Are bed bugs actually real?

[buggybugs]

Probably a stupid question, but I've always thought that bed bugs was just a catch all description of fleas or something? But I stayed in a grim hotel on Friday night and by Saturday lunchtime had about a dozen little red spots that itched. Some are in groups, others just on their own. Got a couple between two fingers, but that's all. They're mainly on my arms and still itchy now.

I showed a photo of them to my friend who is a nurse and she thinks it's scabies, but can scabies come on that quickly? I went to bed absolutely bite free and woke up with them. DH has joked it's bed bugs!

Scabies aren't the same as bedbugs
Scabies burrow into the skin and bedbugs bite you to feed

Scabies would require a lotion to be applied to your skin to kill them. Maybe see a pharmacist or GP

Looks like bed bugs mate.

I've dealt with a few personal injury claims for guests who got bed bugs. Not dodgy hotels either, we're talking 4-5* places. Psychologically it can be really tough on people who pick them up, worrying about them infesting the house, persistent itching, thinking they've come back, etc.

A colleague lives close to an area very popular with American tourists and sees a lot of cases. Apparently they travel in the luggage and just…hop off as soon as the suitcase is put on the bed. Anyway I thought the people I was dealing with in one case were taking the p looking for the carpet in their hall, stairs and landing to be replaced, and she told me she had a family who ended up in alternative accomodation for a month whilst their house was fumigated. I made allowance for the carpet! That was an unusual case though.

You’ve had some good advice here, hope you get sorted. If you get nowhere complaining to the hotel I’d claim tbh, only way some of these places learn.