An Alberta father says he was shocked when his six-year-old daughter picked up a used condom from the floor of a Vernon motel room minutes after checking in. Jonathan Gravells says his family checked into the Vernon motel last Friday. “My daughter took off her shoes next to the bed, and when she pulled them off, a used condom came out from under the bed with them,” says Gravels. “He picked it up and said ‘What’s that, Dad?’ … My wife and I were like “Put it down now!” “It’s so disgusting,” said Gravels, who complained to hotel staff and management. As the shock began to wear off, Gravels looked around the suite and said it was dirty everywhere, with thick dust on the TV and in the bathroom and an air conditioner filter that was black with dirt. “It was obvious it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time,” he said. “Who knows what this AC was relaunching?” said Gravels, who suffers from chronic pancreatitis and was worried about his health and that of his family. “The whole thing was very disturbing.” For its part, the motel owns up to its mistake. “We accept the mistake and apologize,” supervisor Neha Devgan told Castanet. “We accept it’s a big mistake … it won’t happen again.” Devgan said she had a few days off and the housekeeping staff was wrong not to clean the room. She said that “within minutes” of the complaint, housekeepers came in to clean the room and management apologized. The housekeepers came back the next day to check the room. The Gravells stayed the weekend despite the ordeal and left on Monday, and the motel gave them a discount on the first night of their stay. “I’m not sure what else we can do,” Devgan said. However, Gravells’ account of the exchange is somewhat different. He says the manager accused him of putting the condom on the floor or that it was his. “We were only there for a few minutes,” said Gravels, who says he wasn’t happy with the cleanup job, but was tired and needed a place to stay as it was late at night. He left the premises while the room was being cleaned and even cleaned the room a second time. He said the incident was “unacceptable … what STDs or viruses could have been in that condom?” Castanet has seen photos of the evidence, but chooses not to publish them. Gravelles says he was told the motel “can’t find staff,” which Devgan confirmed, saying it hasn’t been staffed lately. “Sorry, that’s not the guest’s problem,” Gravels said. “If the suite is not in good condition, you don’t rent the suite.”
