Internationally acclaimed dog championship judge Jim Reynolds is barking mad at a local hotel for what he considers "unacceptable rudeness".

Despite the Ministry of Tourism's best efforts to resolve the row over the settlement of a bill, Mr. Reynolds refused to return to the Wyndham Resort and Spa after two of the "worst days he's ever had in Bermuda".

Best in Show Judge for the acclaimed Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Mr. Reynolds is currently in Bermuda for the Bermuda International Dog Show taking place at the Botanical Gardens.

A guest of the All Breed Dog Club of Bermuda and the Bermuda Dog Training Club, Mr. Reynolds, along with nine other judges was accommodated at the Wyndham Resort Hotel and Spa.

But what should have been a pleasant experience turned into just the opposite following a miscommunication between hotel management and staff and the All Breed Dog Club. A spokesperson for the All Breed Dog Club, Janet Owner, yesterday said the two local clubs had an agreement with the assistant manager at the hotel to settle the bill for the eight rooms once the judges checked out and paid $1,500 as a down payment.

However, on the first morning at the hotel Mr. Reynolds said desk staff started insisting that the judges settle their bill.

The All Breed Club contacted hotel management and addressed the issue, or so they thought, because the next morning the same thing happened.

Mr. Reynolds said the staff were downright rude to him and fellow judges. To make matters worse when he woke up yesterday morning he found his hotel room infested with ants.

"They were even in the bed," he said, adding that he went to reception.

But before he had a chance to complain about the ants, staff once again asked him to settle his bill.

Mr. Reynolds said when he did manage to get a word in about the ants, staff told him the room would be fumigated, but he would have to move all his things out first.

Enough was enough and Mr. Reynolds did more than just pack his suitcase, he left the hotel for good.

Arriving at the dog show yesterday morning with his suitcase in tow and threatening to catch the next flight back to Canada, organisers scrambled to undo the situation and called the Press for help. Mrs. Owner said Mr. Reynolds had written several glowing articles about Bermuda in the past and dreaded to think what this would do for tourism, not to mention the reputation of the two dog clubs.

She said Wyndham's timing could not be worse, especially after Tourism Minister Dr. Ewart Brown told the Press on Monday that one of the primary reasons for declining occupancies and hotel bookings was the quality of the hotel product.

"I immediately called the hotel and was told that in order to settle the bill once the guests checked out, they would have to produce credit references," she said, querying why the assistant manager had not told her this from the start ? something which would have prevented any of this happening.

"It was a case of pay up, or else," she said.

When informed of the situation yesterday morning, Dr. Brown immediately called the hotel.

Within an hour of the complaint the hotel had upgraded Mr. Reynolds to a suite and had offered to apologise in person.

But Mr. Reynolds said he would not return to Wyndham.

"It doesn't make up for rudeness," he said, adding that the All Breed Dog Club offered to put him up in another hotel and he was accepting this offer instead.

Mrs. Owner said she had made several calls to hotels around the Island trying to find another room and The Reefs were "most upset" to hear what happened to Mr. Reynolds.

"They said they did not like people leaving Bermuda unhappy and I agree," she said.

Mr. Reynolds is a highly-respected all-breed judge from Ottawa, Canada and was the first foreign judge since 1930 to select the Best in Show winner at the 130th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show earlier this year in New York.

The general manager of Wyndham yesterday did not return calls to .