A mother says her daughter suffered a chemical burn on her face near her eyes from swimming at a pool at a metro hotel.
Cara’s trip from Manhattan, Kansas to Kansas City for her ninth birthday started out well.
The fun included Crown Center’s LEGOLAND and Sea Life Aquarium.
She was still smiling as she was about to swim at the Ramada Inn on Shawnee Mission Parkway in Overland Park.
After she jumped in the pool, her mom April Casey noticed a maintenance man testing the water and putting in chemicals.
“I didn’t think that was safe with the kids and everything being in the pool so we got the kids out,” April said.
When she pulled Cara out of the pool, she noticed Cara’s face was very red and her eyes were bloodshot.
So she took Cara to the hotel room to rinse her off.
“Once we got her out of the shower, her face started blistering like right around her eyes,” April said.
Emergency room doctors told April Cara suffered a chemical burn to her face and prescribed eye drops Cara is still using.
Yet when April informed the hotel desk clerk, she says he did nothing and kept the pool open.
“As a mom, I wanted to go across on that counter, but I had to keep my composure,” she said.
The 41 Action News Investigators went to the hotel looking for answers.
The desk clerk said she knew about Cara’s incident, but said any questions would have to be answered by a woman named Anna who’s only there on Saturdays.
When the 41 Action News Investigators asked the clerk what happens when something goes wrong and Anna is not there, the clerk replied, “It would be beyond me, it would go up the chain to the owner, I don’t know”.
Cara’s pool incident isn’t the only issue April had with the hotel.
She took pictures of what she says is mold in various places as well as holes in the pool ceiling and a puddle of rainwater from a roof leak on the pool deck.
The 41 Action News Investigators also found violations from an April 13 inspection by the Kansas Department of Agriculture.
Those violations included one guest room with a suspected “blood fecal trail on both headboards”.
In the same room, the inspector also found a dead bed bug in the window side headboard and a dead roach in a back open compartment of the mini fridge.
Other violations included mold and caked dirt build up in various places including vents and curtains.
There were no violations listed regarding the pool or pool roof.
“When it comes down to your health and safety being at question, that’s not okay,” April said.
Wyndham Hotels owns the Ramada Inn franchise and enters into franchise agreements with hotel owners like the Shawnee Mission Parkway property.
Wyndham released a statement which says, “We’re deeply troubled by these allegations as they in no way reflect our brand values or the expectations we have of franchisees. Please know we’re treating this matter with the seriousness it deserves and investigating with the hotel’s owner”.
April also filed a complaint with the Kansas Department of Agriculture based on her experience at the hotel.
A department spokeswoman tells the 41 Action News Investigators there will be a follow-up inspection of the hotel based on April’s complaint.
