Echidna trashes hotel room costing publican thousands in damages

Echidna trashes hotel room costing publican thousands in damages

It’s the moment every hotelier dreads, but staff at the Bendemeer Hotel couldn’t help but laugh upon finding the culprit behind a mysteriously trashed hotel room earlier this week.

Robbie Lee arrived at room 8 of the NSW Northern Tablelands hotel to perform his cleaning duties on Sunday morning only to find the place in a complete state of disarray.

The carpet was torn, the heater and fan were knocked over and dirt littered the white bed sheets.

Leanne Summers, the hotel’s owner, said she was particularly puzzled by the mess because no one had stayed in the room the night before.

“We started to try and piece together the puzzle of who had trashed our room,” she told ABC New England. 

“There were no footprints.”

The next day, Lee returned to room 8 to find furniture moved around and a bin knocked over.

Perplexed by the scene, he decided to take a look under the bed and was met with an even more unusual sight.

The culprit of the hotel room trashing was hiding in plain sight — an echidna!

Summers and Lee managed to capture the cheeky little critter using welding gloves to protect their hands from its spiky exterior and released it into a paddock nearby.

“We’re now actually thinking of calling Room 8 the Echidna Suite, in honour of our little friend,” Summers said.

Summers estimates the echidna’s stay will cost her at least $3,000 in damages.

“It is funny … but it’s not,” she said.

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