I booked a stay at the Extended Stay America via an online travel booking site. Because of the recent outbreak of bed bugs, I have had to educate myself on the signs, appearance etc of them because I travel a lot for work. Upon entering the room, I could feel something was not right, I immediately began my ritual of turning up the mattress and stripping the bed of the sheets. As soon as I lifted the mattress I saw what appeared to a maggot or larvae? I am not an expert, and I do not think it was a bed bug, but none the less, it was some kind of larvae. My boyfriend touched it, and it moved, I looked closely at it to make sure it wasn't a piece of lint or something like that. My eyes were not fooling me; it was a larvae which moved if touched.

It took us .5 seconds to drop the mattress and run to the elevator, I regret not staying and photographing it!

I reported it to the man at the front desk, who shut me down immediately, and refuse to believe my story. When I asked if this was the first time hearing this, he admitted it was not, but that the last he'd heard was "years ago” The next day I contacted the manager, who also denied that there was any issue. She informed me that they had taken action and called the appropriate services and there establishment was fine.

What still baffles me is the manager's continuous comment "it could happen anywhere!" In one breath she would say that they found nothing in the room, and with the other she was trying to justify the situation?

I don't know what the larvae was, and it could have very well been a harmless water beetle, but the issue remains that I saw this, and instead of being apologized to, I was treated terribly.

I actually stayed at ExtendedStayAmerica Chicago - Vernon Hills - Lake Forest which was a very pleasant stay considering our circumstances. The hotel was close to what we were looking for and the price was fair.

The stay was not all that bad it had its appliances stove, microwave, coffee pot, and a full size fridge. But the location is only for if you have a car to drive to it or if you dont mind spending money on a cab to go everywhere. There is a bus stop that drops you off about a block from it but there is no sidewalk for you to walk on so you have to walk through grass, well snow at the time i was there. The beds were ok i read a review saying the sheets were yellow and its true the bottom sheet of the bed had yellow stains so its good to bring your own sheet for yourself. i just left the top sheet covering the bed and used my personal sheet to lay under and on. The service was not all that great no breakfast no room service. And make sure if you book on hotwire and you arrive to the place you tell them that you booked on hotwire. This place is usually used for people who want to stay a week to a month so they dont really be aware of people who may be coming into town just to visit. They charged my card again although the lady said she didnt I had to dispute the charge through my credit card company. Other than that the hotel was not to bad just the biggest thing is if you stay at this location you might want to have a car or bring extra cash for the cab. In this location if your use to a big city like Chicago, with this being outside Chicago, everything is spread out there are its clusters of stores and resturants then there is just space over all I give it 2 stars.

This hotel is still heavy on my mind. I still have nightmares about it. I should have posted this review when this bad experience first happened but I felt too traumatized. A year ago I booked a room for two nights at this place but I didn't stay. Why? Because I pulled the sheets back and looked at the mattress before taking in my luggage and the mattress was brown, yellow and mildewy. I didn't sleep there that night so I am not sure if they had bed bugs but I didn't want to risk it. The person at the front desk told me "the mattresses look like that because people sweat in the bed". YUCK!!!! She also allowed me to view 5 different rooms and all of the mattresses were in the same condition. I prepaid for the room on-line and the hotel refused to refund my money. Lesson learned!