Anonymous

On Friday night, September 25, 2015, I stayed overnight in room 217 at the Super 8 - Colorado Springs Airport, Colorado Springs, CO. My purpose in visiting Colorado Springs was to attend the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association) Regional Fly-in event at the Colorado Springs Airport, which attracted by over 2,000 people. I am a pilot, aircraft owner, and executive director & newsletter editor of the South Dakota Pilots Association (400 members), and the secretary & newsletter editor of the Yankton Regional Aviation Association (119 members). I rested in room 217 while watching TV on Friday evening and noticed a large bug crawling on a pillow at 9:30pm. I crushed it and the body was filled with what appeared to be brown dry matter. I was concerned, but proceeded to go to sleep. I awake at 12:30am and turned the lights on. I noticed 8 bugs on either side of me on the bed. I crushed each one, and they were each filled with bright red blood – MY BLOOD. I am 68 years old and have stayed numerous times over the years at variety of motels / hotels across the U.S. for work and pleasure, and this was my first time dealing with bed bugs. It was too late to move somewhere else, so I cautiously tried to return to sleep. I awoke at 2:00am, 4:30am, and 6:30am and turned the lights on, but did not find any more bed bugs. I wonder if the smell / pheromones of the crushed bugs deterred feeding by other bed bugs. Regardless, I rested very little and had a terrible experience at Super 8 – Colorado Springs Airport. In addition, went I walked barefoot on the carpeting, it felt sticky and the carpeting looked stained in various places from spilled liquids. The floor around the toilet felt spongy to walk on (extending out from the toilet about 10-12 inches). The flooring actually moved up and down under my weight (198 pounds). All the 6-inch ceramic floor tiles within about 10-12 inches of the toilet were broken and moved when stepped on. Some of the grout was missing behind the tiles. When using the toilet I spread my feet apart to stand on more structurally sound flooring further from the toilet. Clearly the underfloorment near the toilet had structurally decayed, resulting in a spongy feeling to the floor and movement of the flooring and loosening of the tile. When I left the Super 8 at 7:30am on September 26 there was no one at the front desk to talk to about my exceeding poor experience at the motel. After thinking about the experience, I decided to alert the Colorado Springs Better Business Bureau, area Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Springs Public Health Department, El Paso County Public Health Department, and Super 8 headquarters. While driving to my daughter’s place in Longmont, CO, I bought garbage bags to store my suitcase inside one bag and placed a blanket on which the suitcase had laid in a second plastic bag. I had alerted my daughter about the bed bugs, and she bought a large can of Hot Shot insecticide specific for killing adults, larva, and eggs of bed bugs. We sprayed the outside of the suit case while it was inside the plastic bag, and later discarded suit case in a plastic bag in a dumpster. We also sprayed several other items including my shoes held in a trash bag, shaving kit held in a trash bag (some items were discarded), two leather belts, etc, then thoroughly washed and dried all of my cloths including belts. We also sprayed insecticide inside my vehicle and let it unused for about 36 hours. I hope the Public Health Departments and Super 8 will investigate the situation at Super 8 – Colorado Springs Airport, and rectify the unacceptable conditions.

• Bedbugs Found
• Requested Refund