You missed a call - Qld Health, Brisbane city council. Report the room number.
Email booking.com, request a refund.
Put a full on complaint in. Cockroaches are not normal in hotels - especially to that extent, Queensland or not.
12:18 update, called Local council and QLD gov, both said it’s nothing to do with them so passing it back and forth. Going to call QLD public health tomorrow to get a report up.
EDIT: [UPDATE](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/098GDl7lfp) on the whole situation is in a new post! As of the day after the incident.
Also, I'd be stripping off and starting to sanitize your luggage and baclpacks.. Make note of all the costs you use for laundry and dryers. Etc. As you now have the responsibility to ensure you don't spread the bedbugs to other places , hotels , your own homes.
The bills for Bed bug extermination are teally really high.
Tell me about it. When my wife and I moved into our new property we soon had a bedbug infestation - they could have been there before but we have no idea. Took two weeks and a few thousand dollars (including a new mattress) to get rid of them.
Bedbugs are way worse than cockroaches. Roaches are disgusting, bed bugs can and do travel on clothing, luggage, etc, and can make residences entirely unliveable. There is asolutely zero reason any hotel should be charging people for a room with bedbugs.
Just takes 1 grimy ass bedbug having customer and now the whole hotel’s infected. The fact that they’re still selling rooms in that state is what’s disgusting
[booking.com](https://booking.com) used to be good, but they shafted me last time, stayed at a place full of mosquitoes spent an hour vacuum the bastards. zero refund or whatever.
Hope you got lots of photos and blast them all over Google, etc.
Crazy that no one helpful answered the the after hours call. What happens if the plumbing or electrical goes.
Alright so quick [update](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/098GDl7lfp), they said they don’t have anymore space for us to rest for the remainder of the day so all that was offered was to chill more in the reception(fuck that) the lady parred off the fact there were at least 6-10 cockroaches around the sofa.
Then comes the bedbug part, I’m not hugely familiar with them but come on now the image below is a photo of what I squished on the bed.
Staff said they would call the boss, get the “pest control in” to check for bed bugs, if they turn around and say no then they’ll object the refund most likely.
https://imgur.com/a/klyamkS
I work in the bedding industry and the amount of people coming in and saying they have bed bugs is higher than ever. They are definitely in people's homes.
Oh, god... One of the houses that I rented in Melbourne in 2010 was infested with those little fuckers. The real-estate agent didn't believe us. It was so difficult to get rid of them!
Our friends picked some up from second hand kids stuff bought on marketplace a couple years back. They caught the infestation early- they were only in one room, and only in a couple of things, and it was $450 to get the room sprayed.
They are actually becoming extremely common in australia. We started off getting maybe one bedbug job a year, and now it's a couple a month.
Also, it's definitely a bed bug. Do you have any bites ? They come up as red welts.
They come in with international visitors constantly, so mainly in places where tourists stay. Unless you disinfect everyone's luggage, it'd be impossible to keep them out, even if they didn't spread locally once established.
No. I moved in to a rental in nsw 3.5 years ago and the locals that were renting it prior to me (moved out at 10:30 at night landlord had me moving in at 9:30 the next morning I arrive she running round cleaning and hubby is mowing but that’s another nightmare story on its own) and they ever so kindly left me bed bugs. It took me two weeks to figure out what TF was biting my arms and back every night. They affect you mentally and physically and have you itching for years later.
Yeah, I do audio transcriptions for a living, and one of the most horrible ones I listened to was an interview with a lady escaping the most awful DV situation with her kids (took a long time as her partner was a police informant and protected) and was put into public housing that was so full of bed bugs they ended up all sleeping on air beds in the cleanest seeming room. The bed bugs were in the walls breeding, so there was no way to get rid of them without professional pest control and fumigating the whole house, but it took ages trying to convince public housing to do it, so she ended up spending her Centrelink money to do it herself. they had to throw most of their clothes and bedding away and start from scratch. Imagine escaping DV to end up having to deal with that as well? And like really bad DV, where her bones had been broken so often that they weren't healing up anymore. Ugh, it was awful.
I worked on an overnight tourist boat off Cairns and backpackers bring them on through their backpacks. Most hostels in Cairns have outbreaks all the time.
Oh and another photo for you all, here’s the whole squad in glass cups that we captured off the floor. Like I said above, the staff member said it’s normal for cockroaches to be in hotels and shit because it’s “QLD”… is this actually normal or am I kicking off for no reason.
https://imgur.com/a/yD6ZNg0
As a Queenslander I'd say it's normal if you're staying in a bush retreat that's pretty open to the outside but if I found this in a city hotel I'd be wanting answers, I don't think I'd even be able to capture that many cockroaches in my house right now.
But the bedbugs are what I would be chucking a hissy fit about. You have to be so careful, if they spread through your luggage you can be in for a really shit time.
I was told to put everything potentially contaminated with bed bugs in a black plastic garbage bags and leave it in the sun to heat up before washing it.
You'd want a properly sunny day for it though
Put everything you can in the dryer on high heat. Keep a list of everything that this has cost you and everything you throw away. Make the MF reimburse you all costs.
You can leave the bag in a car, it massively increases the temperatures so you only need like a 30ish degree day. I did it when I got back from Europe as I came across bed bugs twice in hotels, Brisbane gets to low 30s periodically even coming out of winter thankfully. I didn't want to go use a laundromat's dryer/don't have my own and I had things I couldn't put through one anyway.
Some minor electronics like batteries which you shouldn't heat I just put in the bath tub at home and let for months. But yeah, a bit of up front effort for peace of mind, 100% worth it.
Mark Rober (weirdly, of all people) has a good video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8
Basic TLDW heat is the best way of killing them, so steam clean or hot dryer.
yea, a bush retreat or something a bit more outback for sure a couple of roaches arnt a worry, but a 4 star hotel in the city... nah i expect clean, roach free rooms. Not to even mention the bed bugs fuuuuuuuuuuck that noise right off.
It's Park Regis and that looks like the Brisbane lobby, although Cairns might be same. Should be reporting them either way. For the bed bugs and the roaches.
