Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Management In Uk Hospitality Sector: Operational Experience

This study reviews the bed bug management programme in place across a sample of >500 hotels in the United Kingdom, just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. In these hotels, regular bed bug detection was carried out by housekeepers, while a professional canine bed bug detection team was used to inspect suspect rooms. Any infestation found was treated by professional pest control companies. The companies followed an outcome-based contract, in which their treatments were required to achieve and maintain eradication for a period of 6 months. They used a combination of heat, insecticide, and desiccant dust. The reports of infestation were seasonal, with a peak in late summer. Infestation was very patchily distributed, with most hotels experiencing no infestation, while a small proportion experienced multiple infestations. The risk of infestation of hotels was substantially increased by having had previous infestation. In a few particularly problematic hotels, an Intensive Care programme was introduced, and initial results indicate that infestation rates at these hotels are much improved. Overall, successful bed bug management was dependent just as much on the monitoring, communication and coordination of the work, as it was on the technical merits of the individual pest control measures used.