Bed Bugs 101: Bed bugs are an enormously costly problem for hotels and the hospitality industry as a whole. Bed bugs feed on people while they are sleeping and then search for a hiding place to lay eggs and stay out of harm's way. When there are just a few bed bugs introduced into a hotel room, they will likely stay very close to the bed such as behind the headboard or under the mattress. However, as they begin to multiply, the chances increase quickly that the bed bugs will find other hiding places in furniture, walls and closets.

Bed bugs have been known to crawl up to 30 feet at night to feed on people. Therefore, it is rare that a bed bug infestation is limited to only one bedroom. When one room is not filled, they will crawl to another room to feed or stay in hiding. Inspecting rooms that have had no occupants for a number of days is not very useful since the bed bugs will have had no reason to come out of hiding and leave their tell-tale signs. When a new infestation is suspected, it is important that surrounding rooms on all four sides are also inspected for signs of bed bugs. Treating just one room rarely solves the problem since bed bugs will go from room to room so easily.

Unfortunately, there are no safe pesticides on the market today that have the ability to kill bed bugs reliably unless they are sprayed directly on the bugs. Additionally, pesticides do not kill any bed bug eggs waiting to hatch. Absent using very expensive vikane gas or thermal treatment, which do kill eggs, treatment for bed bugs will usually require multiple visits from a pest control professional. Visits are scheduled about two weeks apart since that is about how long it takes for any eggs to hatch that weren't found during an initial visit. Using encasements and bed bug monitors will foster early detection so that bed bugs can be removed when they are small in numbers, still confined to one or two rooms and still undetected by your guests.