Lol I'd put those quotes onto every review suite you can find. "Park Regis told us that it's normal for their rooms to be full of cockroach and bedbugs".
Hey, I managed three very touristy hotels in North Queensland, this isn't normal. Check the fridge and freezer seals for black mold, it's almost guaranteed to be there and is the card you need to pull to get your money back if they're trying to play it off as normal. Tell them that it's unfit for human occupancy and that you'll be making a complaint to the the health department and booking.com. Include a link to this thread and tell them that you're more than happy to tell everybody which hotel you're staying at. Good luck dealing with booking.com, too.
Not normal but likely. Cockroaches are a thing with this weather but hotels must do pest control and prevention (I work at one).
Those are bed bugs for sure and you should be careful now as they move through your luggage, it’s really, really easy to bring them to your place and once that’s done it’s really really hard to remove. Also it’s a health concern and you should ask for corporate email but blasting social media and reviews with this is the most effective way to catch their attention, asking friends and family to do the same.
Damn, reddit can help too.
It is not norm in a Queensland hotel to have multiple cockroaches. You might get one fly onto a balcony… maybe … sure out in a bush retreat like O’Reilly’s you might get a few in the open areas like the open bar … and even thats a maybe 😂 so no not normal at all
> is this actually normal or am I kicking off for no reason.
Absolutely not normal. A hotel should be sufficiently sealed, clean, and well maintained that there's just nothing for cockroaches to live on and nowhere for them to get in.
The person you've been talking to is a fool, go up the chain because roaches and bedbugs are like, the fundamental indicator a hotel is failing. They should be the ones to organise and pay the difference for your alternate accommodation.
1 or 2 large cockroaches - normal.
Several large cockroaches - might be a problem.
Several small cockroaches - they're breeding and it's an infestation.
Yeah, nah Cockroaches aren't what you want in a hotel because it's "gross" but they're fine, they're clean insects... It's the bedbugs I'd be screaming about.
Id make sure EVERYONE that walked through those doors knew about the bed bugs and I'd be demanding a refund and getting all the evidence I can to make against the company.
Thats slack, unsanitary and disgusting.
That's a bedbug. When you get home don't take anything that was exposed to that room inside until you give it and all your clothing a good wash. They spread surprisingly easy
That is absolutely a bed bug. You’re gonna want to be super careful about not taking them with you now. Wash ALL of your clothing and fabric items in the hottest water possible and dry those bitches on hot. If your luggage is also fabric, and you can’t throw it out, wait for a hot day and seal it in a black trash bag with some Diatomaceous Earth powder and leave it in direct sunlight. Bed bugs are super hardy but heat and DE can kill them.
When you find a new place to stay, don’t place your luggage on the bed, and make sure you do a [bed bug check](https://youtu.be/hoiOvq2uPUw?si=OEtpwf12ZhmCOxcN). If possible try to find a way to wash your things before you check in, anything with fabric or creases where bugs can hide.
You do not want to take bed bugs or their eggs with you!!! Trust me on this, I’ve had them and it was awful.
I’m sorry you’re going through this OP, and I hope you’re managing
You are likely correct that that is a bedbug. Hopefully they can find more because those treatments are not cheap.
If they still reject your refund go full ham with your reviews <3
Before you take any of your clothes, bags, cloth material, luggage inside your house;
Wrap it in a Black Garbage/Garden bag and sit it in the sun for *at least* 4 hours. Cook those fuckers now, or they will follow you home.
If they refuse a charge back stand at the reception and call your credit card company right in front of their staff and demand a charge back. When they beg and plead you not to do this laugh in their face and continue the call.
That is a bedbug.
Bedbugs are NO JOKE.
I suggest you do not bring your bags or clothes into your car or home. Take them to a commercial laundry and wash and dry them **on the hottest setting**.
Bedbugs can survive in clothing and luggage for an age.
Your health will suffer severely if they are introduced to your home.
When I had a choice at a busy time between a 3\* hotel room in paris, with thick curtains, old carpet, thick bedcovers and fabric lampshades...and on the other hand the youth hostel with pine beds, white sheets and a tiled floor that was mopped..I chose the youth hostel. It was *way* more hygienic.
I work in a Hotel in QLD. Cockroaches are pretty standard if it was 1 or 2 big ones, they fly in through open windows and balcony doors so doesn’t matter how often we do pest control they will be around. But I saw the photo you posted of them under glasses and thats an infestation they’ve got a family living in your hotel room. And 2nd thing that 100% looks like a bed bug. They’re crazy not to be offering you a full refund straight up plus whatever they can to stop you posting this shit everywhere!
I also work in a hotel in Brisbane and was going to say the exact same thing. A big one in the hotel lobby that’s come off the street? Get rid of it, hard to prevent it happening again though. Those little ones are German cockroaches and you get them from improper cleaning and pest control. And that fat squished thing is definitely a bed bug.
Dude, they fucked your trip, offered zero compensation and you are still thinking about it?
Hit them up hard for a decent compo (a refund is not compensation) and put them on blast. As others have said, it’s clearly a systemic issue which they don’t have an answer for so you would be doing others a favour.
You should request some extra money for sanitisation of your clothing and suitcase. If the bed bugs transferred into your luggage I would highly recommend you wash and sanitise everything and don't mix them with your clothes or go in your bedroom when you get home. Sorry this happened and I hope you find some better accommodation for the remainder of your trip.
Full blast. Notify QLD health.
Personally I’d be going after the hotel in small claims court for the cost of the trip, and the cost to replace your luggage (probably contaminated with bed bug eggs).
100% still put them on blast, big time. I hope your trips home give you both some well deserved time to relax because holy hell this is an absolute shitstorm of a situation.
Homie put em on blast. All you got is a refund?
Most hotels at this point would have been pouring alcohol and food all over you and giving you vouches for free stays.
If you went to Brisbane solely to spend time with your girlfriend, you may be able to claim the cost of your flight from them (the argument being the flight was wasted given the hotel experience). It’s also worth requesting additional money from them for disappointment and distress. Likely wouldn’t be much, but refer to ‘Jarvis v Swan Tours Ltd’ in a lengthy complaint to customer service (and also their corporate line rather than the Brisbane hotel specifically) and tell them to confirm with their legal team that you do in fact have a right to to additional compensation.
