I had to leave vacation early — cockroaches invaded my hotel

They certainly weren’t insecting this on their vacation.

A mom from England claimed that her family was forced to flee their nearly $9,000 all-inclusive, 10-day vacation to Spain after their resort was “infested” with “thousands” of cockroaches and ants.

Hayley Perry, 39, booked a stay at the Beatriz Playa and Spa Hotel in Lanzarote for her mom, husband, two children and family friends in July — but they only ended up staying for seven nights and spent nearly $300 extra on flights home.

“It was mentally devastating,” Perry alleged to Kennedy News and Media. “I wish we had never gone at all.”

The trip was supposed to be special, as it was the first one that Perry’s mom, Karen Linstead, 59, had been on since the death of her husband, Paul Linstead, 73, in September.


A large cockroach on a gray floor surrounded by ants.
A woman from England claimed that her family was forced to flee their vacation after seeing bugs everywhere.
Kennedy News and Media

Blurry image of cockroaches roaming around on a light-colored tile floor.
Perry claimed that the resort was “infested” with cockroaches.
Kennedy News and Media

The family had stayed at the hotel five years prior, and had enjoyed it, so they booked the same one again through the travel service Jet2.

Things were going fine until the fourth night of the vacation, when Perry’s son spotted cockroaches at the resort’s entertainment area.

“I said it’s fine as you see the odd one on holiday, you expect to see them and he said ‘no there’s quite a few,’ ” Perry recalled


Family sitting together around a table at a beachside restaurant.
It was the family’s first vacation since the death of Perry’s father.
Kennedy News and Media

On the way back to their room that night, Perry claimed that they spotted a group of four cockroaches.

The next day, things took a bit of a turn as her son came running up to her again, and alleged that another girl was chasing him around with a cockroach.

The mom of two asked her son how she managed to catch the bug, and he claimed that there were “thousands,” so she went to go check it out.

“I went to go to the toilet near the entertainment area and they were all over the toilet,” Perry claimed. “I just screamed and ran out. They were all running around the toilet door as well.”


Blurry images of a group of cockroaches on a tile floor.
There were many cockroaches in the resort’s entertainment area, Perry claimed.
Kennedy News and Media

A large, brown-colored cockroach roaming on a dark wood floor.
One young girl even chased Perry’s son with a roach.
Kennedy News and Media

Another guest alleged that he had seen a cockroach being served on a hot plate in the resort’s restaurant, and because of this, Perry and her family decided to only eat off-premises.

“We even ate out every day for breakfast even though we had paid for all-inclusive and we didn’t go back to the entertainment area as that’s where they seemed to be,” she said.

But then, on the fifth night of the trip, there was another surprise.


A woman with brown hair posing with a tropical, iced drink at a beachside restaurant and wearing an animal-print top.
The family was forced to cut the trip early.
Kennedy News and Media

A woman wearing a striped dress posing on the beach with her young son, as the two sit on rocks.
Perry’s young son was the first to spot the roaches.
Kennedy News and Media

“I woke up to a phone call from my mum,” Perry alleged. “She was heartbroken.”

“A cockroach had gone into her room,” she continued. “She was in a separate room to me on the ground floor and my husband went down and killed it.”

This made her mom unable to sleep because of the anxiety she felt. Her grandson slept in her room after the discovery.

Perry alleged that she went to the front desk nearly in tears after the experience that her mom had, and was given cleaning supplies.

The family called Jet2’s emergency hotline and the company offered to move her mom to a higher floor of the hotel, but they had spotted more bugs on those floors, so they declined.

But it didn’t end there.


A picture of a hotel in Spain, with decorative palm tree displays and neon lights.
“I went to go to the toilet near the entertainment area and they were all over the toilet,” Perry said of the hotel facilities. “I just screamed and ran out. They were all running around the toilet door as well.”
Kennedy News and Media

“On the sixth day we ate out all day and when we came back to our hotel late at night, we found the dead cockroach outside our [Hayley’s] room with the dead ants all over it,” Perry told Kennedy Media. “There were literally thousands of ants.”

In the end, the family decided to leave the vacation early even after meeting with a Jet2 rep at the hotel, who offered them a new place to stay.

The rep also claimed that they had spoken to the hotel and they would be hiring pest control, but Perry claimed she never saw anyone come.

They landed back in the UK on July 21, and were able to breathe a sigh of relief — especially Perry’s mom.

“The weather in the UK was horrendous on our return but we didn’t care — it was cockroach free,” Perry said.

“There was just no action [from the hotel] when they could clearly see that there were hundreds of them [cockroaches],” she added. “I never complain and I do get that things happen but the hotel didn’t deal with it or show they were dealing with it.”

A spokesperson from Jet2 told Kennedy News, “We are proud of the award-winning holidays that we provide to our customers, so we are very sorry to hear about this.”

Kennedy News reached out to Beatriz Playa and Spa Hotel, where staff said they had passed the request on to management, but still have not heard back.