It started with a seemingly normal stay in Mammoth Lakes, CA (Meadow Ridge 37 (VRBO Property # 2451906)): easy check-in, property well-maintained, no issues! Everything you’d expect from a corporate conglomerate of VRBO and Vacasa Property Management. We arrived on Wednesday and stayed till Sunday for a ski weekend.On Friday morning, some folks in our group started noticing hives and rashes on their bodies. We just figured it was environmental - maybe brushing up against some pine, maybe pollen, or something they ate. Everyone was itchy and took plenty of OTC meds, but limited help.On Sunday morning, we proceeded to start the check-out process and discovered bed bugs under one of the mattresses!! We squished a few of them and noticed blood coming out of them - which was our rudimentary validation of what caused the hives….they were indeed bed bug bites.We called VRBO and Vacasa and were told that we can evacuate the property and the local team would come check on the situation and give us a call to discuss next steps.It’s been over a week at this point. Limited to no communication from Vacasa, VRBO threw up their hands and said it wasn’t their problem, and now we’ve been punted off to 2 different companies (Sedgwick and Rental Guardian)….with little to no actual communication or response.Honestly, we’re just looking for a little courtesy in letting us know how to navigate this situation and playing fairly given a lot of inconvenience, very likely bed bug infestation in our clothes and homes, and really bad daily medical issues. It seems as though Vacasa and VRBO are not interested in taking this situation seriously and really dropping the ball, in addition to blatantly breaking their respective terms and conditions - which articulate “clean and safe” stays and properties.I’m hoping this post will get someone’s attention that can help work through our situation. To date, the only people we’re aware of that are involved are Cole Davis (Assistant Manager for Vacasa in Mammoth Lakes) and Nicole James from Sedgwick (her manager is Cathy Guzman, Qualified Manager, CA license #2B88261 who is part of Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc., CA license #2549023).
