COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A claim of bed bugs at a popular Colorado resort is being directly disputed by the resort itself.
Sarah Avrech of Severance, Colorado posted a video on Facebook of a bug crawling around on a tissue. The post has more than 60,000 views.
Avrech says she plucked the bug off the pillow her daughter was sleeping on at the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs during their stay at the resort this past Sunday.
"I called down to the front desk right away and told them that we had found a bed bug," Avrech said.
She says they then packed up, went down to the desk and talked to a manager.
"And I said, 'I found a bed bug in my room,' and he said, 'Well - we think it's a beetle,'" Avrech told Denver7.
In a statement to Denver7, a spokesman for Great Wolf Lodge said, "As a company we take claims of this nature extremely serious, and per our protocol, we had the room independently inspected by a state licensed pest control expert.”
Great Wolf even provided Denver7 with a pest control service reportshowing inspectors checked the room later that day, Monday, Jan. 28. Integrated Pest Management found no bed bugs in Room 806. Its official report says, ‘No Activity Noted.’ The report is time-stamped 4:14 p.m. on Jan. 28, 2018, which is just a few hours after Avrech checked out.
The statement from Great Wolf goes on to say, “At Great Wolf Lodge we have a rigorous program to prevent issues of this nature. Our trained housekeeping staff conducts daily inspections of the rooms and we have licensed pest control experts with specially trained canines routinely perform top-to-bottom inspections of the resort.”
Avrech says photos of the bite marks on her daughter prove otherwise.
"I just feel like they were dismissive and they didn't react like I would hope a hotel would," Avrech said.
Great Wolf said, “if a bed bug was found in the room, it was likely to have been transported into the resort, perhaps inadvertently, by a guest.”
Avrech says implying they brought in bed bugs in mid-winter is simply absurd.
“They’re the ones who immediately said, ‘We think it’s a beetle,’ when they hadn’t even seen it,” Avrech said. “Even if it was a different type of bug, it shouldn’t be in the bed.”
As for whether she’ll return, Avrech said she doesn’t know.
“My kids love going to Great Wolf, and we’ve been twice now,” Avrech said. “I just feel like the customer service was not good. Maybe next time we will just really check the room beforehand.”