Bumps in the road while in Europe

SPEAKING of bugs in hotel rooms [“The Great Mysteries of World Travel,” Her World, Feb. 19]: Two years ago, my wife and I had to hold our breath as we entered a room in Kilkenny, Ireland, in a hotel recommended by a well-known guidebook. Evidently, someone had sprayed the room with insecticide. We opened windows to air out the room, and then checked out the bathroom, where we found hundreds of dead bugs, proving at least that the insecticide worked.

We were grossed out and demanded that the hotel find us a room somewhere else. It did, at a place that was more expensive but nicer.

A few years earlier we flew into Rome, arriving at our hotel at about 11 p.m.. An unsmiling, no-nonsense woman at the front desk informed us that they had no room for us -- this after accepting our paid reservations for four nights. We demanded they find us a room, which they did, at a much better hotel.

Next day, we returned to the first hotel, where we were assigned a room that was still under reconstruction -- painters were in the room when we arrived with the bellboy. We demanded and got a finished room and stayed the three remaining days we had paid for. The hotel was rated four stars, but we thought it a dog.

GEORGE W. CARLYLE

Newport Beach