“lower Your Bed Bug Liability” or Protection Against Bed Bugs?

There is a Bed Bug crisis spreading through the hotel industry. Despite the fact that sanitation has little or nothing to do with Bed Bugs, lawsuits are being filed and reputations are being tarnished in the media and on popular websites. It isn't fair. But there are simplsteps a facility can take to protect their guests, their liability, and their reputations.

According to an attorney, who has defended several national hotel chains in Bed Bug lawsuits, he makes the following recommendations to hotel owners and managers to pro-actively prepare a defense against potential litigation:

Get a pest management professional to train your housekeepers to recognize early Bed Bug signs as they do their daily cleaning.
Have a written plan in effect to expeditiously deal with a suspected Bed Bug event.

Immediately isolate a room suspected of infestation.
Do not move affected guests to an adjoining room. Bed Bugs may travel up to 100 feet to find a meal.
Do not vacuum or remove anything from the room.
Do not lower the thermostat, as this may cause them to migrate to a warmer room.
Have a pest management firm in place.
Equip each room with a metal luggage rack, as Bed Bugs have a natural aversion to metal.
Equip each housekeeping cart with a checklist for inspecting beds for Bed Bug evidence in daily cleaning.

Because Bed Bugs suck the blood of their hosts while they're sleeping, there is a stigma in the minds of the general public that exceeds that of cockroaches, mice, and even rats. Attracted by the warmth of a sleeping person and the carbon dioxide they exhale, Bed Bugs may take 3 to 15 minutes to gorge themselves on a blood meal, swelling to up to 6 times their body weight. The host is not awakened by the bite because the parasite's saliva is equipped with a topical anesthetic. Therefore, people may experience scores of bites in the course of one night's sleep.

Bed Bugs usually hitchhike in luggage and not on people, so having a metal luggage rack open in a room may keep them from leaving the suitcase at all. Anything to keep guests from placing their luggage on the bed! Because of their aversion to metal, using metal bed frames and headboards is also recommended. A female, once impregnated by a male is pregnant for life and lays 2 or 3 eggs per day. So one pregnant female leaving a suitcase and making her home in a bed is just the beginning. Hatchlings in the first of five instars to adulthood are roughly the size of a spec of dust and will leave a bite like an adult. Mature Bed Bugs will usually feed every 2 weeks, but have been known to live over a year without another blood meal.

Because of the stigma and the sensationalism accompanying Bed Bug stories, the local media tend to jump on any reported encounter in a hotel, and play it up to their audience. Just one reported Bed Bug encounter in any of the popular on-line hotel review websites could mean the loss of hundreds of potential guests in a season, and could plague one's reputation for years. So the risk is great.

A facility is at even higher risk for Bed Bugs if they frequently entertain guests from outside the U.S.,especially those from Eastern Europe or Canada.