Getting bit by bed bugs, or finding them in the room you booked, is enough to ruin anyone’s vacation. But before you call an experienced bed bug lawyer in St. Louis, you should take the following steps if you find bed bugs in your hotel room:
Get pictures of your surroundings.
You should take photos of everything in your hotel room: its number, location within the hotel or resort, layout, and most importantly where you found the bed bugs. Get multiple shots of the places where you spotted the pests, and if you were able to locate their nest within the room be sure to take photos of that as well. If you were bit, document where you were hurt and the extent of the bite marks.
Talk to the front desk or management.
While most hotels thoroughly clean all their guest rooms and areas, the nature of bed bugs and their ability to live in any environment means that they can survive, unbeknownst to anyone, in furniture or along a baseboard for weeks. They don’t discriminate about the quality of hotel you’re in, either: bed bug infestations have occured at five-star hotels as frequently as at smaller motels. Notify management as soon as you can: they will move you to a different room while they begin to fumigate your previous room. Depending on where you are staying, you may also need to call the local health department to alert them of a bed bug infestation at a hotel.
Make sure you aren’t bringing bed bugs back home with you.
Bed bugs are tiny creatures–roughly the size and shape of an apple seed–and thrive in tight, dark spaces. This means they can burrow into small cracks and crevices in your luggage, or hide away within folded or dirty clothes. We’ve seen several cases where people go on a trip, stay in a room where bed bugs are present, come home, and inadvertently bring bed bugs into their home. If your hotel room was the site of a bed bug infestation, go through all your clothes and bags to check for bed bugs or their eggs. Wash your clothes, even if they haven’t been worn since the start of your trip, and take extra time looking through small pockets and in corners of your bags.
Contact a Bed Bug Lawyer in St. Louis.
Most hotels will likely bend over backwards to accomodate and please you if your room was infested with bed bugs. This is mostly because they want to maintain their image and protect their bottom line: people won’t want to stay at a hotel if they know their room might have pests lurking inside it. But bed bug bites can cause physical and emotional scars that aren’t easily fixed by a free suite upgrade or complimentary room service.
Attorney Amanda Hayden is ready to hear your St. Louis bed bug case. With decades of experience in both business and the law, she knows exactly how big insurance companies or hospitality firms can throw up obstacles to you getting the settlement you deserve. You need someone who will fight for your case with both passion and compassion. Call Amanda today at (314) 480 3100, or contact her online, for a free, no-strings-attached consultation about your bed bug case.
