Imagine this:
You are relaxing on your bed in the evening with peace in a hotel room, thinking about the beautiful day and the fantastic stuff you have done on vacation.
Suddenly out of nowhere, a roach scurries away from your bed in front of your eyes!
Isn’t it terrifying? Isn’t it a horrible experience?
What could be worse than living in a cockroach room on vacation? Right?
Hotels are where frequent people visits happen; therefore, it is a highly prone area for roach infestation and also for various pests.
But it is not your fault.
You have paid the whole amount to live in a clean, hygienic, roach-free room at the hotel.
However, instead of living peacefully now, you are terrified due to cockroaches.
What if I tell you that you can get a refund due to this inconvenience? Sounds interesting?
Yes, you can get a partial or even full refund from the hotel if your hotel room has cockroaches.
However, let me tell you this method applies to some cases only as only some quality hotel care about their visitors’ experience and provide a refund.
So, even if only a few hotels provide a refund for the inconvenience that happened due to cockroaches, then how you will get that?
Let’s get to know it:
Can You Actually Get A Refund When Your Hotel Has Roaches?
I will be brutally honest with you here:
The answer to whether you will get a refund for your inconvenience due to roaches is a little tricky.
Not all hotels will provide you with a refund directly due to their terms and conditions or something else.
On the other hand, it is also true that some hotels will quickly make you either get a new roach-free room or provide you a full refund depending upon your requirement.
However, it all depends on the type of hotel you are staying in and the terms and conditions of the hotel that is serving you.
Therefore, in the end, you have only one option –to ask for a refund, if you want to, and see if they are cooperating with you or adjust to the same hotel room with a new room with more cleanliness and of course without roaches.
But the latter option is not good; if one room is roach-infested, then it is more likely that the other room can also be in the same condition.
Therefore, asking for a refund is the best option, along with leaving that hotel.
Get A Refund In 5 Steps If Your Hotel Room Has Roaches
So now you have decided to ask for a refund from the hotel as you found roaches in your room.
But how will you do that?
Follow these five detailed steps to increase your chances of getting a refund from the hotel!
Step 1: Accumulate Proof
To ask for a refund, you need solid proof.
Therefore, the first step is to collect the proof before asking for a refund from the hotel.
Take pictures, record infestation videos, including the room number in which you are staying, and collect as many solid proofs as possible.
These proofs are going to help you solidly represent your argument.
Step 2: Contact the Receptionist
So, now you have collected all the proofs of infestation in your room, you can proceed further by contacting the receptionist.
Go to the hotel’s front desk and tell them about your concerns. After describing your matter, you can show them the proofs (pictures or videos you have gathered).
After this step, the receptionist should be able to help you appropriately, but if not, follow the next step.
Step 3: Call The Manager
If the receptionist cannot help you or is not providing the right solution for your inconvenience, you can call the hotel manager.
Hotel managers are more cooperative than the front desk and know more about refund policies.
Again, you have to describe the cockroach problems to the manager about your issue. Also, don’t feel shy to share any medical reason, such as an allergy to roaches, if you have any.
Show the proofs to the manager again.
Step 4: Ask For The Refund
Now it is time for our primary step.
Ask for a refund from the manager in a polite way. Also, tell them about your good prior experience with their hotel if you have any.
You can tell them I will use the hotel if I need it, but you cannot. It will ensure to make things go smoothly with authority.
Throughout all these conversations, ensure you are polite and not verbally rude.
Step 5: Do Not Negotiate
Here’s the catch:
Once you ask for a refund, the hotel management will likely negotiate with you about changing the room for you.
Please don’t do it!
Don’t negotiate for changing the room, as you never know if the other room is roach-free.
So, don’t fall for this trap. Tell the hotel management you don’t want to change rooms and need a refund.
Can A Hotel Refuse To Give A Refund?
In short, a hotel can refuse to give you a refund if it is against their service policy or terms and conditions.
But remember, most hotels will not want to lose a customer, so they will try to improve your experience by changing the room.
Also, multiple hotel rooms will give you the option to stay.
In some cases, the hotels can even provide a partial refund.
However, as said before, if some hotels have a no-refund policy; therefore, in that case, they cannot provide a refund to you.
Therefore, it is always better to check the refund policy in the hotel where you want to check in and avoid paying all the money at once at the hotel.
Instead, you can divide the bill and pay them later as well. In this case, you will have better control over the money.
However, if nothing still works for you, you can say these things to the hotel manager. If they will not provide the refund, then,
- You will never visit this hotel again.
- You will share your bad experience with friends and family.
- You will leave a bad review about the hotel on Google Maps, Airbnb, Trustpilot, etc.
- You will share the bad experience on social media.
- You will sue them.
How To Check If Your Hotel Room Has Infestation?
Getting a hotel room with an infestation ruins your whole trip experience. Also, it is highly likely that, along with cockroaches, the room may have bed bugs, too.
Therefore, before you directly jump to the bed in your hotel room, check if cockroaches or bed bugs infest your room.
You can check if your hotel room has an infestation by following these methods:
1. Smell
If you are already aware of the roaches and their odor, you will instantly catch it if your hotel room has a roach infestation.
Otherwise, the hotel room with roach infestation will have a musty stench (like urine) smell.
So, if you observe this smell in the room, it is a red signal, so do not check-in.
2. Darkness
Roaches are nocturnal insects; therefore, they stay activated during night or darkness. Consequently, you can turn off the lights for 3 to 5 minutes to activate hidden roaches.
The roaches will move out quickly as they observe the darkness, searching for food and water.
Don’t make sudden moves or noise; wait for the roaches to come out. And if you observe any cockroaches after this experiment, don’t check into that room.
