Hotels: prepare for summer travelers! Bed bugs are hungry and want to eat your guests and customers

by Tommy Underhill
April 20, 2021

Payments as low as

per month/60 months, AOC

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Congratulations: your hotel or motel survived the pandemic! You’re ready to spring back to business and thrive again! Don’t let bed bugs threaten to devour your reputation and suck your future dry.

This is the complete 6-part series on bed bugs in the hospitality industry, how to identify them, and ways to combat them and protect your reputation.

Preserve your room inventory and don’t let bed bugs lose you money. GreenTech Heat Solutions has the discreet bed bug heat treatment equipment that will get your rooms back in service in just 1 day. In many cases, treating a room or two a month pays for the equipment!

• Part 1: Not just a problem for travelers
• Part 2: Don’t wait for bed bug complaints to make a plan
• Part 3: Where to find bed bug infestations
• Part 4: Get the equipment for discreet 1-day bed bug eradications
• Part 5: Eliminate bed bugs in the room today and prevent their return for up to a year
• Part 6: World-class equipment and training backed by empirical results from university studies

A single breeding pair of bed bugs will create an infestation numbering well over half a million hungry, breeding bed bugs in just ten months. Anything less than 100% success is a failed treatment... and any bed bugs that survived your last treatment are ready to repopulate your hotel.

Part 1: Not just a problem for travelers

The National Pest Management Association cautions travelers that this past year-long hotel and lodging vacancy has emboldened hungry bed bug populations. GreenTech Heat Solutions wants to get the word out to the hospitality industry— including hotels, motels, hostels, and camps— that any bed bugs that survived your last bed bug treatment have been patiently waiting for their next meal to arrive.

“Bed bugs can be found virtually anywhere, and while many Americans are excited to resume travel plans as stay-at-home orders are slowly lifted across the country, it’s imperative that [hospitality managers] remember to stay vigilant against bed bugs,” said Brittany Campbell, Ph.D., entomologist for the NPMA. “Bed bugs can survive several months without a blood meal and with many hotels experiencing low occupancy over the last few months, bed bugs will be hungry and may actually come out in broad daylight to feed— a dramatic shift in behavior for a pest that is notorious for feeding at night.”

People can’t wait to travel again! Don’t assume that any bed bugs that survived your last treatment starved this past year— adult bed bugs have survived in laboratories without food for as long as 550 days and they will be hungry! As far as bed bugs are concerned, as we continue to return to business as usual— whatever that ends up looking like— you will be hosting a grand-re opening buffet special for them: a potentially unlimited supply of guests that will become their next meals. All it takes is a few adult bed bugs that did not encounter pesticides from your last treatment to feed on your customers, resume mating, lay eggs which hatch, and reinvigorate the infestation. Understanding the bed bug life cycle shows where each stage of the insect’s metamorphosis from egg to adult will continue to pester guests.

Part 2: Don’t wait for bed bug complaints to make a plan

Bed bugs continue to be one of the most difficult pests to control and are commonly reintroduced by hotel guests. These insects are expert hitchhikers, easily making the journey into or out of your facility by hiding in clothing, bedding, electronics, and luggage. Bites can cause irritations ranging from itching to a rash to blisters. Severe cases can result in infection or allergic reaction and may need medical treatment.

According to Brotherhood Mutual Insurance, “If a guest’s interaction with bed bugs results in injury or financial damage, your hotel could potentially be liable for any expenses incurred. Costs associated with paying medical bills, refunding a portion or all the guest’s room fees, and paying to treat the guest’s home could reach into the thousands.”

Brotherhood Mutual Insurance offers the following advice: “The following often are considered ineffective and potentially dangerous measures used by do-it-yourselfers: ammonia, bleach, fire, gasoline and kerosene, wasp spray, bug bombs, and overuse/improper use of agricultural or outlawed insecticides bought on the internet. Use of these can result in toxic fumes, serious injuries, and property damage.”

According to Grant Schwarz of Bed Bug Law in Hollywood, Florida, bed bug lawsuits in the hospitality industry often focus on a few common details:

• Simply having a bed bug treatment policy in place is not enough. Accurately following the approved protocol is no guaranteed shield from litigation or settlement.
• As management, you and your maintenance team, their inspections and treatment documentation could be subpoenaed during the course of a lawsuit. Make a habit of being complete and thorough.
• Juries tend to find liability with hotels and other hospitality properties which have not adequately attempted to treat an active bed bug infestation.
• Juries tend to find liability with hotels and other hospitality properties which have evidence of continuing and/or past infestations.

Part 3: Where to find bed bug infestations

Bed bugs continue to be one of the most difficult pests to control and are commonly reintroduced by hotel guests. These insects are expert hitchhikers, easily making the journey into or out of your facility by hiding in clothing, bedding, electronics, and luggage. Bites can cause irritations ranging from itching to a rash to blisters. Severe cases can result in infection or allergic reaction and may need medical treatment.

