Bedbugs Are A Common Hotel Guest

Q: One of our accounts is a mid-price range tourist hotel. For the last couple of months we have been receiving flea bite complaints on several floors in the hotel. Each time we service the hotel we can find no evidence of fleas. Several of the rooms we have treated continue to show up on our complaint list. The hotel management tells us that all of the complaining guests have bites on their hands, arms and legs and that it must be fleas. We believe it could also be either mites or mosquitoes. We have not been able to solve the problem. Are we overlooking anything? (J.E.)

A: If your bite complaints were completely at random within the hotel then I would suspect that guests were being bitten somewhere other than in their hotel rooms. In this case, mosquitoes might be a possible source of the bites. However, you mentioned that a number of rooms were repeatedly implicated when guests reported being bitten. This causes me to suspect that something may, in fact, be biting them in the rooms.

Certainly some forms of mites can and do attack humans. These are usually associated with a mouse or rat infestation. If there are no current rodent problems in the hotel, then I believe you can discount mites as the source of the problem.

You did not mention the bedbug in your question. I know these are considered to be pests of antiquity and are allegedly not frequently found today, however, nothing could be further from the truth. Bedbugs commonly infest transient living quarters, including hotels and motels. Typically hotel rooms become infested via someone’s luggage. In other words, travelers transport bedbugs to the hotel when they bring household goods into the hotel.

Typically bedbugs attack at night and can be found on couches, chairs and bedding. If the hotel rooms contained upholstered couches and chairs, then I would examine all seams in the upholstery, areas under cushions, and I would turn the furniture over to examine under the ticking. It may necessitate removal of this material to investigate the cracks and crevices formed by the wooden supports.

Probably the most common site of bedbug attack is the bed. To inspect the bed you will have to disassemble it. Begin by removing the mattresses and examining the small buttons in the center of the mattress and all the seams on the tops and the bottoms of both the mattress and springs. Continue by examining all railings and headboards. You will be looking for the bedbugs themselves as well as cast skins deposited there when the nymphal bedbugs molt, as well as evidence of fecal material and blood stains. You should also inspect the wall/floor junction where wall-to-wall carpet is adhered to the tack strip. Bedside night tables should also be closely examined.

I would recommend using a vacuum cleaner to remove all visible bedbugs and their debris. Crack and crevice applications with products labeled for this usage in all infested and adjacent cracks and crevices would be appropriate. I do not recommend any surface or broad applications to bedding materials.

The use of silica aerogel dust in wall voids is also an excellent technique. In most instances, bedbugs can be killed with a contact material such as pyrethrin. The most important part of this process is making a very thorough inspection. One last point; people attacked by bedbugs while sleeping often have bites on the part of their leg, arm or torso where it rests on the mattress, and the bites are typically arranged in a linear fashion. You may wish to ask the management or the complaining guest about the location of the bites and their arrangement. Also, it is not uncommon to find little specks of blood on the sheets where the bedbugs have fed.

Jeffrey Tucker is president of Entomology Associates, Houston. Questions can be sent to Questions & Answers, c/o Entomology Associates, P.O. Box 70375, Houston TX 77270, or faxed to 713/681-9069.