A 46‑year‑old pilot filed a lawsuit against a major hotel chain after bats attacked him in his room during a training trip to Denver. The lawsuit alleges negligence by the hotel in preventing the bats from entering the guest room.
The incident occurred on August 29 when the pilot was staying at a Sheraton hotel in downtown Denver. He was in the city for a training session and had booked the room for a single night.
The pilot was awakened at 2:30 a.m. by a swarm of bats that bit his feet. He attempted to seal a hole in the air‑conditioning unit with a towel, but the bats entered through it. When he reported the problem, hotel staff advised him to receive a rabies vaccination rather than moving him to another room.
The vaccination cost the pilot approximately $100,000 in his home state. The settlement offered by the hotel is considered insufficient by the pilot's legal team.
Rabies is a rare but serious disease transmitted by bites or scratches from mammals such as dogs, foxes, raccoons, and bats. The virus can be spread through contact with an infected animal's saliva. Symptoms include numbness at the bite site, hallucinations, difficulty breathing or swallowing, and paralysis, and the disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
The pilot says the experience left him shaken and fearful of potential infection. He is seeking compensation for the medical costs and emotional distress caused by the incident.
