Motel’s stunning response to cockroach complaint

A motel has been slammed online after a guest shared a staff member’s response to a complaint about six cockroaches in her room.

The woman, who goes by the name Kitti online, recently paid to stay at the Koala Tree Motel in Port Macquarie, NSW, which has a 2.5 star Google rating, with her partner while visiting a sick loved one in hospital.

However, when the couple went to bed, they spotted “multiple large cockroaches” in their room.

“We called the after hours phone number immediately only to be told we wouldn’t be believed,” the woman wrote in a review on TripAdvisor.

In a video shared to TikTok, the woman revealed the staff member’s response when she tried to raise the issue and request a refund the next day.

In the video, which has amassed close to 50,000 views, the woman films herself approaching the front desk and asking the man if he had a chance to look at the room following their complaint.

“We didn’t put cockroaches in there, the room wasn’t dirty,” he responded.

“One, maybe two [cockroaches] I can understand, but six, that’s not normal,” the woman replied.

The man then suggested she speak to Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.

“Go talk to the woman who runs the council, she’s the one who causes the problems,” he said.

“Our rooms are clean, we don’t put cockroaches in there.”

After again stressing the number of cockroaches in the room “was not normal,” the woman asked for a refund, only to be told she would only be refunded the amount they paid to upgrade the room.

“I’ll give you the upgrade amount but I can’t give you the original booking.com amount,” said the staff member.

When asked for the reason why, he explained “Because I don’t feel like it.”

“You’re going to charge me for something that you did not provide?” she questioned, adding the motel was “meant to provide a clean room for me to sleep in.”

“I did not sleep here.”

Growing audibly more upset, the woman explained that she was staying in the hotel as she was visiting a loved one following a heartache.

“I think you’re worried about the cockroaches too much,” the man responded, later adding “I don’t care if you’re emotional.”

The man eventually asked, “what would you like me to have done to the animals with legs that walked in your room?”

When the woman suggested pest control, the man insisted the hotel does carry it out.

After more back and forth, the woman’s partner walked into the room before she asked when the upgraded amount would be refunded.

The man said he would process the refund “today” and the fund will be released within 4-5 business days.

“I will be taking this to the health ombudsman. I will be looking at courts and everything else in regard to the rest of this money. You cannot charge people,” the woman concluded before she and her partner left the motel.

Others expressed their shock over the encounter online.

“Speechless,” one person said.

“OMG OK never going there EVER,” said another.

“Why would he not get the property pest sprayed yearly? Why on earth is he blaming the council? LOL!” another commented.

“Port Macquarie gets so many visitors they don’t feel like they have to make any effort, they don’t care, people will keep coming,” another claimed.

However, others asked if the woman was expecting a “five-star service from a two-star place?”

“This is the tropics. There are cockroaches everywhere,” said another person.

In her TripAdvisor review, the woman said that the man “finally agreed to refund the amount we paid to upgrade the room but since dealing with Fair Trading he has claimed he never said that.”

“Absolutely the worst place I have ever set foot in! I would not even wish my worst enemy to stay here!”