3. Check For Cockroach Leftovers
If you check into a hotel, you can check for cockroach smear marks and leftovers such as eggshells, body parts, etc.
These leftovers are usually found in corners and around electric appliances, so you must check for these leftovers around microwave ovens and fridges.
Bonus Tip: A carpeted room has more chances of being roach infested than one with tiles.
4. Check For Cockroach Hiding Places
Cockroaches hide in cracks and narrow spaces in a room, so you can check around the furniture, cupboards, cabinets, sinks, and drains.
Make sure to implement 5 minutes light technique before finding the roaches in hiding places.
Where Do Cockroaches Hide In Hotels?
There are several places in a room where cockroaches can easily hide, from the bathroom to store room and garbage stores. Therefore, you must find signs of roaches in hotel rooms.
These are the most common hiding spots and cockroach infestation places in a hotel room:
Bathrooms
Cockroaches love food and water. That means you can easily find them near the kitchen or bathroom.
In the bathroom, cockroaches get water sources, so you can commonly find the roaches hanging around the toilet.
You can check underneath sinks and around showers. You are more likely to find them there. Roaches also make themselves hide in pipes and sewage systems.
Kitchen
The kitchen is where the food gets prepared. And therefore, it becomes easier for roaches to get their food supply from the kitchen.
Fun fact: German cockroaches loves to stay in kitchen areas.
Hence, you will find roaches easily around the kitchen and buffet room.
The kitchen and buffet room usually stay busy due to the people, so roaches rarely leave their hiding in the daytime.
Therefore, it may become tough to find them in the daytime, but in the nighttime, roaches quickly attack the leftover food items in the kitchen.
Luggage
You put your luggage to sit around or put it under your bed. You never know that your suitcase can become a warm and dark place for roaches to hide easily and lay their eggs.
It is because your suitcase becomes a safe place for roaches.
The luggage becomes an ideal space for roaches and a base to find food and water.
Additionally, if the roaches are desperate for food, they can also eat the fabric suitcase, damaging your stuff.
Clothing
In a room, if you leave your clothes in a large pile, it will more likely attract roaches, but it becomes more attractive to other cockroaches if the clothes are old and dirty.
However, washed clothes are also not safe.
Cockroaches eat starch; therefore, if there is anything leftover washing powder or detergent on your clothes, the roaches will quickly munch on them.
Therefore, clothes become another hiding spot for cockroaches, and it is why the laundry room is also not safe.
The best way to prevent roaches from your clothing is to hang your clothes in the wardrobe after getting washed.
You can also seal your clothes in a suitcase to keep them safe in a roach motel.
Garbage And Dustbin Areas
Cockroaches can eat anything.
And therefore, it is what makes them get anywhere in the room.
Whether it is rotting food such as fruit and vegetable or anything with a strong odor attractive to roaches, it makes cockroaches have their best meal.
Therefore, roaches hide around waste bags, dustbins, and trash stores.
Also, a hotel has a lot of trash to deal with because regular people visit, so roaches get plenty of their food supply from there.
Tips For Better Hotel Experience
Here are some tips which can make you get a better hotel experience:
Ideally, you should not pay the whole amount to the hotel in the first place. Instead, pay the amount partially so you can better control your money. It helps you further when you ask for a refund, just in case.
Before you check in at the hotel, check for roach infestation. And if you find any signs about the same, don’t check in, ask for a refund, and then leave the hotel.
If you cannot get a refund due to any circumstances, people also compromise with staying in roach motels if you have paid the total amount and can’t bear losing it. Or simply roach motels are also an option if you booked the room last moment.
Don’t leave your suitcase on the floor in the hotel rooms, as doing so can bring roaches home, which can also infest your home after vacation.
You can read reviews and online articles to book a decent hotel online. It will help you know beforehand about the hotel’s refund policy and any inconvenience, such as roach infestation.
If you find a cockroach in a hotel, that means the management may not have taken care of pest control.
So, now, you have two options. First, share this matter with the manager or at the front desk.
Ask for a refund as you don’t want to stay there.
Second, you can compromise with a different room at the same hotel if you want. However, staying in the same hotel is never a good option as roaches can also infest the other rooms.
Though if you have paid the whole amount to the hotel and they are not refunding you, you can think about this second option.
But again, remember, there is a high chance that the adjacent rooms may also be infested.
Yes, you can get roaches from a hotel and bed bugs. Therefore, you need to keep your stuff, such as your suitcase, food items, and clothes, in such a manner that roaches don’t find a place to stay.
Also, you can avoid staying in a roach-infested room to avoid getting roaches from the hotel room.
Generally speaking room service or hotel management should take care about the roaches by a pest professional.
But what you can do to avoid cockroaches from your roach motel is by keeping your room clean—store food in a cockroach-proof container. Maintain a sound drainage system.
Don’t store clothes to make a pile.
Keep your clothes in the wardrobe by hanging them or put them in your suitcase to seal them.
Also, make sure to handle the waste in a suitable container. By doing these, you can surely increase your chances of avoiding picking up unwanted guests.
It will also make you not bring home cockroaches.
Conclusion
Finding a cockroach in the hotel room is a nightmare, so the best option to not ruin your vacation or hotel stay is to quickly check out of that hotel if it is roach infested.
You can ask for a refund or compromise with a better and new room if you want to. You can get your appropriate solution depending on the refund policy and hotel service quality.
However, suppose you are not getting the right service. In that case, you always have other options, such as sharing your experience on social media or complaining about the service to the authorities in the worst case.
Remember, the hotel should provide you with a better service as you are paying them, and if they lack anywhere, you have the right to ask for it.
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