How clean are Va. Beach hotels? Inspections tell the story

VIRGINIA BEACH

Bedbugs. Roaches. Dirty sheets. Mold.

Visitors – and city inspectors – hope to not find these things in a hotel room.

And with 118 hotels in the Beach, city inspectors have the most in the region to tackle. By comparison, Chesapeake has 44 and Norfolk has 38.

Each year from Jan. 1 to Memorial Day, Virginia Beach's Hotel Task Force - staff from the fire marshal's office, code enforcement and the health department - conducts inspections of the city's hotels and motels.

Code enforcement and fire representatives usually inspect for building-maintenance issues, such as holes in walls or leaky faucets. Inspectors also look for fire hazards, such as inoperable sprinklers and smoke detectors.

The health department looks at general sanitation. Even though inspections are required once a year, environmental health manager Erin Sutton said, complaints and follow-ups keep her staff of nearly 20 inspectors busy all year.

The vast majority of the city's hotels had few cleanliness violations last year, according to inspection reports from the city's department of public health. But a handful - most in the Oceanfront area - had more than 10 violations that ranged from dirty sheets and toilets to, in some instances, the presence of bugs and other pests.

Two Oceanfront hotels were named to TripAdvisor's Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels list earlier this year. Reviewers on the travel website named the Tropicana Resort and the Super 8 to their dirtiest list. No other Virginia hotels were on the list.

Last year, the health department cited the Tropicana for mold, dirty hair dryers and stained pillows. The Oceanfront Super 8 (now named the Atlantic Hotel) had a host of problems including: dirty refrigerators and microwaves, roaches and bedbugs. The health inspector also noted that its stairwells held cigarette butts, cobwebs and smelled of urine.

Neither of the hotel's managers returned phone calls for comment.

By the end of the year, the violations at the Tropicana were corrected, according to inspection reports. The Atlantic still had some violations.

About a dozen hotels were cited for pest activity; there were 14 bedbug violations. The most serious bedbug problems were at the La Coquille Motel and Apartments on 16th Street near the Oceanfront, The Castle Motel on Pacific Avenue, and the Cerca Del Mar Motel on 21st Street.

"A few years ago, we would never hear about bed bugs," Sutton said. She couldn't estimate how much of an increase she's seen in the last few years, but said they are a nationwide problem for the hotel industry.

Reasons for the critters can include the hotels not using proper pest-control methods, and travelers bringing them into the hotels, Sutton said.

Dan Perrella, the owner of The Castle and the La Coquille motels, says it's the latter. He blames his hotels' violations for bedbugs and roaches on the homeless people he said he rents to in the winter.

"I just have to be more careful of who I rent to," Perrella said. Since last year's violations, he said, he's replaced mattresses and box springs in each hotel. This is not the first time Perrella's motels have had problems.

In 2007, The Castle Motel temporarily lost its permit because of bedbug infestation. A guest who stayed around that time sued and received a $10,000 settlement, Perrella said. In 2009, another guest sued for the medical treatment of her infant son after she claimed he was bitten by bedbugs at La Coquille Motel. She received a nearly $9,000 settlement, according to court documents.

Earlier this year, after inspectors found mildew, broken walls and stained linens at The Castle Motel, it was once again shut down temporarily. It reopened in April.

While the vast majority of hotels didn't have pest problems, some others were cited for other cleanliness issues. The Atlantic Sands Oceanfront (now called the Grand Ocean) had numerous violations, including torn sofa cushions, mold in bathroom ceilings, and bird droppings in window screens.

General Manager Nish Batel said the hotel is under new management and that more than $400,000 was spent for improvements, including new furniture.

"We aren't the Hilton, but we are trying to make this a better property for our guests," he said.

Ron Kuhlman, vice president for tourism marketing and sales for the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, said he couldn't speculate on whether these violations would change potential visitors' minds on coming here.

"But if you go on Trip Advisor, our city has over 1 million page views per month," he said. "That says a lot."

View inspection reports for all Virginia Beach hotels here.