Hotel guest finds bedbugs in two rooms at Busan's Haeundae, denied refund

A hotel guest in Busan's Haeundae district discovered bedbugs in her room and was denied a refund despite repeated complaints, in an incident that has drawn attention as the area sees a surge in foreign tourists.

According to JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a TV news tip program, the experience of a woman who stayed at a Haeundae hotel with her daughter aired Wednesday.

The woman, identified only as A, said she and her daughter booked the hotel on the spot that day and checked in around 10 p.m. Their room was on the seventh floor, and they went to bed around 3 a.m.

A noticed something moving on the bed. Shining a light on it, she found a black insect crawling across the mattress. She photographed it and ran it through an AI app, which identified it as a bedbug.

A reported the insect to hotel staff, who confirmed its presence and moved her to a larger room, saying it had recently been renovated.

Bedbugs turned up in the replacement room as well.

"There were several black dots on the inside of the pillow — I looked it up and apparently that's something you can find when bedbugs are present," A said. Her husband, reached by phone, told her to lift the mattress, but A said she could not bring herself to do so out of fear. Checking only around the edges of the mattress, she spotted another black insect — slightly smaller than the first — crawling nearby.

A photographed that insect as well and submitted it to the AI app, which again returned a result of "bedbug."

When she complained to the hotel a second time, staff said no other rooms were available and declined to move her again.

A checked out without sleeping and said she later discarded her luggage and clothing left at the hotel out of concern that bedbugs may have latched onto them.

She then requested a refund of the room charge, but the hotel refused. In a text message, the hotel said it had taken a loss by upgrading her to a room priced at 400,000 won ($292) and asked for her understanding that a full refund was not possible, adding that it would strive to improve.

The hotel told the "Sageon Banjang" production team that it had called in a pest control company, which found no evidence of an infestation. "If bedbugs were living there, you would not find just one — there would be quite a few, and there should be molting traces as well, but there were none of those," the hotel said. It added that the insect found on the seventh floor was believed to have fallen from another guest's luggage, and that the bug found on the third floor was not a bedbug but had been mistaken for one by an overly anxious guest.

The hotel also said it had received no bedbug complaints from other guests and had therefore not notified them, adding that only the seventh-floor room where the insect was confirmed had been fumigated and temporarily closed.

Bedbugs typically live in mattresses and bedding and feed on the blood of humans and animals. They do not transmit infectious diseases, but their bites can cause severe itching and skin rashes.

Bedbugs are drawn to human body heat and carbon dioxide and can be found regardless of a hotel's rating or cleanliness. Signs of their presence include small black fecal stains on mattresses or bedding, rust-colored or brown bloodstains, and shed exoskeletons left behind after molting.