NYC's Hotel Pennsylvania sued for bed bugs
Dec 1st, 2005, 03:34 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 9,232
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
NYC's Hotel Pennsylvania sued for bed bugs
What is possibly the most disgusting hotel in NYC (although always crowded with flight crews,business people, tour buses, and, of course, dog show contestants), the Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street form Madison Square Gardens, has been sued by some poor sucker (no pun intended) over bed bug bites...
From CNN:
Lawsuit: Hotel let the bedbugs bite
Thursday, December 1, 2005; Posted: 6:40 a.m. EST (11:40 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Two Swiss women who spent a week at a Manhattan hotel have filed a lawsuit saying they had a lousy time trying to sleep there because they were bitten by bedbugs.
Ksenija Knezevic, of Zurich, and Marlies Barisic, of Kreuzlingen, both in their early 30s, say the bloodsucking insects began attacking the night they checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania in September.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, says the women suffered bedbug bites over their torsos, arms and legs. Their lawyer, Alberto Ebanks, said bugs also bit their cheeks and necks and caused possibly permanent scarring.
"They were eaten alive," Ebanks said. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/01/bedbug.suit.ap/
Isn't that nice?
From CNN:
Lawsuit: Hotel let the bedbugs bite
Thursday, December 1, 2005; Posted: 6:40 a.m. EST (11:40 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- Two Swiss women who spent a week at a Manhattan hotel have filed a lawsuit saying they had a lousy time trying to sleep there because they were bitten by bedbugs.
Ksenija Knezevic, of Zurich, and Marlies Barisic, of Kreuzlingen, both in their early 30s, say the bloodsucking insects began attacking the night they checked into the Hotel Pennsylvania in September.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, says the women suffered bedbug bites over their torsos, arms and legs. Their lawyer, Alberto Ebanks, said bugs also bit their cheeks and necks and caused possibly permanent scarring.
"They were eaten alive," Ebanks said. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/12/01/bedbug.suit.ap/
Isn't that nice?
Dec 1st, 2005, 04:01 AM
#2
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 232
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
My parents stayed in a very nice hotel a few years back and they encountered this same problem. They immediately informed the desk and they found them another hotel to stay at for free.
The problem is, bed bugs can get into your clothes and luggage and then "ride home" with you; where they then take over in your own bed. My Mom had to go through a major washing of all their clothes and things. I think she even threw away the suitcases.
Needless to say, they never stayed in that hotel again.
The problem is, bed bugs can get into your clothes and luggage and then "ride home" with you; where they then take over in your own bed. My Mom had to go through a major washing of all their clothes and things. I think she even threw away the suitcases.
Needless to say, they never stayed in that hotel again.
Dec 1st, 2005, 04:19 AM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,050
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
And of course once they get into the hotel bedding they're nearly impossible to eradicate without industrial-strength insecticides that are probably worse for you than the bugs. They seek out crevices in the daytime, so they do get into suitcases; I'm told that's the main way they get from one hotel into another.
It's time for a revival of humorist Dave Barry's review of the Penn, "Hotel, Schmotel":
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...ry/3375167.htm
It's time for a revival of humorist Dave Barry's review of the Penn, "Hotel, Schmotel":
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...ry/3375167.htm
Dec 1st, 2005, 04:11 PM
#4
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 180
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yikes!I stayed at this hotel twice-the only reason being price...Millenium NY Eve to see Billy Joel across the street, so we were barely in the hotel-but we all agreed the doors looked like coffin lids and we heard a nasty fight walking to our room-we were waiting for gun shots! Bathroom also had mold and we didn't sleep in covers-just on top...ahh..
i had a run in with bed bugs senior year in H.S. down on Orlando. We were staying at the Rodeway Inn,(of course, school went as cheaply as possible) Now known to all of us as the Roachway Inn...Imagine this: laying in bed to have your friend say"What's all those black things" My response? "Shut Up, it's sweatpant fuzzies!" Only to pull back covers to see an Alfred Hitchcock like overrun of a few hundred bugs...so, we bust out of the room screaming,only to have chaperones yell at us....atleast hotel switched our room! ahh....memories of high school!
i had a run in with bed bugs senior year in H.S. down on Orlando. We were staying at the Rodeway Inn,(of course, school went as cheaply as possible) Now known to all of us as the Roachway Inn...Imagine this: laying in bed to have your friend say"What's all those black things" My response? "Shut Up, it's sweatpant fuzzies!" Only to pull back covers to see an Alfred Hitchcock like overrun of a few hundred bugs...so, we bust out of the room screaming,only to have chaperones yell at us....atleast hotel switched our room! ahh....memories of high school!
Dec 1st, 2005, 04:20 PM
#5
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 28,672
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania once, out of a misplaced nostalgia for Glenn Miller. No bedbugs (that I noticed). They did very kindly give me a new room when I found that a mouse was laying claim to the one I was occupying.
Dec 1st, 2005, 07:44 PM
#10
I read an article recently (perhaps in the L.A. Times or Newsweek) about how bed bugs are becoming a big problem in NYC hotels because of the enormous number of travellers in the city from all over the world and the ease of travelling great distances. Think: waking in some third-world country and having dinner that evening in NYC. I'm hoping this is the excuse I can use to finally convince my husband we "need" to stay at the Ritz-Carlton (or Pierre, etc.), although I'm not sure the room rate would work as an insecticide.
Dec 1st, 2005, 11:37 PM
#12
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,107
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
One of the suspected causes for bedbugs' proliferation is that many of the insecticides have become VERY specialized; hotels aren't using general purpose chemicals as much these days. Bedbugs were not one of the "targeted" vermin, therefore they've survived.
