An Alberta father says he was shocked when his six-year-old daughter picked up a used condom from the floor of a Vernon motel room just minutes after they had checked in.

Jonathan Gravells says his family checked in to the Vernon motel last Friday.

"My daughter took off her shoes by the bed, and when she pulled them out, a used condom came out from under the bed with them," says Gravells.

"She picked it up and said 'What's this, daddy?' ... My wife and I were like 'Put that down right now!'

"It's so disgusting," said Gravells, who complained to hotel staff and management.

When the shock started to wear off, Gravells looked around the suite and said it was dirty all over, with thick dust on the TV and in the bathroom, and an air conditioner filter that was black with dirt.

"It was obvious it hadn't been cleaned in a long time," he said.

"Who knows what that AC was recirculating?" said Gravells, who has chronic pancreatitis and was concerned for his health as well as that of his family.

"The whole thing was very disconcerting."

For its part, the motel is owning its mistake.

"We accept the mistake and apologize," supervisor Neha Devgan told Castanet.

"We accept it is a big mistake ... it will not happen again."

Devgan said she had a couple of days off, and housekeeping staff made a mistake in not cleaning the room.

She said "within moments" of the complaint housekeepers went in to clean the room and management offered their apologies.

Housekeepers returned the next day to double check the room.

The Gravells stayed the weekend despite the ordeal and left on Monday, and the motel gave them a discount on their first night of the stay.

"I'm not sure what else we can do," said Devgan.

Gravells' account of the exchange is somewhat different, however.

He says the manager accused him of staging the condom on the floor or that it was his own.

"We'd only been there for minutes," said Gravells, who says he wasn't happy with the cleaning job but was tired and needed a place to stay as it was late into the evening.

He left the premises while the room was cleaned and even had the room cleaned a second time.

He said the incident was "unacceptable ... what STDs or viruses could have been on that condom?"

Castanet has seen photos of the evidence, but is choosing not to publish them.

Gravells says he was told the motel 'can't find staff,' which Devgan confirmed, saying they have been short staffed recently.

"I'm sorry, that's not the guest's problem," said Gravells. "If the suite is not in good condition, you don't rent the suite."