The holidays are almost here, which means a busy season of travel is in store for individuals, couples and families. For those who are on the other side of the coin and are welcoming guests into your hotel, you are likely preparing for the arrival of guests. In addition to readying rooms, hotel management and staff should also be prepared to defend against bed bugs with a detailed bed bug response plan. This may sound extreme but bed bugs in Kansas City, Topeka and throughout Kansas and the country are still a serious threat especially to hotels, commercial lodgings and other businesses in the hospitality industry.

As guests come and go there are many opportunities for bed bugs to latch onto clothing and luggage and they could land themselves a room without booking in advance. Bed bugs are hard to prevent because with each new guest, there is a possibility of these blood sucking insects infesting rooms. So, to help prevent the inevitable disgruntled or traumatized guests if they have a run in with bed bugs, your business needs to be prepared to help take care of the problem quickly and discreetly.

Although bed bugs are not a sign of a dirty hotel, people will still have a negative association if word gets out that you have bed bug problems. Your hotel’s image and reputation could suffer, which makes a bed bug response plan that much more important. A response plan should include the following:

• Have employees sign a confidentiality notice. 

• Educate all staff on how to identify a bed bug infestation. 

• Maintain a relationship with pest control professionals 

• Regularly inspect for bed bugs (consider partnering with a pest control company that offers discreet K9 bed bug inspections).

• Develop a relationship with a lawyer who has experience in bed bug litigation. 

If you would like to learn more about Schendel Pest Services’ commercial bed bug control including canine bed bug inspections and bed bug heat treatments, please contact us today! We are ready to help you and your staff maintain pest free accommodations for guests this holiday season and throughout the entire year.