Cambridge Travelodge bed bugs ordeal ‘tarnishes’ woman’s stay

Thirteen days after Hannah Stephenson stayed a night in a Travelodge hotel, she is still itching with red lumps over her body – a nightmare she would not wish on her “worst enemy”.

The 31-year-old from Bassingbourn had been out with friends in Cambridge and decided to book a one-night stay at the hotel on Newmarket Road on 26 July to save money instead of getting a taxi home.

The next morning, she woke up to a “horrible realisation”, feeling itchy with red lumps over her body and blood spots smeared on the bedding — the tell-tale signs of bed bugs, she said.

A Travelodge spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry for Ms Stephenson’s experience and how distressing an incident like this can be.”

Stephenson said a lovely evening with friends had turned into a horrible morning.

“It was just a lovely wholesome time of Cambridge sightseeing and pubs, and now it is tarnished by these bedbug bites,” she said.

“It wasn’t until I saw the blood and the bugs that I realised what had happened.”