| Let's face it. No one wants to see a pest crawling around a hotel—not you, and certainly not your guests. While pest problems can unfortunately occur, they can be controlled or, better yet, eliminated with proper precautions and professional help, if necessary. Various rodents and insects occasionally check into hotels, however, none has received as much attention as bed bugs. According to Douglas Gardner, an entomologist (bug expert) at Ecolab&v=cb">Ecolab based in St. Paul, Minnesota, the number of bed bug complaints in hotels has increased significantly in the last five years, with some industry experts estimating an increase of up to 500 percent. The jury is still out as to why. “We’re not really sure why there has been such an increase,” Gardner says. “Some may say it’s because there isn’t as much pesticide use as in the past, and others will argue that it’s the number of people traveling and spreading the pests. We really don’t know for sure.” The one thing we do know is that while some pests are damaging to property and others are merely a nuisance, any pests in your hotel can wreak havoc on your hotel’s reputation and, subsequently, on your bottom line. Don’t let the bed bugs bite While hotel pests can sometimes include flies, ants and rodents (mice and rats), one of the worst offenders is the bed bug. According to Gardner, bed bugs are not only showing up in commercial facilities like hotels and motels, they are now being found more frequently in residential homes as well, threatening to become an established presence. 
Unfortunately, bed bug infestations are among the most difficult to treat since there are few preventative tactics hotel operators can employ. Bed bugs traditionally enter a facility through the front door, riding along in guests’ luggage and attire. Once in a room, they set up home, usually on or near the bed, and stay long after their transportation leaves. These uninvited guests come out at night to feed off of subsequent guests. They then begin raising a family in their temperature-controlled luxury accommodations. “You can’t do much to prevent them because pesticides don’t stop the bugs from entering rooms,” Gardner says. “Once you know you have a problem, you need to take it very seriously.” Signs of a bed bug infestation may include hotel guests complaining about bites, blood spots on sheets and bedding, and actual bugs being found. While the “gross” factor is the greatest culprit, bed bugs have not been shown to transmit diseases or pose an eminent health risk. They can, however, ruin your reputation as a clean hotel. Since bed bugs can be difficult to eliminate, and because of the potential for guest claims against the hotel, Gardner recommends hotels seek immediate professional help to devise a treatment plan. Bed bug treatment can include pesticide applications done over multiple visits, the disposing of mattresses, box springs and linens, heat or steam treatments, and other methods depending on the service provider. Bedding protectors have also been cited as good protective sources for mattresses. “Hotel operators cannot and should not take care of a bed bug problem alone,” he adds. “If it’s not completely resolved, they will resurge and can spread to more and more rooms.” Oh, rats! Perhaps no pest may offend a hotel guest as much as a rodent scampering across a hotel room floor, and the reason is clear. Compared to an insect, they’re large, and they immediately send a very visible and unpleasant message to your guests. According to Gardner, the three kinds of rodents most likely to be seen in hotels are the Norway rat, the roof rat and the house mouse. All are considered commensal, meaning they are tightly associated to humans: they like our food, and they enjoy our living temperature. While the Norway rat is the largest, the roof rat is the most difficult to manage, asserts Gardner, because as its name suggests, they often live at the roof level, entering establishments from high up to gather food or seek temporary shelter. “Solving roof rat issues takes a lot of skill,” Gardner says. “Rat sightings and rodent droppings are your first clues.” But then you have to find where they are living and how they are getting into the building. | To assess and/or reduce rodent pressure on a hotel or other property, Gardner says pest companies often set up bait stations around the perimeter of the hotel and inspect for signs of activity on a regular basis. If evidence of rodent activity is found, the severity of the problem can be assessed and further action, like exclusion, can be taken. “Prevention with rodents is key,” he says. Some suggestions for keeping the critters at bay are to reduce or eliminate food and water availability on the outside of the building. Cut back any vegetation from the building so they can’t use trees and plantings to climb on your facility. Additionally, all holes should be sealed. That means no doors propped open, such as employee smoking areas, etc., to allow rodents to sneak in. Fly, fly away! While flies don’t really cause any damage, they can become quite annoying to your guests if they are continually present inside your facility. “Flies are serious nuisance pests,” Gardner says. “They can become very annoying to your guests, especially if they get into the guestrooms. You need to look at entry points throughout the hotel. Where’s your dumpster? Perhaps it’s too close to the building and should be pushed back. Are doors left open for ventilation, for deliveries, or for employee access to break areas? Are there things that attract flies near entrances such as spilled food or filthy garbage areas? You can really prevent this problem if you spend a little time assessing the outside of your facility.” Bright lighting near your hotel can attract more guests to your facility, but it can also attract many night flying insects. “The pressure on the hotel can be tremendous,” says Gardner. “But the solution isn’t very difficult. Change the kind of lighting you use from the typical white lighting, which may include highly attractive ultraviolet light, to yellow-colored or sodium vapor lighting that insects don’t like as much.” Standing water in the kitchen, in bathtubs or in any other part of the hotel, may provide a breeding source for small flies such as drain flies, moth flies and even fruit flies. “Small flies can be a major problem in food handling and other areas in hotels,” Gardner says. “Fix plumbing issues such as leaky faucets and clogged drains to reduce breeding sites.” Ants have high hopes Thousands of ant species live very happily outside. Few will forge indoors, but the ones that do can cause problems, especially if the problem continues to grow. When ants come indoors they are searching for food and water. Keeping food at bay and water leaks to a minimum should ease the problems. While pesticide use may seem to help, Gardner says it’s simply a Band-Aid for the problem. Keeping the hotel clean, especially food and beverage areas, maintaining landscape areas around the perimeter of the building, and cutting trees back so that they are not touching the building are the best deterrents. Related to ants, perimeter pests like cockroaches, crickets, centipedes, millipedes and even spiders can survive in organic material, such as mulch, so you have to be careful they don’t sneak in. Planting beds should not be over-watered and in areas where perimeter pests continue to be an issue, consider using gravel instead of mulch. Fine feathered friends? Compared to the other pests, birds, especially Canada Geese, can be very difficult to remove. There are several deterrents currently on the market, some of which are also offensive to humans, so they can’t be used in places where people congregate. In a commercial facility, little wires placed over a pond can potentially deter birds from landing, as well as various repellents applied to grass. Using temporary tactics can be effective in the short-term, but if your facility has the right conditions, like a pond or another water feature, chances are your fine feathered friends will be back. For severe problems with geese, a new product has recently been introduced to the market that has been shown to help deter geese but not harm humans. Manufactured by Nixalite of America and incorporating a harmless grape food flavoring called methyl anthranilaye, the product is available in vapor and powder forms. When reapplied several times, the product has been shown to deter the geese by making the grass unpalatable. The application has to be repeated frequently for the geese to learn the behavior. Regardless of your pest problem, one solution is clear. Stay vigilant and take care of the problem as it arises. Yes, pests are a pain, but they are manageable. 
For more information on pest elimination, please contact Ecolab at (800) 352-5326. |
