Couple Manuela Johnson and husband Stelian Johnson were on a holiday in Lanzarote, Spain, when they found their hotel was infested with bed bugs, which followed their friend home
A family were forced to throw away luggage and fumigate their house after a bed bug infestation on a Jet2 holiday which left them covered in bites “followed” them back to the UK.
Manuela Johnson jetted off to Lanzarote, Spain, to celebrate her birthday with her husband Stelian Johnson, 53, and best friend Maria Henderson in October. However, after a few days the couple found marks on their body which a doctor confirmed where from bed bugs.
When the couple checked their room on their return to the hotel, Manuela said they were shocked to find the bed frame covered in bed bugs and eggs. They changed rooms and when they got home threw away their luggage at the door. However, Maria had to have her home fumigated. Manuela, from Croydon in South London, said: “The first two days were amazing but on the third day we began to experience bites on our legs.
“It was first my husband and then they moved onto me. By the end of the holiday, I was also covered head to toe in bites. I didn’t have as many as my husband. He had hundreds of bites all over him. The bed bugs were on the bed frame. There were lots of bed bugs and eggs all over it. The hospital told us to go and check our mattress.
“We opened the mattress and we saw them. I was shocked. Imagine sleeping on this bed. It’s unbelievable and it’s not healthy for all these bugs to be crawling all over you at night. When they moved us to a different room they didn’t put any treatment on our luggage.
“A Jet2 agent came on site and spoke to the hotel manager and told us we needed to leave our belongings in the room. [Before moving rooms] they said they were going to steam all our luggage but they didn’t do this so we brought the infestation with us [to the UK].
“My friend was fine during the holiday, however as soon as we arrived in the UK she began to get bites on her leg. We have just moved into a new property and we had to throw away all our luggage when we landed back in the UK. It was the best decision we made after seeing what happened to my friend’s house.”
Following their discovery she claims they reported the infestation to the hotel manager and a Jet2 agent who agreed to steam their belongings and move them to another room. But after changing rooms, she claims their bags were never fumigated and believes this led to them taking the infestation back to the UK with them on November 7th.
Maria, from Peckham in London, said: “A few days after I got back to the UK I started to get itchy. I’m not sure if I was bitten at home or on holiday and they showed up later. Pest control came and they found bed bugs in my house and the treatment cost me a fortune. It was more expensive than my holiday. It was £1,164. They had to do a fumigation and steam treatment. I had several bites all over my body.
“I’m so angry. They said it was four stars but it wasn’t even one star. It was filthy and dirty. I believe the bed bugs came back in my friend’s luggage. Even now I have paranoia when I’m sleeping and I wake up in the night. I want my money back.”
A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are investigating this as a matter of priority. As soon as we were made aware, our teams did all they could to assist including moving the customers to a different room. As an award-winning company, we want our customers to have the best experience with us, so we are investigating fully and will respond to [Maria Henderson] directly once this investigation is complete.”
