We wish to advise all travellers to be very careful of bedbugs in hotel rooms.  The bites are not a big deal, but it is a VERY big deal if you take them home in your luggage.  It is also a very expensive disaster if they spread through the bedrooms in your home.  It may well end up costing you thousands of dollars and this is not an exaggeration.

If possible, don’t leave your suitcases in the hotel bedroom.  Keep them in the living room if you are in an apartment or holiday unit.

Pull the sheets up and inspect the bed. (Especially around the header of the bed, and check for little brown specks – bed bugs in the seams.)

Check yourself for bites (especially on your legs or torso) when you awake in the morning.

When you return home, if you have the slightest concern about bed bugs, then don’t take your luggage into your bedroom.  Open it, empty it and store it in your garage away from areas where people or pets sleep.

If you do find bed bugs in your luggage, take it along to a fumigation specialist, or take it to the tip if you prefer.

Prevention is better than cure (and much cheaper), so please enjoy your travels.  Just take a little care and try not to bring any bed bugs home. Insurance companies don’t cover damages caused by bed bugs.

Notice to Hotel – Motel – Backpackers Management

It isn’t possible to stop your guests from bring bed bugs into your building.  There is nothing you can do to stop bed bugs from leaving a guest’s suitcase and infesting a room.  It doesn’t matter how clean you are or whether you are a 5 star hotel or a low cost backpackers.  In most cases the guest will be completely unaware that they are even carrying the bed bugs in their luggage.

The early detection of bed bugs is difficult.  They are very hard to spot.

However there are two things you can do:

Thoroughly train all your housekeeping staff about bed bugs.  They need to know how to check beds and identify bed bug activity.

Linen trolleys should be inspected every day.

Laundry companies should be consulted.  It’s important that their pick-up and delivery vehicles should be certified free of bed bugs.

Advise your guests.  Every guest should be handed a notice upon checking in.  It should state what bed bugs are, their habitats and how to identify them.  It should also mention their bite so that your guests can report back to you if they even suspect that they have been bitten during their sleep.  The wording should alert your guests as a warning but not be alarmist.  You should seek legal advice to protect yourself with the best and clearest wording.

Several hotels are already dealing with the threat of legal action taken against them.  The current policy is to hush it up.  This is wrong.  As a pest controller who talks with other pest controllers, I can tell you that the problem is worldwide and wide-spread throughout Australia.

There are no known simple prevention methods.

It is your duty of care to warn your guests.  If you do not warn your guests you may be leaving yourself open to liability.

This is a bug that can not be easily prevented.  No amount of pesticides will prevent them infesting a room, and too much pesticide may present a reactive health threat to a sensitive guest.

If the accommodation industry as a whole, or the government implements a standard bed bug warning notice to be handed to all guests, it will go a long way to covering your duty of care.

Responsible action needs to be taken NOW.  Without doubt this is potentially a serious problem for the tourist industry.  I don’t want to be a doom and gloom prophet, but the tourist and accommodation industry needs to bite the bullet and address this problem before the problem bites first and things get further out of hand.

Bed bugs are world travelers and now a worldwide problem, not just a local problem.  I implore our current affairs programs not to blow the bed bug problem out of proportion.  We don’t want people to stop having holidays or to boycott our fabulous Australian resort areas.

Nor do our accommodation houses want to be sued by guests who take the bed bugs home… only to have a bed bug treatment bill of thousands of dollars a few weeks later, and sometimes a medical bill also.

The two steps listed above need to be taken straight away to avoid serious loss of trade or legal action in the future

If you don’t have pets you won’t have fleas.  Myth.  You can bring ground fleas in on your legs yourself.

Spreading lime on the ground will kill fleas.  Myth.  Don’t ever try this, you just make it more difficult for professional chemicals to work as the lime is alkaline and interferes with the insecticide.

One female flea can lay hundreds of eggs.  Fact.

Fleas can lay dormant for months.  Fact.

Fleas can spread disease.  Fact.

Walking your dog in a park where other dogs go is a good way for your dog (or yourself) to pick up fleas.  Fact.

Rats and mice can bring fleas into your home.  Fact.

Treatment

Fleas are not easy to eradicate.  We don’t recommend that you try to do it yourself.  We know people who have spent a lot of money on flea bombs for no result.  Can you get a refund at the supermarket on your 10 empty flea bombs when the fleas come back?

Save your money.  Get satisfaction and peace of mind.  Call us first.  We’ll do it right, once and for all, and with a written warranty.

Before we come to do fleas, you will need to take the following steps:

Inside…

Vacuum thoroughly, and throw the vacuum bag in the rubbish when you are finished, or leave it out for us to spray for you.

Pick up all small items from the floor including children’s toys, magazines, remote controls, pet food.

Ensure bedcovers are up and that we can spray under beds.

Do NOT move any major furniture.

If you plan to get the carpets cleaned, do it BEFORE we spray, as the carpets must be dry.  Don’t use carpet cleaning companies who offer to do fleas at the same time as they clean the carpets.  Why?  Because the cleaning solution usually interferes with the flea chemical (if they actually use any.)

Do not leave pets in the house while the spray in drying, especially cats.  Cats walk on the wet spray then lick their paws and can become sick.

Note: It is safe for your family, babies and pets once the spray is dry.

Outside, external treatments

Book the job for late in the afternoon.  Why?  Because the sun can burn off the chemical during the day if it is sprayed in the morning.
Make sure the grass is cut as short as possible, and take the clippings which may contain fleas to the dump if possible.

Water the lawn thoroughly before we arrive.

Arrange to have your pets treated within 24 hours also.

Afterwards

You, your family and your pets will be advised to stay out of your house for 4 hours until the flea spray is dry.

Once it is dry it is safe for you and your family to return.

All the adult fleas will be dead and you will have peace again!

Information about roaches, bed bugs, ants, bees, wasps, mice, rats, and creatures of all kinds. If you have any questions I can help with direct them to info@1300bugmen.com.au and put pest control in the subject line.