The problem is more widespread than just finding bed bugs in guest rooms— these insects can infest all areas of a hotel property. Prudent property managers and maintenance teams are always on the look out for multiple problem spots, including...

• Laundry facilities and laundry carts.
• Common areas including waiting areas and the lobby.
• Luggage carts.
• Dining areas.
• Business centers.
• Meeting rooms.
• Convention and ballroom spaces.
• Workout rooms and fitness facilities.
• And, of course, guest rooms.

Don’t assume it’s common knowledge that your staff will know where to look for bed bugs every time they clean or inspect a guest room, or any other area of the property. The best rule to follow is to look in tight places by where humans sit, stand, walk, or sleep. This pie chart shows the most common harborages found within a sleeping room.

The best bed bug to respond to is the one that hasn’t yet bitten a guest or employee. Make sure your team knows the signs to look for, and make it a policy for them to proactively report infestations.

Part 4: Get the equipment for discreet 1-day bed bug eradications

Traditional pesticide-based bed bug treatments can take weeks to completely eradicate an infestation, and the continuing bites will destroy your reputation in the interim. Heat is the only one-day single-treatment protocol effective for bed bugs and other insects. Join the hundreds of hospitality managers, property management companies, and pest control professionals who have decided that self-treating with heat is the most effective and economical method of bed bug elimination available to the hospitality industry. One treatment kills bed bugs and their eggs with GreenTech Heat ePro 400hotel single cord + electric heater.

The proper heat equipment and training from GreenTech Heat Solutions will allow your maintenance staff to proactively treat guest rooms, meeting rooms, recreation facilities, laundry facilities, and offices in a single day and then certify them as bed-bug free.

Part 5: Eliminate bed bugs in the room today and prevent their return for up to a year

Once you have eradicated bed bugs in the room with your GreenTech Heat equipment, use GreenTech Prevent to create a residual barrier to continue killing bed bugs for up to a year after the heat treatment. Prevent can be sprayed on upholstered materials like couches and chairs, beds and bedding, carpets and other fabrics. This applied barrier can help prevent re-infestations which may be the result of a guest who happens to bring bed bugs into the treated location, or if an untreated adjoining unit allows for a migration between units that are being treated.

GreenTech Prevent is an after heat treatment barrier guard that continues to kill bed bugs up to 12 months. For preventive use only as a residual barrier after a heat treatment. No chemicals: natural, soy-based formula. Non-toxic and will not stain fabrics. No odor. Easy application. GreenTech Prevent helps you keep bed bugs from ruining your good reputation.

Part 6: World-class equipment and training backed by empirical results from university studies

Our Master Heat Technician Certification program provides world-class training developed over 30 years for your maintenance staff and gives you additional peace of mind that your guests, employees, and staff will be safe from bed bug bites. Self-treat with heat on your schedule and get your rooms quickly back in service.

Insurance companies suggest your staff keep excellent records surrounding anything to do with bed bug: complaints, proactive heat treatments, and as-needed and reactive bed bug heat treatments. Hotels that keep excellent records and treatment logs according to protocol are more successful in showing that reasonable steps were taken to eliminate or control infestations, especially when routine heat treatments are conducted by certified Master Heat Technicians. If a claim is ever filed, your insurance company will want your records. Having well-documented procedures for regular heat treatments and inspections show that your hotel actively takes measures against infestation—and can prove it. Ensure that maintenance, cleaning staff, counselors, and program staff understand the importance of accurate documentation and preserving all records.

Bed bug claims across the hospitality industry continue to rise. The total cost of one bed bug claim— medical bills, room fee refunds, replacing belongings, and paying to treat the guests’s home could reach into the thousands... even before you factor in negative word-of-mouth, online reviews, and the loss of your good reputation. Business and revenues have been down for too long and you deserve better than that!

Be prepared for when your guests arrive... any bed bugs that survived your last treatment are excitedly looking forward to your guests this spring and summer! The GreenTech Heat Titan 800 will kill bed bugs and sanitize and deodorize cabins (and the rest of your facility, too!) in one convenient one-day treatment.

GreenTech Heat technology is 100% effective for all life stages of bed bugs, lice, cockroaches, and all other insects that might infest your property. Heat kills microbes, viruses, and bacteria that can cause allergies and odors. GreenTech Heat equipment allows you to self-treat with heat on your schedule and as your needs demand. Our certified training lets you do it right and do it safely the first time. Heat safely kills insects and microbes everywhere they may be found in a single one-day treatment. Call us at 888-699-3944. We have bed bug heaters for sale to get started with heat today.