Edinburgh woman ’found hidden camera in hotel room’

Harmony Hachey found the camera in a vent. Picture: comp

Harmony Hachey, 23, was staying in the Travelodge when she noticed something strange in the vent behind the shower.

Once she looked closer she realised it was a hidden camera, which was pointing directly where she was standing in the shower. Ms Hachey had travelled to Oxford from Edinburgh with colleagues last Friday as she was working at an event in the area over the weekend.

After spotting the camera, she informed reception staff at the Oxford Wheatley Travelodge, who confirmed Ms Hachey was right about the device.

Harmony was told to calm down by a Travelodge boss. Picture: Hemedia

She said the incident had left her feeling “violated” and that she “broke down” at one point.

Ms Hachey said: “I was absolutely disgusted. I was staying there on Friday night. One of the girls had a shower, then I went.

“It was the first thing I noticed. I was trying to convince myself that I was crazy and it wasn’t really there. I had my shower and I just carried on as usual convincing myself I was crazy. I was going through scenarios in my head.

“I got a fork and stuck it in the vent. You could see so clearly it was a camera. I broke down at one point. I just felt so violated.”

Ms Hachey took a number of pictures of the hidden camera before she alerted hotel staff. When the receptionist investigated the camera, she went to the janitor’s closet located in the main hallway at the back of the shower.

There, she found the USB cable attached to the camera, but it appeared to not be switched on. Ms Hachey said: “The boss was called and as soon as he saw the camera he took a plastic bag and took it out.

“After that the police came; they had a look at my pictures and looked at the camera itself and the vent.”

She said she then received a call from senior management, who told her it was there for maintenance.

Ms Hachey added: “She told me to calm down and there was no footage on there. But no one had looked.”

After giving a statement to Thames Valley Police, Ms Hachey tried to find another place to stay for the weekend, but ended up having to switch rooms.

She said: “I didn’t want to stay in that room. They moved the bed into another room. Later I got a call from customer services saying I was going to get a full refund and that was it.”

A spokeswoman for Travelodge confirmed that what appeared to be a camera had been found in the room and the firm had apologised to Ms Hachey, who is originally from New Zealand but moved to Scotland when her family emigrated 10 years ago.