Guests at a hotel say they were forced to flee their rooms due to an infestation of rats.
The Best Western hotel in Stoke has defended its pest control standards after guests took to TripAdvisor with damning reviews, with one family saying they had to wake their sleeping toddler and leave early.
The 135-bed three-star hotel has meanwhile said that it has a "strict action plan in place" over the rodents, Stoke Live reports.
One family staying there for a visit to Alton Towers said they had to check out at 10pm after discovering the rats and being told they couldn't move to another room.
"The courtyard to the family rooms is completely overrun by a huge infestation of rats," the family wrote on TripAdvisor.
"You couldn’t look out of the window for five seconds without seeing some. I have a 20-second video where you can see at least 10 just pottering around by the hotel doors.
"I am furious that the hotel is allowing families to pay to have this experience of the rooms.
"We woke up our sleeping toddler and baby at 10pm at night to leave, as they had no higher rooms. I feel sick thinking about our experience there."
Rats can carry all kinds of diseases, including salmonella and Weil's disease, as well as being known to chew through walls and wires.
Another set of visitors claimed to have had the same experience, saying they saw rodents crawling around the premises.
"The family rooms are out the back of the hotel where you have to cross through a rat-infested courtyard," they wrote.
The rat issue comes as the three-star hotel has complained to the council about its guests being kept awake until 2am by loud music coming from a restaurant on the opposite side of the street.
In response to the rats, general manager Neill Stockill said: "We work closely with a national pest contractor and have spoken with the local authority's environmental health officers with relation to rodent activity around the exterior of the hotel and neighbouring business properties.
"We have a strict action plan in place as agreed with both agencies to prevent the activity.
"The national pest control company and the local council are happy with the measures we are taking to reduce the rodent activity around our property perimeter."
