A holidaymaker was forced to flee a Butlin's holiday camp and bin most of her clothes after claiming she was “eaten alive” by bed bugs.
Hollie Honeyman was celebrating her friend's birthday during a four-day trip to Butlin's Bognor Regis in West Sussex on September 5 when she was “disgusted” to find the insects in her bed and curtains.
The 25-year-old claims she was covered in around 100 “big bites” after the first day which became “progressively worse”.
Pictures show red and inflamed spots covering Hollie's face, neck, back and arms.
Despite being moved to a different room, the production assistant says her holiday was “ruined” as she was unable to sleep.
She decided to leave a day early after her bites became too painful and she spent her last day disinfecting her car.
Hollie says she even had to dump most of her luggage and clothing for fear of bringing the bugs back to her house.
Since returning home Hollie's “disgusting” bites became filled with “pus” and she visited her GP who prescribed her with steroid cream.
She says she “would never stay” at Butlin's again and has declined the £400 refund the company offered her as she believes she deserves more.
Butlin's said they were “very sorry” to hear about Hollie's ordeal and are in contact with her “to discuss the issues raised further”. The firm added it has strict cleaning and hygiene policies to identify and treat bedbugs.
Hollie, who lives in Sittingbourne, Kent, said: "The whole thing was just completely ruined. I was eaten alive and I'm still so itchy and feel absolutely horrible.
"I woke up on Saturday morning and found loads of bed bugs in the bed with me, which was absolutely horrible.
"I think we killed about four or five that we found and then we kept finding more. There were some in the curtains and under the bed as well. It's disgusting.
"It was Saturday afternoon I started to notice itchiness and then later in the evening when I started to come up with those big bites all over my body. They kept getting progressively worse and I kept finding more and more.
"By that point I'd spoken to housekeeping and we got moved further down in the apartment block. It was the whole inconvenience of it as we had to move all of our stuff over.
"We ended up leaving on Sunday instead of Monday like we planned. I couldn't stay there, the bites were so bad at that point and there were easily 100.
"I had to dump my suitcase and a lot of my clothes as I couldn't risk taking it all home. I've had to disinfect my car and dump all the clothes I was wearing.
"We spent the entire Sunday washing and tumble drying our clothes at the Butlins Laundrette just so we could salvage some and take them home."
Her partner, Ben Clegg, 24, had a delayed reaction and also has bites covering his back.
A spokesperson for Butlin's said: "We're very sorry to hear about Hollie's recent experience on resort and have emailed her directly to discuss the issues raised further.
"We want to reassure guests that we have strict cleaning and hygiene policies in place, including the identification and subsequent treatment for preventing bedbugs."
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