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A man banned from a five-star hotel after a suitcase full of sausages led to his room being ruined by a band of sick seagulls has finally been allowed to return – after 17 years.

Guest Nick Burchill, who was staying at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, Canada, says the problems began after he left his room window open to keep his pepperoni from spoiling.

Nick explains in a letter of apology that he was staying at the luxury hotel for a business meeting. He had bought the sausages with plans to send them to his friends in the Navy.

Nick was concerned the pepperoni would spoil, so left it next to an open window to keep cool in the chilly Canadian air. A 40-strong colony of seagulls arrived.

'Time served'

Nick writes that he then went for a gentle stroll – and it was then that seagulls struck, pillaging the sausages and feasting on the food in his room.

A mess was made.

"I remember walking down the long hall and opening the door to my room to find an entire flock of seagulls in my room," Nick recounts in an amusing Facebook post.

"I didn’t have time to count, but there must have been 40 of them and they had been in my room, eating pepperoni for a long time.

"In case you were wondering, Brothers’ TNT Pepperoni does NASTY things to a seagull’s digestive system.

"As you would expect, the room was covered in seagull crap. What I did not realise until then was that seagulls also drool. Especially when they eat pepperoni."

Throwing a shoe out the window

(Image: Getty)

Nick says that upon entering his luxury room, he found the curtains, lamps, and coffee tables trashed. His bed was also in a dire state, as was the floor.

Growing "agitated", he claims to have thrown his shoe at one of the birds, both of which flew out of the window.

Nick covered another with a bath towel. But the bird, unable to see and in a flurry of meaty delirium, also toppled out of the window.

Nick adds that none of the gulls were harmed during the ordeal.

He told CBC: "One was just bouncing around on the windowsill and I was kind of losing my temper at this point, so I took off one of my shoes and I threw it in the direction of the seagull, and both the seagull and the shoe went out the window."

The commotion happened during 'high tea', a particularly busy time in the late afternoon.

Apparently a tourist was struck by Nick's falling shoe.

Nick was forced to go downstairs to retrieve his possessions. When he got back, housekeeping had arrived. He was not well received.

"I can still remember the look on the lady’s face when she opened the door," he adds.

"I had absolutely no idea what to tell her, so I just said 'I’m sorry' and I went to dinner."

After dining, Nick notes that his belongings had been moved to another room. After check-out, his employer was informed that – perhaps understandably – he would no longer be welcome at the Fairmount Empress.

"Let’s go back to my little housekeeping issue," Nick writes. "The room was BAD. There was a lot of damage."

But now, 17 years on, Nick is no longer on the blacklist – in fact, he's even been encouraged to stay.

'Unfortunate events' – hotel management

(Image: Getty Images)

After Nick wrote his open letter to the hotel management, in which he explains that he's "matured" and "served his time" in the near two-decade forced hiatus, director at the Empress Ryan Rearden reviewed his apology and lifted the ban.

Nick says that he gave staff pepperoni sausages as a "peace offering".

You might think this story hard to believe.

The Fairmont Empress released a statement: "Fairmont Empress was as amused as everyone else to read the letter from Mr Burchill.

"His series of unfortunate events happened so many years ago, and we were happy to review Mr Burchill’s letter and have since lifted the ban."

A hotel spokesperson added that Fairmont looks forward to once again having Nick stay.

Last year, the Empress had a $60 million restoration. The new rooms are now equipped with air conditioning, so any cured meats would not require an open window.

The seagulls remain.

We've contacted both Nick Burchill and the Fairmont Empress.