Unbeknownst to her, Cindi Avila’s stay at in the luxury Royal Towers of the Bahamas’
Atlantis, Paradise Island resort came with a special added feature: hundreds of crawling, biting bedbugs that lived in her bed.
[...]
The bites and the hotel’s subsequent reaction to Avila’s calls for help are now the subject of a lawsuit filed last week in Florida state civil court that claims the iconic resort was negligent in adopting hygienic practices when cleaning Avila’s room. Avila is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 from Plantation-based Atlantis.
[...]
“In the days that followed, I have never experienced more pain,” Avila said. “I didn’t sleep for five days. I literally wanted to die.”
The pain subsided after three weeks but Avila is still scared of traveling, she said, and now inspects each room before staying in it and routinely asks hotel staff to change her linens
[...]
But Atlantis said in a statement that Avila is simply trying to swindle the hotel for more money.
“The resort offered to reimburse Ms. Avila for any medical bills resulting from her experience, which she declined,” Atlantis said. “Since that time, Ms. Avila has repeatedly, and through three different attorneys, attempted to extract a large financial settlement from the resort and threatened intimidation in the media if her financial demands were not met.”
[...]
But other travelers have previously alleged on
several travel sites, including
TripAdvisor and
Yelp, that they’ve suffered itchy bites they believed to be from bedbugs while staying at Atlantis.
