Vornado-owned Hotel Pennsylvania has agreed to pay nearly $100,000, court records show, to a group of six tourists who claimed to have been bitten by bedbugs while staying at the old Seventh Avenue lodge.
The alleged victims included two Swiss women reportedly "eaten alive" by the nocturnal blood-sucking insects in 2005.
The victims’ attorney, Adam Sattler, called the amount of the settlement "satisfactory," adding that the hotel has since taken steps to better prevent the pests from infiltrating rooms and attacking other guests.
The 22-story, McKim, Mead & White-designed building, erected in 1919, has been the subject of much debate lately. Vornado has threatened to demolish the hotel and erect a giant office tower in its place, while activists have campaigned to preserve it.
Perhaps best-known as the inspiration for the old Glenn Miller tune, "Pennsylvania 6-5000," the less-than-luxurious state of the once glamorous Hotel Penn was perhaps best described by comic Dave Barry in his 2002 Miami Herald column, "Hotel, schmotel — I’ll just shtay in the shtreet."
