A dad claims his family’s dream holiday turned into a bed bug-infested nightmare.
Paul Yates says he suffered more than 300 bites over the course of 14 days at Hotel Riu Touareg, Cape Verde.
The 51-year-old claims he also had to take a trip to the doctor after some of his bites got infected.
Paul was on an all inclusive holiday with wife Louise, 51, and son Spencer, 11, that set him back £3,600.
“The holiday was completely ruined,” Paul, from Sheffield, South Yorks, told Need To Know.
He claimed: “I came home with about 300 bites.
“On the second day, I woke up with about 30 bites on my right arm.
“They were incredibly itchy and unpleasant. Some of them have scarred.
“We complained and asked them to spray the room because we thought it was mosquitos.
“They offered us a different room.
“But we didn’t want to spend time out of the holiday packing and unpacking and at the time we had no reason to believe they were bed bugs.
“Every morning I woke up with new bites on my neck, shoulders, back, head and arms.
“I was being bitten on my boney parts which made me think it wasn’t a mosquito.”
The chartered accountant claims that he complained to reception who offered him a room change which he rejected.
He says he paid £50 for a doctor’s appointment and another £50 for antibiotics to treat the infected bites.
This left the holidaymaker unable to go out in the sun or drink alcohol.
Paul claimed: “I felt quite low.
“It caused arguments because Spencer wanted to go in the pool but I had to stay in the room.
“We’d been really looking forward to the holiday and it was totally ruined.
“The bites were the focus of the whole trip.”
The couple claim that on the penultimate morning, Louise noticed 100 bites on her right arm.
They allege that they found a live bed bug crawling across the sheets.
Paul and Louise claim they captured the insect in a glass and showed it to apologetic staff who insisted they change rooms.
They had booked the two-week trip through Tui and flew to Cape Verde on 29 March.
Paul says they then made a complaint to the travel company and were offered an “insulting” 10% refund.
He claimed: “On the second to last day, Louise woke up with around 100 bites.
“We pulled back the sheets and found skeletons of bed bugs and a live bed bug.
“We took the bed bug down to reception and made a formal complaint with the Tui rep.
“The rep advised not to accept the 10% and fight it in the UK because we’d get more.”
The couple claim that the hotel offered to wash their clothes at 60 degrees to kill the bugs.
But they allege that when the clothes were returned to them, £350 worth had been destroyed – including Spencer’s favourite football shirt.
Paul claimed: “They sent our clothes away to be washed at 60 degrees so we didn’t bring the bed bugs home with us.
“Most of them came back either discoloured or had shrunk.
“We bought Spencer a personalised Sheffield Wednesday top and I had a similar one. We wore them to Wembley and they’re ruined.
“The football shirts were about £170 altogether.”
And as for offer of a 10% refund, Paul said he felt “insulted”.
He said: “They said they couldn’t do anything else without a medical report.
“I didn’t get one when I went to the doctor because all I was worried about was getting better.
“10% doesn’t even cover the costs we incurred for the doctor.”
Paul and Louise chose the hotel because they went 14 years ago and had an amazing time.
Paul added: “It was a really nice location.
“We went the first year the hotel opened and it was lovely so we didn’t do as much research this time.
“I’ve just left a job that was really stressful and we haven’t been able to have a real family holiday together for three years.
“As soon as I left the job, Louise booked the holiday.
“It was going to be the first holiday where I didn’t have to respond to emails and we could just relax and spend time together.”
TUI and Riu have been approached for comment.
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