Anonymous

I stayed at the doubletree Hilton in Rapid City SD April 22-24, room 704. On the morning of the 23rd I noticed a small spot of blood near the pillow (and took a photo) but thought maybe it was from my hands because they were dry and cracking. I quickly looked under the sheets bc I also suspected bed bugs but didn’t see anything. I was in town for a training and didn’t have a lot of extra time. On the morning of the 24th I woke up around 6am to exercise and pack to catch the 8:30 am shuttle to the airport. When I got up I saw a blood engorged bed bugs crawling on the sheet and took a video. I tried to put it in a coffee cup but it fell to the carpet. I immediately called the front desk and they said they’d send someone right away. After about 10 minutes someone came up to the room, did a cursory check and I showed them the video. They were very empathetic. They said they’d move me to another room. I asked if they could launder/sanitize my belongings and they said no, but there was guest laundry available. I was disappointed because I know there were commercial facilities that could get hot enough to kill any potential bed bugs. I questioned why they would move me to another room and potentially spread the bugs and she said that’s just protocol. I packed up my belongings and moved to room 209. I was careful not to put anything on beds but the room was fully carpeted. Over the next two hours I used the guest laundry (the front desk did provide quarters) to run as many loads as possible before I had to leave for the airport. When I checked out the front desk offered to comp one night. I asked if they could provide a Hilton credit bc the room was charged to my government credit card and I would not benefit from the refund. The clerk said they’d give me 15,000 points and comp my airport shuttle (which again was paid by my employer so didn’t do me any good) and I was anxious to leave and figure I’d follow up this week when I could talk to a manager. Yesterday (4/27) I called and talked to a manager. She looked at my account and said they had planned to give me 1,500 points instead of 15,000, neither of which had appeared on my Hilton honors account. She said she’d give me an additional 20,000 points which did appear, so all told I’ve received 20,000 points which is not enough for even one nights stay. In addition I had to spend 5 hours at a commercial laundry when I returned after a long day of traveling. And am still working on decontaminating my luggage. I had to buy a new pair of pants for my return trip bc I didn’t want to risk spreading bed bugs to my family. I’d hope for future cases Hilton provide the following: -commercial laundry ASAP for guess including their luggage. -compensation to purchase new luggage/clothing if necessary -guidelines for guests on how to avoid spreading bed bugs and what to do in case of a infestation in a guest room -refund for all nights stayed in an infested room or a minimum of 45,000 points.

• Bedbugs Found
• Requested Refund