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Related to this question. I've moved into a telecommuting position that requires me to travel to the worksite once or twice a month and stay in a hotel. One of the things I'm paranoid about is staying at hotels that may have had bedbug infestations in the past.

Simply put, I'm curious what measures do hotels take to prevent bed bug infestations? Is there anything special they do on a continuous basis? What do they do when bedbugs are found? How reliable are the techniques that they use? Are they usually successful? Have hotels become experts at bed bug removal? Or do the bedbug infestations typically recur?

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    Telecommuting position that requires me to travel -- Someone missed the point of tele-commuting!
    – Flimzy
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 21:17
  • Why are you concerned about past bed bug infestations? Do you have a particularly nasty allergy or something, or is it just curiosity?
    – Flimzy
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 21:19
  • @Flimzy: You can telecommute from a more or less fixed location...
    – jogloran
    Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 7:00
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    @Flimzy Well 2 nearby hotels to the nice hotel I'm staying at have had bedbug issues. The nice hotel is more expensive, and I'm being encouraged to look at other options. To clarify, I mostly work at home but have to travel to the worksite once or twice a month.
    – Doug T.
    Commented Jun 23, 2012 at 12:48
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    @Flimzy I'm imaging a job where you are allowed to telecommute, but required to do so from specific weird locations... (Ok Jones, this week you're telecommuting from a no-name motel in Homestead. Next week you'll be flying to Cairo.)
    – user23030
    Commented Aug 5, 2015 at 3:07

3 Answers 3

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The main measure hotels do is regular washing of linen and bedclothes and regular cleaning of rooms. That is enough to ensure by far the majority of hotels do not have bed bug outbreaks. If it is a serious outbreak, they can call in the same bug removal contractors used by anyone who would have bed bugs in their house.

Probably the best answer would be to your concern about previous bed bug infestations - I've found http://bedbugregistry.com/ to be quite good at providing information on hotels who have had this issue. Overall, there's no real way to tell how much effort a given hotel does or doesn't put into ensuring they don't have a pest problem other than either staying there or finding reports from other people who have stayed there.

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I've been in Facility Management for over 20 years and have had to manage bed bugs form time to time. First off you can't totally rely on the Bed Bug registry because some unhappy guest use that to be vindictive against the lodging provider. Secondly an ultra violet certainly allows for better detection of bed bugs but a normal bright LED flashlight is a huge help as well. Prevention and detection: Some of the name brand hotels will do a sweep of their rooms on a quartely schedule using a K9 that alerts to the smell of bed bugs. If bed bugs are found the most common treatments are chemical or heat. Heat is the best method. Bed bugs are attracted to the C02 that we exhale which is why they are commonly found aroaund the head of the bed.

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    "some unhappy guest" or some dishonest competitor.
    – WGroleau
    Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 23:03
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I used to travel a lot. The bug registry is a good idea but far more important and really your first line of defence should be a thorough search of the hotel room. The Bug Girl's blog has an excellent write-up on how to do this.

Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere an ultra-violet light does not make it easier to spot bedbugs. I have personally verified this! The Bug Girl was right on this detail. Follow her advice.

here is a link: http://membracid.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/how-to-inspect-your-hotel-room-for-bed-bugs/

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