Bed bugs are the scourge of the hotel sector. A bed insect infestation in your hotel or bed & breakfast can result in negative reviews, lost sales, and possibly a temporary closure. Worse, bed bugs have a better chance of spreading in the settings that hotels provide. Every year, the perfect storm produces a nightmare for many hotel owners.
What Makes Hotels so Attractive to Bed Bugs?
For a variety of reasons, hotels are ideal environments for bed bug populations to thrive and expand.
- Hotels are generally overcrowded. With more people, there are more potential hosts to feed on.
- People often enter and exit hotels. Bed bugs can slip into people’s luggage when they are congested, thus providing them with free transit to a new house to spread and thrive in.
- In hotels, there are numerous places to hide. Bed bugs, contrary to popular belief, can be found in locations other than your mattress. They can be found in upholstered furniture, carpeting, baseboards, and even light switches and electrical outlets.
5 Places to Look for Bed Bugs in Hotels
There are five major places to look for bed bugs in a hotel room. Here’s how we suggest you go about checking:
- Bed frame, mattress, and box spring: Inspect the entire bed, paying special attention to connection areas such as frame joints, zippers and seams in the mattress, and along the frame’s rails or slats.
- The same procedure applies to furniture: Bed bugs frequently gain access to secluded hiding locations through seams and joints in furniture.
- Dressers, wardrobes, and baseboards: Check for bed bugs where dressers meet the wall and closet walls meet the floor. Bed bugs could be hiding in the carpet pile.
- Nightstands and wall fixtures: Bed bugs love to hide anywhere the wall meets furniture or a fixture. They may even be found in shelf joints or behind paintings.
- Closet items: Any luggage left in the closet, as well as the luggage stands, may be infested with bed bugs.
Professional Hotel Bed Bug Inspections with Official Pest Prevention
You’ll want to invest in frequent bed bug inspections from your local pest control firm to ensure that your guests are living in a safe, clean, bedbug-free environment. Official Pest Prevention has decades of experience with hotel pest management. Depending on your demands, we can perform targeted spot treatments or all-encompassing heat treatments. Contact our bed bug control specialists immediately for a free estimate!