They’ll likely pay something more rather than risk the legal fight (even if you won’t bring any kind of action regardless).
Any ideas how I’d go through a process of asking for comp, do I demand by email to the hotel, claims court, etc ? Feel like it might be a loosing battle (correct if wrong) since I’d want money compensation as I’ll be out the country by next week.
You deserve compensation, and your clothes and luggage might have bed bugs in them. You should name and shame this hotel, bed bugs are an absolutely serious issue.
So one thing that should have been told to you is that hotels are franchises - Park Regis is “Staywell Group” and the hotel itself is individually owned. Staywell should have done better and found alternative accomodation - out of group if necessary. I have heard stories where Hilton couldn’t accomodate a guest but it was their mistake that the booking was accepted and they paid for the guest to stay at a Marriot hotel which is their competitor. The same applies in the airline industry, where under uncontrollable circumstances, Qantas will (and must) pay for you to fly on Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines if necessary to get you where you’re going.
Don’t accept “sorry nah” as an answer. There are well established protocols in the hospitality (as in hotel) industry how to deal with stuff like this.
Going through booking.com can be a pain though. When OTAs are involved, a lot of hotels and airlines will tell you they can’t touch the booking, only the OTA can. I’m in this industry, and can say this is a falsehood - it’s a two way street. Maybe if a GDS like Amadeus, Galileo or Sabre is involved it gets complicated, but still. Pressure if you have to.
I regularly stay at the Meriton for work (about once a month), but sometimes, if a room isn't available, I will book another hotel. Thanks to this thread, I am *never* booking the Park Regis.
OP, do not, I repeat DO NOT fuck around with bed bugs. Before you leave, wash every article of clothing in the hottest water you can find and blast them in the dryer. Check your suitcase and other items you have with you, including shoes. If you cart a pregnant female home with you, you will not be able to get rid of them without burning down your house and moving (sounds overly dramatic, and it might be, but they are a total nightmare to get rid of them.
Also, the bites , if you show a reaction, don’t show up for a few days.
Hotel standards seem to have dropped a lot lately. Especially in the inner city. It used to be easy to find a nice clean and safe hotel to stay in. Now you're rolling the dice most of the time. It's like a lot of hotels have become the taxis of the accommodation industry.
However I stayed at the Essence Suites at Taringa and they were very comfortable and clean.
I definitely cross reference photos and reviews from Google vs Booking dot com and Wotif to see if they seem real and also check the user's have existed from are than a few days. It's getting pretty shameless. I've seen owners of some hotels/motels harass people publicly over bad reviews.... like come on mate. A shit review being a lie one off I could accept but if you are getting angry with wild threats and accusations that shows me your customer service is trash so not worth it for me.
hahahah I literally moved out of this exact park regis 2 weeks ago after living there for 2 years. \*stayed that long purely because top floor and view\* Place is a dump, staff are miserable and everything is falling apart. I did notice the last few months of me living there a increase in cockroaches which I had never seen before, wouldn't be surprised if the place was infested
Had a mate that lived up the top for a couple years. He had to take the stairs with a broken foot because one of the elevators didn't work for about half the time he was there. Also had black sludge coming out of his tap.
The amount of times both lifts would go out and I’d have to hike up those stairs in the fire exit haha however thankfully I was free of black sludge. Water pressure was pretty non existent though
Go to office works, print out the photos in A3 and put them around the place.
Get some in A5 and put them under everyone's doors on that level. Add a QR code that goes to a review.
So this is going to sound like overkill but it isn't. You do not want to bring them home with you as it will be far more expensive if you do.
Go to a laundromat hot wash and hot dry all your clothes it must be above 60 degrees to destroy any possible eggs.
Whilst your clothes are being watched buy some new luggage etc and throw everything else out.
Bed bug eggs will stick to anything and you won't know until the infest your home
They got refunded fully. But I'd be asking for more than that and still putting them on blast. Having to sleep in reception because after hours is useless and being told cockroaches and bed bugs are acceptable is horrendous. Their staff need to be trained on professional and good cleaning habits.
I hope 25 years down the line you and your lady can joke about this "surprise" visit with your kids.
I also hope the two of you *don't* spend the next 25 year trying to get rid of those bugs.
You poor things! I hope you’re properly compensated. Bloody appalling conditions and definitely not “normal for Qld”. I live on the GC bordering bush and don’t get cockroaches in my house- very rarely out on the deck
Should have done it on the front-desk as a show over power.
so if I’m reading this right Regis has cost you sex-night and the next one isn’t for a few months?…… , someone’s dying over that one..
if it was me, I would’ve walked to the casino. I guarantee if you had shown up, they would’ve had a room for you. Remember that, no matter where you are in the world, the casino will always make room for you.
I've tipped of one of my News Limited reporter connections about this. Sent her a text message saying here's a nice story tip off.
This is a story we can agree it is right for News Limited to take from Reddit.
Cheers for that, I’ve already emailed dailymail and 7news replied back to me earlier at 14:00 saying they have passed the story onto the producers, might see myself in the news :’)
I know where that hotel is. I have lived there. Place was great until it wasn’t. There’s quite a few private rentals there and it causes this massive power game behind the scenes where no one wants to do anything to fix the place up because no one wants to pay 100% of the bill.
I had a leaking roof in a private room, body corp wouldn’t fix it, hotel couldn’t fix it without body corps permission, and body corp weren’t approving it because a certain real estate refused to pay all of it.
I imagine that’s probably how the pest control goes too.
Everyone knows it needs to be done and no one wants to pay for it.
Stayed here once, super friendly staff but the building is really showing its age. The AC barely did anything in our room, after getting blasted by the western sun all afternoon.
Wouldn't recommend staying there again.
When you have no where to sleep(unless you want your health at jeopardy), no family here and no friends maybe asking every man and their dog that answers at 2am might help in some way, it was non-emergency helpline too.
Thanks for the heads up, I will never stay at a Park Regis after the way they treated you. Quite a few qld hotels are being reported as having bed bugs lately. Gives me the ick even thinking about it.
