A San Leandro family is suing Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa over an August 2014 stay that they claim left them with bed bug bites.
Joseph and Danielle Jones' lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of them and their three daughters, alleges battery, negligence, fraudulent concealment, nuisance and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The family seeks unspecified damages.
The complaint alleges other Grand Californian guests posted two separate website reports of being bitten by bed bugs while staying at the hotel in 2013. But the Orange County Health Care Agency says it has received one complaint about bed bugs at the hotel in the last five years, and that one was dismissed for lack of evidence.
Perhaps the reporting facts not squaring up has to do with where the complaints are going.
A quick check of news archives finds that within the past couple years, there have been dozens and dozens of bed bug reports at hotels at or near the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. That area also shows up in the online Bed Bug Registry.
So does Disneyland Grand Californian, with guest reports of bed bugs in September 2010, January 2011, April 2011, June 2011, some time before June 10, 2011, January 2012, July 2012, April 2013 and some time before Aug. 20, 2013.
Guests also reported to the Bed Bug Registry of being bitten by something, but did not specifically say bed bugs, in May 2011, June 2013 and some time before July 30, 2014.
It's not the only Disney Anaheim hotel to show up on the Bed Bug Registry. There are reports from the Disneyland Hotel in November 2010 (twice), June 2012, prior to April 2013, some time before Aug. 8, 2014, and February 2015. There are reports of bites from some kind in June 2012 and April 2015.
There are reports from Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel from April 2008, some time before December 2011, May 2012 and April 2015 (twice).
Some guests concede they did not report the bites to the Disney hotels. And don't single out Mouse House properties when it comes to bed bug reports within the Anaheim Resort District. Also showing up on the Bed Bug Registry, from one report to multiple complaints, are: Anabella Hotel, Anaheim Marriott, Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites, Best Western Park Place Inn-Mini Suites, Best Western Pavilions, Best Western Stovall’s Inn, Candy Cane Inn, Carousel Inn and Suites, Castle Inn and Suites, Embassy Suites Hotel Anaheim North, Fairfield Inn Anaheim Disneyland Resort, Hilton Anaheim, Howard Johnson Hotel Anaheim Resort, Hotel Menage, Hotel Pepper Tree, Park Vue Inn, Portofino Inn & Suites Anaheim, Quality Inn & Suites Anaheim Resort, Ramada Limited Maingate North Disney, Ramada Limited Suites Anaheim Convention Center, Sheraton Anaheim Hotel and Travelodge Anaheim International Inn.
TripAdvisor.com also has guests of Disney hotels in Anaheim and Orlando complaining of bed bugs.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.