaning team would look into it.
‘We’ve never had bed bugs at our house and then all of a sudden, one shows up, it seems to be a hitchhiker from the hotel,’ he said.
‘The bites came up 24 hours after I stayed there. I steamed the entire bed and I’ve washed everything that was in the hotel at 60 degrees since returning home.
‘I went to a pharmacist and her words were ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen this amount of bites’. She told me to see a doctor or nurse as soon as possible so I got an emergency appointment at my GP,’ he added.
‘The nurse told me it was ‘a lot of bites’ and advised me to use hydrocortisone and an over-the-counter antihistamine.’
William reported the incident to the Environmental Services team at Great Yarmouth Borough Council and said ‘no one’ should go through what he did.
‘I love Great Yarmouth and it’s a great place to go. But I want an apology from the hotel and some sort of compensation. I’m not out for blood – I just want to make things right,’ he said.
A Great Yarmouth Borough Council spokesperson said: “The council received a report about potential bed bugs at The Waverley Hotel in Great Yarmouth.
“As is standard when such a report is received, the Commercial Team will visit the hotel and investigate to decide if any action is required.”
A spokesperson for The Waverley Hotel said today: ‘There was a visit to our hotel by Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s experts, and they have thoroughly checked the hotel and the rooms and have found nothing at all.
‘All rooms which are opposite & adjacent to the particular room number and the rooms on the floor below that floor were also thoroughly checked to find any traces but everything was found perfectly alright with nil traces.’
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