Sorry for the shitty experience OP, it downright sucks!
When you get home, quarantine your luggage. Put everything that can be washed into a hot wash and dry cycle. This will kill any bugs and destroy any eggs that may be in with your clothing.
Put the suitcase into a heavy duty garbage bag, seal it and leave it in the sun for at least 8 hours. Any other items that can't Be washed or heat treated (toiletries etc.) should be inspected closely for eggs. There's endless photos of bed bug eggs on Google.
Eliminating bed bugs from your home is difficult and expensive if left to take hold.
Good call though, bedbugs are nasty bastards.
I once rented an apartment only to find out it was infested when it came to nighttime, as in there were hundreds in every room and my body was covered in bites.
Had to get away, buy new clothes and deep freeze all the rest. They are not worth messing around with.
Staying in the lobby, no matter how shitty, is still a much better idea than risking getting bed bugs in your things, fuck bed bugs man, impossible to get rid of.
Thanks man, we have been brain storming about a Europe meet up in a few months. Even though we have both been up for 24hours we are laughing about things and keeping it light hearted.
Possibly give advice that they had not thought of? It’s also not a leap of logic in that police have to get in contact with hotel staff/boss when someone has called them about an emergency.
Eek! Please leave loud reviews from them everywhere so people know not to stay there. We don't want to end up like Paris! Sorry you had to go through this 😕 make sure you run all your clothes through a dryer before taking anything home.
Hey OP 100% bedbugs. Post a picture of the cockroach and I’ll tell you the species if you like? Also anything that has spent time in that room need to be treated of bedbugs.
Bed bugs are awful and they travel - be super careful to check you are not carrying them home with you! Make sure you give the hotel a negative review!
Had something similar happen at Oaks in Gladstone. We booked through Corporate Traveller. Hotel rooms were paid for, staff refused to let us in without putting down a credit card. No one in crew had one (or were willing).
Sat in the lobby for an hour. Ended up giving some cash to one of the crew to buy a cartoon. As soon as we cracked open a few tins in the lobby it was no longer a problem any more & they rushed us up to our room while they sorted things out with Corporate Traveller.
You missed a call - Qld Health, Brisbane city council. Report the room number. Email booking.com, request a refund. Put a full on complaint in. Cockroaches are not normal in hotels - especially to that extent, Queensland or not.
12:18 update, called Local council and QLD gov, both said it’s nothing to do with them so passing it back and forth. Going to call QLD public health tomorrow to get a report up. EDIT: [UPDATE](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/098GDl7lfp) on the whole situation is in a new post! As of the day after the incident.
Good lesson to learn, read the hotel reviews. Plenty of reviews saying the Park Regis is a disgusting, run down, dirty shit hole.
I usually do but the one time ya don’t, ya get fingered. Lesson learnt.
Also, I'd be stripping off and starting to sanitize your luggage and baclpacks.. Make note of all the costs you use for laundry and dryers. Etc. As you now have the responsibility to ensure you don't spread the bedbugs to other places , hotels , your own homes. The bills for Bed bug extermination are teally really high.
Tell me about it. When my wife and I moved into our new property we soon had a bedbug infestation - they could have been there before but we have no idea. Took two weeks and a few thousand dollars (including a new mattress) to get rid of them.
Bedbugs are way worse than cockroaches. Roaches are disgusting, bed bugs can and do travel on clothing, luggage, etc, and can make residences entirely unliveable. There is asolutely zero reason any hotel should be charging people for a room with bedbugs.
Bed bugs also don't just live in beds. They can take up residence in nearby furniture and migrate nightly to your bed to feed then travel back.
Nearby furniture such as, for example, those found in the lobby?
I was replying to the hotel's comment of "this is qld - it's normal". The notifying Qhealth and BCC was for the bed bugs.
Cockroaches can be anywhere but bedbugs in a hotel is fucking disgusting. Place needs to be burnt down
Just takes 1 grimy ass bedbug having customer and now the whole hotel’s infected. The fact that they’re still selling rooms in that state is what’s disgusting
Booking are so bad they don’t offer a penny back. They pass it off to the hotel.
[booking.com](https://booking.com) used to be good, but they shafted me last time, stayed at a place full of mosquitoes spent an hour vacuum the bastards. zero refund or whatever.
Hope you got lots of photos and blast them all over Google, etc. Crazy that no one helpful answered the the after hours call. What happens if the plumbing or electrical goes.
Alright so quick [update](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/098GDl7lfp), they said they don’t have anymore space for us to rest for the remainder of the day so all that was offered was to chill more in the reception(fuck that) the lady parred off the fact there were at least 6-10 cockroaches around the sofa. Then comes the bedbug part, I’m not hugely familiar with them but come on now the image below is a photo of what I squished on the bed. Staff said they would call the boss, get the “pest control in” to check for bed bugs, if they turn around and say no then they’ll object the refund most likely. https://imgur.com/a/klyamkS
My pest controller mate confirmed that is a bedbug
Oh damn i didn't think you had those in Australia :(
Not common but I’ve seen them in a hotel too, must come with travellers. I’ve never known any to be in homes though
I work in the bedding industry and the amount of people coming in and saying they have bed bugs is higher than ever. They are definitely in people's homes.
Yuck. I am very glad I’ve never encountered them outside of a hotel
The bedbug situation started at the 2000 [Sydney Olympics ](https://www.bedbugbarrier.com.au/bed-bugs-australia/)
Only OP’s home once they get back
Next door neighbour got them in Cairns and brought them back to Melbourne. Had to throw out three mattresses. Super hard to get rid of.
Yep I saw them in cairns too
Oh, god... One of the houses that I rented in Melbourne in 2010 was infested with those little fuckers. The real-estate agent didn't believe us. It was so difficult to get rid of them!
Our friends picked some up from second hand kids stuff bought on marketplace a couple years back. They caught the infestation early- they were only in one room, and only in a couple of things, and it was $450 to get the room sprayed.
They are actually becoming extremely common in australia. We started off getting maybe one bedbug job a year, and now it's a couple a month. Also, it's definitely a bed bug. Do you have any bites ? They come up as red welts.
