'I felt totally violated': Woman says she caught hotel staffer spying on her
A UK woman says she was has been left traumatised after she caught a manager watching her undress in her hotel room.
Mother-of-two Clare Day described the incident as “something out of a horror movie”, and said the Best Western hotel offered her a free night’s stay at the same venue as compensation for the October incident.
"I felt totally violated and sick to my stomach. It felt like he targeted me knowing I was alone,” she said.
Ms Day said she was “horrified” to notice the manager’s face in her mirror at the Darlington hotel.
"I glanced in the mirror and my stomach lurched,” she told UK media.
"In the reflection I saw a face pressed so closely against the window of my bedroom it looked like he was in the room with me. I was naked and my first thought was that he'd come to attack me.
"It was horrific, like something from a horror film.
"It felt like he was leering for minutes but it can only have been a second or two before his face disappeared."
After quickly covering herself up, Ms Day realised it was the same man who checked her into the room.
The mother-of-two said she immediately contacted the hotel, which told her to wait until the morning to report it.
“I was so scared I pushed a wardrobe against it to block it, but I still didn’t sleep all night,” she said.
"I was still in shock and terrified this man would find me.”
Ms Day, who regularly uses Best Western hotels for her weekly work trips, said the ordeal left her so shaken, her husband had to take two weeks off work because she was too afraid to be left alone.
The manager was later arrested by police but released with a caution as it was a “first-time offence”.
“I’m furious. He has been let off scot-free,” Ms Day said.
“I felt totally violated and I am still suffering the effects of his actions.”
It’s believed the man has since been sacked by the hotel chain.
