Family scarred after 'fleas hitch ride in suitcase' from holiday hotel

A young mum claims she brought the holiday from hell home with her when their house became infested with fleas – and holiday company Thomas Cook allegedly originally refused to take responsibility as a 'guest probably brought the fleas to the hotel'.

Charlene McGregor, 28, and her partner and baby Evie, two, spent the whole Majorca holiday scratching bites that they assumed were from mosquitos.

However upon returning, as she unpacked her suitcase Charlene was horrified to discover an army of tiny bugs – which she claims quickly infested the family's Merseyside home.

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The trio were covered in hundreds of bites which they say left them scarred and claim eventually Rentokil confirmed that they were infested with 'human fleas'.

They were forced to fork out £240 to fumigate the home and another £80 to replace all of their bedding, which was crawling with fleas as the suitcase had been unpacked there.

Charlene claims that when they complained to Thomas Cook, the holiday company said they would not be held responsible as a guest had brought them into the room.

Charlene, from Moreton, Merseyside, said: "When they claimed they would not be held accountable for the infestation I just couldn't believe it. They claimed a guest would have brought them into the hotel and so it wasn't their responsibility.

"How do they know it is a customer who brought it into the hotel? And how can they sell rooms with fleas in? No one expects to go on holiday and come home with fleas.

"They also say because we didn't complain at the venue, this is a factor – but we just thought it was mosquitos so we wouldn't complain over that.

"All of us had been getting bitten all holiday and the scratching was driving us mad but no matter how much mosquito repellent we sprayed, it kept getting worse.

"It was only when I was unpacking the suitcase at home that I suddenly noticed these tiny bugs crawling on my hands. It was horrible. They were crawling out from inside the suitcase so I know they must have come from the hotel and were not from my house.

"They got all over the bedding and infested the house so we had to have it fumigated. I even found them crawling in Evie's hair. It was awful."

The holiday to Alcudia, Majorca, cost Charlene and her partner around £900 for four nights, flying out on September 7 from Manchester Airport.

Charlene claims Thomas Cook took three months to come back to her initial complaint, before eventually informing her that it was likely a guest had brought in the fleas into her room so it was not their responsibility.

When Charlene pursued her complaint again last week, she says she was told that nothing could be done because no complaint was logged at the hotel at the time.

Charlene said: "I didn't log a complaint at the hotel because I thought it was just mosquitos at the time, and that would hardly have been the hotel's fault, but I believe bed bugs are.

"The holiday was fun and I enjoyed it but all of the bites and the constant scratching did put a huge dampener on it. We were forever worrying about what we were wearing and pouring mosquito repellent on – and now I know it wasn't even mosquitoes.

"I don't even want a refund on the holiday, I just want them to cover the costs of fumigating our house and all of the bedding it ruined. I don't think that is too much to ask and I'm furious at their response to this."

Charlene later found another review on the TripAdvisor website for the same hotel she stayed at also during September 2015, which called it a 'flea pit resembling Chernobyl'.

The reviewer, from Manchester, wrote: "The beds were falling apart and could feel all the springs, we found mites\fleas and were eaten alive in the beds."

Since being approached by the press, Thomas Cook have now offered Charlene £500 as a gesture of good will over the incident.

A Thomas Cook spokesperson said: "We would like to apologise to Ms McGregor for the inconvenience caused. As a gesture of good will and to reimburse the costs incurred, our Customer Services team will be in touch with Ms McGregor imminently to offer her £500.

"At Thomas Cook the health, safety and feedback of our customers is of utmost importance. We have since carried out an internal investigation and there have been no similar incidents reported at the hotel."