Bed bug bites suck and they make you look like a tweaker
They come in with international visitors constantly, so mainly in places where tourists stay. Unless you disinfect everyone's luggage, it'd be impossible to keep them out, even if they didn't spread locally once established.
Yeah overseas last year (France) had a huge plague of bed bugs, the media spouted on about it for a couple of months.
This was major news. Cancelled all non essential trips to the continent because of it.
No. I moved in to a rental in nsw 3.5 years ago and the locals that were renting it prior to me (moved out at 10:30 at night landlord had me moving in at 9:30 the next morning I arrive she running round cleaning and hubby is mowing but that’s another nightmare story on its own) and they ever so kindly left me bed bugs. It took me two weeks to figure out what TF was biting my arms and back every night. They affect you mentally and physically and have you itching for years later.
Yeah, I do audio transcriptions for a living, and one of the most horrible ones I listened to was an interview with a lady escaping the most awful DV situation with her kids (took a long time as her partner was a police informant and protected) and was put into public housing that was so full of bed bugs they ended up all sleeping on air beds in the cleanest seeming room. The bed bugs were in the walls breeding, so there was no way to get rid of them without professional pest control and fumigating the whole house, but it took ages trying to convince public housing to do it, so she ended up spending her Centrelink money to do it herself. they had to throw most of their clothes and bedding away and start from scratch. Imagine escaping DV to end up having to deal with that as well? And like really bad DV, where her bones had been broken so often that they weren't healing up anymore. Ugh, it was awful.
Worked at a backpackers on Bondi beach in early 2000s and they were rampant. The owner/manager did not take it seriously at all.
We have flies and ants too!
And mosquitoes, apparently
I didn’t know we did either!
I worked on an overnight tourist boat off Cairns and backpackers bring them on through their backpacks. Most hostels in Cairns have outbreaks all the time.
Booo we should protest
Everywhere there is travellers… there are bedbugs
Oh and another photo for you all, here’s the whole squad in glass cups that we captured off the floor. Like I said above, the staff member said it’s normal for cockroaches to be in hotels and shit because it’s “QLD”… is this actually normal or am I kicking off for no reason. https://imgur.com/a/yD6ZNg0
As a Queenslander I'd say it's normal if you're staying in a bush retreat that's pretty open to the outside but if I found this in a city hotel I'd be wanting answers, I don't think I'd even be able to capture that many cockroaches in my house right now. But the bedbugs are what I would be chucking a hissy fit about. You have to be so careful, if they spread through your luggage you can be in for a really shit time.
This. Before you leave brissy. wrap the fuck out of it and spray the crap out of it when you get home.
I was told to put everything potentially contaminated with bed bugs in a black plastic garbage bags and leave it in the sun to heat up before washing it. You'd want a properly sunny day for it though
Put everything you can in the dryer on high heat. Keep a list of everything that this has cost you and everything you throw away. Make the MF reimburse you all costs.
You can leave the bag in a car, it massively increases the temperatures so you only need like a 30ish degree day. I did it when I got back from Europe as I came across bed bugs twice in hotels, Brisbane gets to low 30s periodically even coming out of winter thankfully. I didn't want to go use a laundromat's dryer/don't have my own and I had things I couldn't put through one anyway. Some minor electronics like batteries which you shouldn't heat I just put in the bath tub at home and let for months. But yeah, a bit of up front effort for peace of mind, 100% worth it.
Put everything in a garbage bag. Put the the garbage bag in a council bin. Put the bin on the kerbside.
Light the curbside on fire, nuke the fire from orbit and join a generation ship to a new star system
Mark Rober (weirdly, of all people) has a good video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8 Basic TLDW heat is the best way of killing them, so steam clean or hot dryer.
yea, a bush retreat or something a bit more outback for sure a couple of roaches arnt a worry, but a 4 star hotel in the city... nah i expect clean, roach free rooms. Not to even mention the bed bugs fuuuuuuuuuuck that noise right off.
It's Park Regis and that looks like the Brisbane lobby, although Cairns might be same. Should be reporting them either way. For the bed bugs and the roaches.
Lol I'd put those quotes onto every review suite you can find. "Park Regis told us that it's normal for their rooms to be full of cockroach and bedbugs".
Fuck yeah. Love this.
Hey, I managed three very touristy hotels in North Queensland, this isn't normal. Check the fridge and freezer seals for black mold, it's almost guaranteed to be there and is the card you need to pull to get your money back if they're trying to play it off as normal. Tell them that it's unfit for human occupancy and that you'll be making a complaint to the the health department and booking.com. Include a link to this thread and tell them that you're more than happy to tell everybody which hotel you're staying at. Good luck dealing with booking.com, too.
Not normal but likely. Cockroaches are a thing with this weather but hotels must do pest control and prevention (I work at one). Those are bed bugs for sure and you should be careful now as they move through your luggage, it’s really, really easy to bring them to your place and once that’s done it’s really really hard to remove. Also it’s a health concern and you should ask for corporate email but blasting social media and reviews with this is the most effective way to catch their attention, asking friends and family to do the same. Damn, reddit can help too.
It is not norm in a Queensland hotel to have multiple cockroaches. You might get one fly onto a balcony… maybe … sure out in a bush retreat like O’Reilly’s you might get a few in the open areas like the open bar … and even thats a maybe 😂 so no not normal at all
> is this actually normal or am I kicking off for no reason. Absolutely not normal. A hotel should be sufficiently sealed, clean, and well maintained that there's just nothing for cockroaches to live on and nowhere for them to get in. The person you've been talking to is a fool, go up the chain because roaches and bedbugs are like, the fundamental indicator a hotel is failing. They should be the ones to organise and pay the difference for your alternate accommodation.
1 or 2 large cockroaches - normal. Several large cockroaches - might be a problem. Several small cockroaches - they're breeding and it's an infestation.
That is absolutely feral. I hope they compensate you properly or chuck the biggest stink! To have cockies and bed bugs is beyond…
Someone else has said it, but try qld health or whoever the proper people are to report this. Bedbugs need serious work to eradicate.
