A Mother Shocked After Finding Bed Bugs In Butlins Accommodation
A holiday in Skegness was ruined after a mother was forced to cut her holiday short after finding bed bugs at her Butlins accommodation
A mother has revealed that she was forced to cut her family break to Butlin’s short after finding a bed bug infestation at her accommodation.
Rebecca Horgan from Lincoln took her family to Skegness Butlins hoping for a fun packed holiday, instead her fun breakaway turned into a nightmare resulting in her cutting her holiday short.
When Rebecca arrived at Skegness Butlins with her family, she was excited about her short three-day breakaway, but when she arrived at the accommodation, she was shocked.
The 36-year-old mother who shared her gold apartment at Skegness Butlins with her five-year-old son and parents said the accommodation was really dirty. Furthermore, she said her bed was infested with bedbugs.
Rebecca who is a compliance manager had no option but to cut her holiday at Skegness Butlins short and left early on Sunday.
She said: “I’m not a dramatic person but we had to leave.”
Describing her family’s experience, Ms Horgan said she had been heading back to bed after attending to her son in the night when she first came across the insects.
“I got back into bed to find a large, adult bedbug on the white pillowcase.
“On pulling back the duvet there were many more in the sheets.
“These had not been visible in the daytime.
“They were also on the bedframe and had invaded my son’s suitcase.”
Ms Horgan said her mother had booked two apartments. Rebecca Horgan’s brother, his wife and children took the other apartment.
No bedbugs were found in that accommodation, Ms Horgan said.
After finding the bedbugs, Ms Horgan said she had rung an emergency number and Butlin’s staff had offered to move the four of them to a different apartment.
“No-one came to help us or see if we were OK despite my obvious distress,” she said.
“After phoning again and asking for bin bags, so I could seal the cases before putting them in the car, two guards arrived with bags.”
Rebecca decided not to take up the offer of an alternative apartment.
“Due to the contaminated cases, I just wanted to leave,” she said.
After arriving home, Rebecca spent two days washing clothes and all the items they took with them to kill anything that they could have brought back with them.
She said the family had thrown away their suitcases, including her son’s favourite dinosaur case.
Ms Horgan said: “Anything that couldn’t be washed and tumble-dried was thrown away or treated with a pesticide.
“I’ve been waking in the night thinking I have them crawling on my bed at home.”
Butlins has offered to refund Rebecca for the cost of the apartment and dining. However, Rebecca said that they have refused to refund the price of the second apartment even though the holiday was ruined.
Ms Horgan said Butlin’s had also refused to compensate the family for items they said had to be thrown away.
“It was a disaster from start to finish,” she added.
A Butlin’s spokesperson said it had “strict cleaning and hygiene policies”, including treatment for preventing bedbugs.
They also said: “”We’re very sorry to hear about Rebecca and her family’s recent experience on resort.
“We have been in direct contact with the family to offer a gesture of goodwill and since being made aware, we have fully treated the unit of accommodation.
“We want to reassure guests that we have strict cleaning and hygiene policies in place, including the identification and subsequent treatment for preventing bedbugs.”