Hospitality, Housing Bigs Take on Bed Bugs
Bed bugs have become a big problem. Reports of infestations have increased 71 percent since 2001. Hotels and apartments, where numerous people are passing in and out, are some of the most susceptible locations.
To tackle the issue, AH&LA, the Structural Pest Control Regulatory Officials, and for the first time, the National Apartment Association are getting together at the end of this month. National Bed Bug Symposiums will be held in Newark, New Jersey on August 25th and Seattle on August 27th.
Leaders of the hospitality and multifamily housing industries will get a lesson in the history of the insects, information regarding how to teach employees inspection techniques and how to communicate with customers. Legal concerns related to bed bug infestations will also be discussed
The first Bed Bug Symposium was held in 2006. The continued persistence of the pests, and a recent National Bed Bug Summit held by the EPA in Washington, DC, has kept this problem on the minds of hoteliers and property managers.
"Bed bugs have been making a steady showing over the past several years and reports of infestations have been growing," says Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for the National Pest Management Association. "It used to be that pest control companies would report one to two bed bug calls a year, and now it's one to two a week and in many cases it's much higher."
Because of the negative attention an infestation can generate, the events also offer one-on-one discussions with bed bug experts, pest management professionals and representatives of the hotel and apartment management professions, so those interested in discussing their bed bug concerns can do so privately.
The rise in international travel is cited as a major contributor to the spread of bed bugs. "Bed bugs are hitchhikers, maybe they are adventurous and want to see the world," jokes Henriksen. "So they get on your suitcase and you get on a flight and all those bags get into the cargo hold, where bed bugs can crawl over from one suitcase to another."
By Alex Palmer | hdmag