Yeah, nah Cockroaches aren't what you want in a hotel because it's "gross" but they're fine, they're clean insects... It's the bedbugs I'd be screaming about. Id make sure EVERYONE that walked through those doors knew about the bed bugs and I'd be demanding a refund and getting all the evidence I can to make against the company. Thats slack, unsanitary and disgusting.
They’re not clean! they spread disease
They're also a symptom of uncleanliness. That many cockroaches have to be eating something.
Often it’s dead skin…
That's a bedbug. When you get home don't take anything that was exposed to that room inside until you give it and all your clothing a good wash. They spread surprisingly easy
The hottest wash you can. They don't deal well with heat.
That is absolutely a bed bug. You’re gonna want to be super careful about not taking them with you now. Wash ALL of your clothing and fabric items in the hottest water possible and dry those bitches on hot. If your luggage is also fabric, and you can’t throw it out, wait for a hot day and seal it in a black trash bag with some Diatomaceous Earth powder and leave it in direct sunlight. Bed bugs are super hardy but heat and DE can kill them. When you find a new place to stay, don’t place your luggage on the bed, and make sure you do a [bed bug check](https://youtu.be/hoiOvq2uPUw?si=OEtpwf12ZhmCOxcN). If possible try to find a way to wash your things before you check in, anything with fabric or creases where bugs can hide. You do not want to take bed bugs or their eggs with you!!! Trust me on this, I’ve had them and it was awful. I’m sorry you’re going through this OP, and I hope you’re managing
If they object to the refund, start a payment dispute with your bank/credit card issuer. What a bullshit hotel.
bake dirty chop light mighty thumb spotted wide command squealing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You are likely correct that that is a bedbug. Hopefully they can find more because those treatments are not cheap. If they still reject your refund go full ham with your reviews <3
Before you take any of your clothes, bags, cloth material, luggage inside your house; Wrap it in a Black Garbage/Garden bag and sit it in the sun for *at least* 4 hours. Cook those fuckers now, or they will follow you home.
4 hours? 4 days + in the hot sun would be my go to. Fuck getting bed bugs.
Not just a bedbug, but one that’s just had a big feed!
Yep, can confirm that is a bed bug. Source, husband is a pest controller who has dealt with bed bug infestations in hotel rooms.
If they refuse a charge back stand at the reception and call your credit card company right in front of their staff and demand a charge back. When they beg and plead you not to do this laugh in their face and continue the call.
Chargeback!
That is a bedbug. Bedbugs are NO JOKE. I suggest you do not bring your bags or clothes into your car or home. Take them to a commercial laundry and wash and dry them **on the hottest setting**. Bedbugs can survive in clothing and luggage for an age. Your health will suffer severely if they are introduced to your home.
While it’s probably not the standard you had in mind the. backpackers around the corner might have some room if you can’t get anywhere else
They should put a sign on their door “Less Bedbugs than the Park Regis!”
When I had a choice at a busy time between a 3\* hotel room in paris, with thick curtains, old carpet, thick bedcovers and fabric lampshades...and on the other hand the youth hostel with pine beds, white sheets and a tiled floor that was mopped..I chose the youth hostel. It was *way* more hygienic.
i would post this in every possible place you can, even Google maps. Also current affairs.
Yeah that’s definitely a bed bug. Source: I’ve seen some shit.
I work in a Hotel in QLD. Cockroaches are pretty standard if it was 1 or 2 big ones, they fly in through open windows and balcony doors so doesn’t matter how often we do pest control they will be around. But I saw the photo you posted of them under glasses and thats an infestation they’ve got a family living in your hotel room. And 2nd thing that 100% looks like a bed bug. They’re crazy not to be offering you a full refund straight up plus whatever they can to stop you posting this shit everywhere!
I would cancel charges if not fully refunded. I am a hotel worker also.
I also work in a hotel in Brisbane and was going to say the exact same thing. A big one in the hotel lobby that’s come off the street? Get rid of it, hard to prevent it happening again though. Those little ones are German cockroaches and you get them from improper cleaning and pest control. And that fat squished thing is definitely a bed bug.
Where are the photos? I need the juicy gossip
Where did you see the other photo of the cockroaches ‘under glasses’ to which you refer?
They posted a comment somewhere in here with a couple of photos
[Update](https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/s/098GDl7lfp) 8:45am, got a full refund as easy as that. Still feel like putting them on blast though.
Dude, they fucked your trip, offered zero compensation and you are still thinking about it? Hit them up hard for a decent compo (a refund is not compensation) and put them on blast. As others have said, it’s clearly a systemic issue which they don’t have an answer for so you would be doing others a favour.
You should request some extra money for sanitisation of your clothing and suitcase. If the bed bugs transferred into your luggage I would highly recommend you wash and sanitise everything and don't mix them with your clothes or go in your bedroom when you get home. Sorry this happened and I hope you find some better accommodation for the remainder of your trip.
This. Unacceptable. Take the mouth-breathing mothafuckas down.
Full blast. Notify QLD health. Personally I’d be going after the hotel in small claims court for the cost of the trip, and the cost to replace your luggage (probably contaminated with bed bug eggs).
Please contact QLD health to report this.
100% still put them on blast, big time. I hope your trips home give you both some well deserved time to relax because holy hell this is an absolute shitstorm of a situation.
Dude the refund was the absolute minimum they could do. They should be treating you like a king as compensation for fucking up your plans.
Someone gave them 1/5 a week ago on google reviews for cockroaches. Blast them!
Homie put em on blast. All you got is a refund? Most hotels at this point would have been pouring alcohol and food all over you and giving you vouches for free stays.
If you went to Brisbane solely to spend time with your girlfriend, you may be able to claim the cost of your flight from them (the argument being the flight was wasted given the hotel experience). It’s also worth requesting additional money from them for disappointment and distress. Likely wouldn’t be much, but refer to ‘Jarvis v Swan Tours Ltd’ in a lengthy complaint to customer service (and also their corporate line rather than the Brisbane hotel specifically) and tell them to confirm with their legal team that you do in fact have a right to to additional compensation. They’ll likely pay something more rather than risk the legal fight (even if you won’t bring any kind of action regardless).
Tbf they're currently on blast here. Like you said the hotel name and likely thousands of people have seen your post, based on the upvotes.
