Local News

Hotel guest bitten by bed bugs

Posted: 02/17/10 at 6:45 pm EST

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A guest at a Miami hotel said she went to sleep and woke up with bed bug bites.

Dianne Allen said she woke up in the early morning hours of Jan. 13 and had to be rushed to the emergency room. Allen said she was staying at the Courtyard by Marriort Airport West, located by Miami International Airport, on Northwest 79th Avenue, when she was bitten by bed bugs.

Allen said she woke up in the middle of the night with itching all over her body. "My whole face itched really bad, and I got up out of bed, and I was still kind of groggy, and I went in the bathroom, and I looked in the mirror, and I was like, 'Oh, my God.' My whole eye was swollen shut," said Allen. "You can see where my eye is swollen shut. There's a big bite on my cheek, my shoulder and forearms," Allen said. She later snapped pictures of the bites with her cellphone.

The hotel released a statement saying: "We have the greatest concern and respect for every guest's experience and Marriott takes hotel hygiene and cleanliness very seriously. In the unusual event a guest makes us aware of a concern, we respond immediately to the situation and take all necessary steps to remediate any problem."

Iris Herrsein is an attorney now representing Allen. "It's a horror. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, and you're completely covered in bugs, and the bugs are visible to the naked eye," said Herrsein.

Dianne and her attorney are in contact with Marriot, and they are trying to resolve this matter. "I would hope nobody would ever go through that. I mean, I haven't been able to get over it. It's horrible," Allen said.

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