They feast on human blood and often get into your baggage, and easily set up housekeeping at your home or the next hotel you visit. "Google" them, there's quite a bit of info.
They feast on human blood and often get into your baggage, and easily set up housekeeping at your home or the next hotel you visit. "Google" them, there's quite a bit of info.
Dec 2nd, 2005, 12:47 AM
#13
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 23,138
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bedbugs are becoming a new hotel menace - and it is gross and disgusting to me. I would probably never sleep in any hotel bed again if I encountered them - I would almost rather sleep in a DDT bath.
But I am wondering what it is about bedbugs that so grosses us out (me included). They feed on human blood - but so do ticks, mosquitoes, fleas - and these do not cause the same reaction when people hear about them.
It is like the ant-cockroach thing. Both are essentially scavengers that eat leftover crumbs and set up colonies/nests inside buildings. But you can mention to your neighbor that you are having an ant problem - but no one admits to a roach problem.
But I am wondering what it is about bedbugs that so grosses us out (me included). They feed on human blood - but so do ticks, mosquitoes, fleas - and these do not cause the same reaction when people hear about them.
It is like the ant-cockroach thing. Both are essentially scavengers that eat leftover crumbs and set up colonies/nests inside buildings. But you can mention to your neighbor that you are having an ant problem - but no one admits to a roach problem.
Dec 2nd, 2005, 03:55 AM
#14
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,050
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Excuse me while I go out in the driveway and give my RV a hug.
I'll be visiting NYC later this month, but I won't be paying $300 a night and I won't be risking any bedbugs! I'll be in my own mobile home, known around here alternately as "The Guest House" or as the world's largest tote bag. I bring my own bed, bathroom, etc. wherever I go. I know the silverware is clean, and I know who last drooled on that pillow I'm sleeping on.
I used to travel a LOT for work, and even if only one hotel stay out of 20, or 50, produces something icky, that sure does add up after a while.
Jean, I think you're right about hotel rates not acting as insecticide; I suspect that Ritz customers are more likely to be international travelers than those who stay at the Comfort Inn.
I'll be visiting NYC later this month, but I won't be paying $300 a night and I won't be risking any bedbugs! I'll be in my own mobile home, known around here alternately as "The Guest House" or as the world's largest tote bag. I bring my own bed, bathroom, etc. wherever I go. I know the silverware is clean, and I know who last drooled on that pillow I'm sleeping on.
I used to travel a LOT for work, and even if only one hotel stay out of 20, or 50, produces something icky, that sure does add up after a while.
Jean, I think you're right about hotel rates not acting as insecticide; I suspect that Ritz customers are more likely to be international travelers than those who stay at the Comfort Inn.
Dec 2nd, 2005, 03:12 PM
#16
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 1,137
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
This does not surprise me at all.
I read this earlier at the office
and was howling becuase it IS GROSS.
Stayed there years ago and cut short
our stay by two nights,
paying more by leaving, but
just happy to get the heck out
of that hellhole.
Hopefully this will force them
to make some improvements!!!!!
I read this earlier at the office
and was howling becuase it IS GROSS.
Stayed there years ago and cut short
our stay by two nights,
paying more by leaving, but
just happy to get the heck out
of that hellhole.
Hopefully this will force them
to make some improvements!!!!!
Dec 2nd, 2005, 03:24 PM
#17
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 19,419
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In Russia the bedbugs were affectionatly called "the pets of proletariat". Proletariat being the class of industrial workers.
They are small bugs, like lady-bugs, only smaller, and if squashed, they stink. Some people say, the smell of cogniac reminds them of the stink of squashed bedbugs.
The bites are like red dots. It's very difficult to get rid of them, but not impossible.
They survive by feeding on human blood at night.
No, we didn't bring any to America
They are small bugs, like lady-bugs, only smaller, and if squashed, they stink. Some people say, the smell of cogniac reminds them of the stink of squashed bedbugs.
The bites are like red dots. It's very difficult to get rid of them, but not impossible.
They survive by feeding on human blood at night.
No, we didn't bring any to America
Dec 12th, 2005, 07:00 AM
#18
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 957
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Read that article in NY Times about the increase of bed bugs in many hotels.
A very good suggestion (no matter where you stay) is to NOT place your luggage on the bed. Should there be any critters, then they can easily crawl into your suitcase and you'll bring the darn things home with you! That's what happened to a friend of mine a few years ago, when he stayed at a "decent" hotel in Miami.
A very good suggestion (no matter where you stay) is to NOT place your luggage on the bed. Should there be any critters, then they can easily crawl into your suitcase and you'll bring the darn things home with you! That's what happened to a friend of mine a few years ago, when he stayed at a "decent" hotel in Miami.
Dec 12th, 2005, 07:08 AM
#19
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 957
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Link >>> Bedbugs are back and problem for hotel guests
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...dforeigntravel
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...dforeigntravel
Dec 12th, 2005, 07:24 AM
#20
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 1,418
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not a big surprise here to anyone who has stayed at this flea-bag.
We still joke about it (4 years later) with my in-laws who stayed in another room that had the strangest room configuration I've ever seen - it was like they took an ajoining room's closet and added it to the room.
One door had the room number written on it in pen.
I felt like I was in the horror movie "13th Floor". It had that eerie-creepy feeling to it.
But hey...it was the best rate we could find....
We still joke about it (4 years later) with my in-laws who stayed in another room that had the strangest room configuration I've ever seen - it was like they took an ajoining room's closet and added it to the room.
One door had the room number written on it in pen.
I felt like I was in the horror movie "13th Floor". It had that eerie-creepy feeling to it.
But hey...it was the best rate we could find....