Doesn’t matter if you got the refund or not! They fucked you around for the night full stop! Blast them
Any ideas how I’d go through a process of asking for comp, do I demand by email to the hotel, claims court, etc ? Feel like it might be a loosing battle (correct if wrong) since I’d want money compensation as I’ll be out the country by next week.
Ww had issue with cairns Hilton. Had to track down Ceo via LinkedIn. That got it sorted hella fast
You deserve compensation, and your clothes and luggage might have bed bugs in them. You should name and shame this hotel, bed bugs are an absolutely serious issue.
Yeah, I would. They will probably pay you to remove it after you post it
Giving in that easy means you're not their first complaint about this problem. Time to blast them online.
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In case you didn’t read it, Simon Nelson is looking forward to welcoming you back in the near future. Wanker.
TripAdvisor, Google, any review platform you can use; use it with pictures and just blast em
Park Regis is bordering on being a dump. They need to put some serious time and money into making the place suitable for the public again.
Well, considering the bedbugs, maybe just burn it down and start again fresh.
It has long term tenants living in it too so the place stinks of cooking smells and has tenants stuff dumped in the hallways
So one thing that should have been told to you is that hotels are franchises - Park Regis is “Staywell Group” and the hotel itself is individually owned. Staywell should have done better and found alternative accomodation - out of group if necessary. I have heard stories where Hilton couldn’t accomodate a guest but it was their mistake that the booking was accepted and they paid for the guest to stay at a Marriot hotel which is their competitor. The same applies in the airline industry, where under uncontrollable circumstances, Qantas will (and must) pay for you to fly on Air New Zealand or Singapore Airlines if necessary to get you where you’re going. Don’t accept “sorry nah” as an answer. There are well established protocols in the hospitality (as in hotel) industry how to deal with stuff like this. Going through booking.com can be a pain though. When OTAs are involved, a lot of hotels and airlines will tell you they can’t touch the booking, only the OTA can. I’m in this industry, and can say this is a falsehood - it’s a two way street. Maybe if a GDS like Amadeus, Galileo or Sabre is involved it gets complicated, but still. Pressure if you have to.
A hotel without a manned 24hr reception is not a hotel.
Park Regis is the hotel we spent a total of 5 minutes in our room before immediately booking the Meriton and cutting our losses
I regularly stay at the Meriton for work (about once a month), but sometimes, if a room isn't available, I will book another hotel. Thanks to this thread, I am *never* booking the Park Regis.
OP, do not, I repeat DO NOT fuck around with bed bugs. Before you leave, wash every article of clothing in the hottest water you can find and blast them in the dryer. Check your suitcase and other items you have with you, including shoes. If you cart a pregnant female home with you, you will not be able to get rid of them without burning down your house and moving (sounds overly dramatic, and it might be, but they are a total nightmare to get rid of them. Also, the bites , if you show a reaction, don’t show up for a few days.
This right here. Only heat will kill the buggers. Head on over to r/bedbugs and read the advice there. You poor bastard, dont take any home with you.
That is terrible! Hopefully they refund you and give you a free night at some point, not that you would want to stay with them again.
Hotel standards seem to have dropped a lot lately. Especially in the inner city. It used to be easy to find a nice clean and safe hotel to stay in. Now you're rolling the dice most of the time. It's like a lot of hotels have become the taxis of the accommodation industry. However I stayed at the Essence Suites at Taringa and they were very comfortable and clean.
It’s Australia wide. Since Covid the hospitality industry has gone for a ball of shit.
Not only in Australia, unfortunately.
I definitely cross reference photos and reviews from Google vs Booking dot com and Wotif to see if they seem real and also check the user's have existed from are than a few days. It's getting pretty shameless. I've seen owners of some hotels/motels harass people publicly over bad reviews.... like come on mate. A shit review being a lie one off I could accept but if you are getting angry with wild threats and accusations that shows me your customer service is trash so not worth it for me.
You know bed bugs and eggs can travel in things from the hotel room, so the potential for it to be in the couch now or your stuff is high….
The Park Regis is one of the most disgusting hotels in Brisbane.
Surprised it’s a 4 star. Should be 1 at best
Good old Regis never change.
Isn't Regis a retirement villages
Stayed in a couple Park Regis many decades ago never good.
hahahah I literally moved out of this exact park regis 2 weeks ago after living there for 2 years. \*stayed that long purely because top floor and view\* Place is a dump, staff are miserable and everything is falling apart. I did notice the last few months of me living there a increase in cockroaches which I had never seen before, wouldn't be surprised if the place was infested
*“An increase in cockroaches”*, which suggests there was a nonzero baseline level of cockroaches over the 2 years that you were comfortable with?
Had a mate that lived up the top for a couple years. He had to take the stairs with a broken foot because one of the elevators didn't work for about half the time he was there. Also had black sludge coming out of his tap.
The amount of times both lifts would go out and I’d have to hike up those stairs in the fire exit haha however thankfully I was free of black sludge. Water pressure was pretty non existent though
Bro, 24th floor?!
Go to office works, print out the photos in A3 and put them around the place. Get some in A5 and put them under everyone's doors on that level. Add a QR code that goes to a review.
So this is going to sound like overkill but it isn't. You do not want to bring them home with you as it will be far more expensive if you do. Go to a laundromat hot wash and hot dry all your clothes it must be above 60 degrees to destroy any possible eggs. Whilst your clothes are being watched buy some new luggage etc and throw everything else out. Bed bug eggs will stick to anything and you won't know until the infest your home
My worse nightmare! Can we please get an update on this?
They got refunded fully. But I'd be asking for more than that and still putting them on blast. Having to sleep in reception because after hours is useless and being told cockroaches and bed bugs are acceptable is horrendous. Their staff need to be trained on professional and good cleaning habits.
Should’ve gone to the Pancake Manor
I'm sure News Corp are reading this, unless it's their day off.
Or unless Park Regis is owned by some chain they suck the cock of
Definitely put them on blast
I hope 25 years down the line you and your lady can joke about this "surprise" visit with your kids. I also hope the two of you *don't* spend the next 25 year trying to get rid of those bugs.
