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

by Tommy Underhill
May 3, 2021

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.

Part 1:
Not just a problem for travelers

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

• 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.

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.

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! GreenTech Heat Solutions equipment will kill bed bugs and sanitize and deodorize guest rooms (and the rest of your facility, too!) in one convenient one-day treatment. We will address strategies for identifying and detecting bed bug infestations in an upcoming article.

GreenTech Heat technology is 100% effective for 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.