Hotel Guests Report Mold And Mice—It Still Passed Inspection The Next Day

A mother says mice crawled across her sleeping three-year-old at a Wyndham hotel near the Albany, New York airport. Other residents reported mold, cockroaches and soaked carpets. The hotel passed a county health inspection the next day even though the inspector recorded six violations. The rooms with violations weren’t occupied on the day the inspector arrived and were supposed to be repaired before being rented. We trust hotels to do some very basic things: Change the sheets Clean the bathroom Make sure the door locks And the brand on the hotel is supposed to give you confidence! Baymont by Wyndham Latham Albany Airport markets rooms to travelers. It also houses people placed by county social services. That’s often a good indication… One woman, staying with her nine month old daughter, described cockroaches, mice, mold and bedbugs in some rooms. Other residents described wet carpets and a strong smell. A guest said she’d filmed mice crawling over her sleeping child and had stopped letting the girl sleep in her own bed. There were complaints about mouse droppings and dead flies on a bed, and mold and dead flies in a refrigerator. The County moved some social service clients. Another county with one room there relocated their client as a precaution and suspended use of the hotel. What The Inspection Found Albany County inspected the hotel October 13, finding no public health hazards, but six violations: A removed smoke detector. Three exterior doors that didn’t self-latch. A stained bathroom ceiling tile. Evidence of pests in a room. The plan to fix the rooms before renting them helps explain how the hotel could continue operating, though a missing smoke detector matters even in an empty room. And it seems to me that pests in one room can easily spread. There were earlier maintenance concerns, too. A March 13, 2025 entry in New York’s inspection database notes water stains and possible active leaks at this property. You’re Supposed To Be Able To Rely On A Brand A big part of what a hotel brand sells is confidence that somebody has vetted the property. You know what you’re getting. The hotel may be franchised but it’s supposed to deliver to brand standards. Years ago I covered an Inside Edition investigation that found three of nine hotels tested hadn’t provided completely fresh sheets between guests. The beds were re-made with the previous guest’s used sheets. Then came pandemic promises of enhanced cleaning. Inside Edition went back in 2020, using washable marks visible under ultraviolet light. It reported unchanged bedding at a Hyatt Place and a Hampton Inn in Times Square. At Trump International, the sheets had been changed, but the report said a pillowcase hadn’t. More recently, I covered a Hyatt Place guest who went through three rooms and still wound up with filthy bedding. Hyatt refunded the stay and provided 15,000 points. You’re not supposed to have to even check recent reviews and traveler photos, and pull back the bedding immediately on arrival. I Wouldn’t Let An Airline Choose Where I Sleep, Either I’ve made the same argument about hotels airlines provide during overnight delays. I’ve reported on roaches, floors was so dirty they turned guests’ feet black, and worse. Airlines offering lowest-cost rooms aren’t necessarily delvering places you’d ever want to stay. Topics on this page