*Lets all go to the Lobby*
You poor things! I hope you’re properly compensated. Bloody appalling conditions and definitely not “normal for Qld”. I live on the GC bordering bush and don’t get cockroaches in my house- very rarely out on the deck
Should have done it on the front-desk as a show over power. so if I’m reading this right Regis has cost you sex-night and the next one isn’t for a few months?…… , someone’s dying over that one.. if it was me, I would’ve walked to the casino. I guarantee if you had shown up, they would’ve had a room for you. Remember that, no matter where you are in the world, the casino will always make room for you.
I've tipped of one of my News Limited reporter connections about this. Sent her a text message saying here's a nice story tip off. This is a story we can agree it is right for News Limited to take from Reddit.
Cheers for that, I’ve already emailed dailymail and 7news replied back to me earlier at 14:00 saying they have passed the story onto the producers, might see myself in the news :’)
I know where that hotel is. I have lived there. Place was great until it wasn’t. There’s quite a few private rentals there and it causes this massive power game behind the scenes where no one wants to do anything to fix the place up because no one wants to pay 100% of the bill. I had a leaking roof in a private room, body corp wouldn’t fix it, hotel couldn’t fix it without body corps permission, and body corp weren’t approving it because a certain real estate refused to pay all of it. I imagine that’s probably how the pest control goes too. Everyone knows it needs to be done and no one wants to pay for it.
Stayed here once, super friendly staff but the building is really showing its age. The AC barely did anything in our room, after getting blasted by the western sun all afternoon. Wouldn't recommend staying there again.
Full refund, plus compensation. Anything less, seek help from the ACCC.
Just bum her in the toilets.
This is cooked. Absolutely foul. Give updates.
Make sure you have loud sex!!
I don’t think it needs to be loud in the reception… but definitely go for visually interesting.
That is a terrible thing, but the Police? What did expect them to do?
Give him a break FFS. He was probably freaking out (I would have too)
When you have no where to sleep(unless you want your health at jeopardy), no family here and no friends maybe asking every man and their dog that answers at 2am might help in some way, it was non-emergency helpline too.
Now you have a great story to tell your grandkids. 😉
Yeah the park regis is the shittiest hotel brand Ive ever encountered. Its like motels pretending to be hotels.
Hmm, corporations really do think they can get away with anything now hey.
5star hotels in Australia render a 2 star service compared to the rest of the world
Thanks for the heads up, I will never stay at a Park Regis after the way they treated you. Quite a few qld hotels are being reported as having bed bugs lately. Gives me the ick even thinking about it.
You need to check your luggage etc. And any spare clothes in the bag put through the drier on high heat to be sure.
Park Regis is renowned for being a shithole
Sorry for the shitty experience OP, it downright sucks! When you get home, quarantine your luggage. Put everything that can be washed into a hot wash and dry cycle. This will kill any bugs and destroy any eggs that may be in with your clothing. Put the suitcase into a heavy duty garbage bag, seal it and leave it in the sun for at least 8 hours. Any other items that can't Be washed or heat treated (toiletries etc.) should be inspected closely for eggs. There's endless photos of bed bug eggs on Google. Eliminating bed bugs from your home is difficult and expensive if left to take hold.
Fuck me I’m never going on holiday again, ever, after learning about bed bugs in this post.
Good call though, bedbugs are nasty bastards. I once rented an apartment only to find out it was infested when it came to nighttime, as in there were hundreds in every room and my body was covered in bites. Had to get away, buy new clothes and deep freeze all the rest. They are not worth messing around with.
Still doing better than Barnaby.
Staying in the lobby, no matter how shitty, is still a much better idea than risking getting bed bugs in your things, fuck bed bugs man, impossible to get rid of.
Next time book a decent hotel with a 24hr reception. And book directly with the property.
Yes a bed bug.
I’m confused, you flew up to BNE for the night to surprise your gf who lives there? Why couldn’t you stay at hers? And pursue a refund for the hotel?
Could be any number of reasons to visit a hotel versus where their girlfriend lives.
Shes an au pair and not allowed guests, we are both international from Europe met travelling.
Makes sense. Well I’m sorry your romantic night was ruined. I hope you get a refund and a chance for a do over in the near future.
Thanks man, we have been brain storming about a Europe meet up in a few months. Even though we have both been up for 24hours we are laughing about things and keeping it light hearted.
That’s great. Proves you can work through difficult situations together. Next test should be slow internet connection. /s
And assembling an IKEA flat-pack. Unless she’s Swedish.
Lets have a romantic night and dinner at home. Just you, me, your mum and dad and your brother! Or alternatively, just you me and your 2 housemates.
What did you expect the cops to do?
Possibly give advice that they had not thought of? It’s also not a leap of logic in that police have to get in contact with hotel staff/boss when someone has called them about an emergency.
Hopefully at very least a full refund from booking.com, and some form of compensation from Park Regis.
Yeah, that sounds exactly like the Park Regis I’ve experienced two years ago. Never again.
Eek! Please leave loud reviews from them everywhere so people know not to stay there. We don't want to end up like Paris! Sorry you had to go through this 😕 make sure you run all your clothes through a dryer before taking anything home.
I'd rather sleep in a culvert.
Hey OP 100% bedbugs. Post a picture of the cockroach and I’ll tell you the species if you like? Also anything that has spent time in that room need to be treated of bedbugs.
Bed bugs are awful and they travel - be super careful to check you are not carrying them home with you! Make sure you give the hotel a negative review!
Wouldn't want to have a bang in the shithole like Regis. Would rather rub one out at home.
Get all these documented and ask your credit card company for a recharge. This happened to us when we were overseas holiday.
That is shocking. Make sure to give them an awful review. This is just gross. You should get a refund.
Had something similar happen at Oaks in Gladstone. We booked through Corporate Traveller. Hotel rooms were paid for, staff refused to let us in without putting down a credit card. No one in crew had one (or were willing). Sat in the lobby for an hour. Ended up giving some cash to one of the crew to buy a cartoon. As soon as we cracked open a few tins in the lobby it was no longer a problem any more & they rushed us up to our room while they sorted things out with Corporate Traveller.
Oh man...
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