Mari Greenfield

BEDBUGS AND DISHONEST - do not stay here. DO NOT STAY HERE - bedbugs and dishonest. The hostel is infested with bedbugs. Really, really badly. I woke up and saw 10 on me at one time. Usually you only know they exist from the bites - to see this many is a very bad infestation. The owner is aware of the bedbugs, but misleads guests, and does not treat the bedbugs correctly to get rid of them. She 'treats' the problem by changing the sheets of each bed daily, which hides the evidence but does not get rid of the bugs. When I confronted her with video and photo evidence, and 3 dead bugs in a bag, she said 'everywhere in Madeira has them'. When confronted with the evidence from Google reviews that guests had complained this week, last week, last month about them, she then said 'what am I supposed to do about them, I fumigated 6 months ago. If I tell people they will not stay here'. I checked with other guests. All had bites. Many had been yold by the owner that these were mosquito bites and that the mosquitoes were bad at this time of year (they are not). The owner seems to rely on the fact that most guests are young adults who do not know how serious bedbugs are. I became quite unwell from the bites. I developed a rash all over my body and had difficulty breathing. This kind of allergic reaction is not uncommon. Fortunately this was able to be treated with steroids, inhalers and antihistamines by the pharmacist, but had this required a hospital stay, I would have had to pay for that. I was offered a refund, but everywhere else that I could have stayed was very expensive. I eventually managed to get the owner to pay for alternative accomodation for me for the last 3 nights. Another guest went home a week early because the owner refused to provide alternative accommodation. But my expenses do not end there. I will have to throw away any leather or fabric items that cannot be washed at 60 degrees. This includes 2 pairs of walking boots, raincoats, my wallet and my bag. If I take these things home, I will infest my house. My insurance company will not pay for this because there is evidence the hotel knew about the problem. So far, the owner is refusing to compensate me for these items. If I do not do this, I will have bedbugs in my home and will have to pay thousands to get rid of them. Do not stay here. If your teenager has stayed here, do not let them bring their bags into the house or you will have to pay thousands to get rid of bedbugs from your house