Cockroaches in hotel acceptable?

kuepper

My Saga holiday in a 4 star hotel in Tenerife was ruined by finding cockroaches in my room all the time and wondering where they were and what they were up to during the night (eg walking over my toothbrush)


I complained to Saga but got a very disappointing reply suggesting Spanish cockroaches were a common occurrence in Spain and no risk to me .That's not what it says in this link I found https://www.thelocal.es/20180605/spain-set-for-summer-cockroach-plague-after-unusually-wet-spring


If Saga had said 'by the way don't worry about the cockroaches' in the holiday blurb I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole.



Is complaining to Abta the only/ best thing to do?

bradders1983

You arent going to get very far, if there are cockroaches outside they will always find ways of getting in. Do more research next time about what creatures you get in different parts of the world, and move on.

BoGoF

If you don't see a cockroach whilst in Tenerife you are walking about with your eyes shut.

Not pleasant but a hazard of foreign holidays.

leylandsunaddict

The cockroaches were there before the tourists and they don't discriminate about how many stars the properties they "visit" have. They're hardly uncommon in the Canaries.

That article was written in 2018 about Spain. Spain is a big country, and the Canaries are a tiny part. The weather is also very different.

If you were worried about them walking over your toothbrush you should have put it away. We always keep the plugs in the plugholes because they come up the drains.

How many cockroaches at a time are you talking about? Did you ask them to spray your room? Did you buy a spray and spray it yourself? Did you stay there the entire time or did you move or ask to be moved? Did you complain at the time and complete a complaints form?

Alisha2008

I think this thread has made me decide I'm never going to visit Tenerife...

(I'm spanish and one of the reasons I live in the UK is not having to see them as I have phobia)

NoodleDoodleMan

I complained to Saga

What did the hotel management say when you raised this complaint with them ?

kuepper

The cockroaches weren't 'coming in' they obviously lived inside, other ppl I spoke to said they's had them too.



Every time I showed them a photo of the vermin the hotel management said they would remove them immediately and the only time I was in my room immediately after reporting it a cleaner came with a brush whacked the roach and swept it up and left. No shock or horror or real concern.



Besides the hotel I also complained to the Saga rep in person and by email who said there wasn't much point in moving me as I was only there for a week. Moving to another room wouldn't have been acceptable as other ppl told me they'd seen them too inc a couple on 6th floor.


I only linked that article as even the Spanish authorities recognise they can cause dysentry, salmonella etc and are not the 'clean' creatures Saga seems to think.Of course once I was aware of the problem I put away everything I could. There is no point in spraying one room in isolation when you have an infestation plus I suspect they're probably resistant to off the shelf remedies if they can survive nuclear holocausts.


It's news to me that Tenerife had a cockroach problem, I know about half a dozen ppl who've been there and all have been shocked when I told them.

BoGoF

The reason there was no 'shock and horror' from the cleaner is because it is a normal everyday thing for them.

Labsuper

Holidayed in Tenerife several times in the last 30 years and have seen them every time.

NoodleDoodleMan

It's news to me that Tenerife had a cockroach problem, I know about half a dozen ppl who've been there and all have been shocked when I told them.

Just about each and every time on holiday in Spain and the Canaries etc. for over several decades we've encountered a variety of beasties of various shapes and sizes, cockroaches included.

Their presence is hardly breaking news.

Most notable encounter was in Greece when a locust landed on my shoulder as I sat on the hotel balcony - the locals advised it was a refugee which crossed from North Africa as the result of a storm.

All that aside, your hotel should have had some chemical sprays or the like to suppress these critters.

eDicky

It became quite cheap, many years ago, to stay in the old wing of the Ambassador Hotel on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok, compared to the new tower wing, because it became completely infested with cockroaches. When you smell the insecticide on entering a room but later notice numerous little baby roaches, as well as adults, you know they are breeding freely and immune to any poison. The only effective solution was to demolish the whole wing, which they did.

But like many things, cockroaches are only a minor annoyance unless you've spent your whole life in one of the few places that they are totally absent. Everything is relative.