Bedbugs in hotels – cause for concern?

There are two things to remember amid all the bedbug hype – they do not transmit diseases and they are not related to cleanliness, observers say.

“I think a lot of times, it’s more hysteria,” said Janet Serra, executive director of the Western Connecticut Convention & Visitors’ Bureau. “It’s not like they carry malaria.”

She said her office has yet to field one call from a tourist imploring about bedbugs.

“We handle a lot of telephone inquiries for a 63-town registry in Connecticut and not one visitor has asked about bedbugs,” she said. “If there were a problem, we’d be the first to hear. I’ve seen no uptick in this situation at all.”

According to health officials, bedbugs frequently travel and move from apartment to apartment, among hotels and cruise ships, in luggage and on used furniture and mattresses.

“Many hotels don’t want to admit whether or not they have bedbugs because they will then be known for having bedbugs and no one will want to stay there,” said Anthony Glen, general manager of Veganix Pest Management in Elmsford and Stamford, Conn.

He called the process of elimination “very intensive.”

“I go to check with an infrared light, bring up the mattress and take a look, and most of the time, it’s nothing,” he said. “I would say, 60 to 70 percent of the time, it’s nothing.

“Customers have said, ‘We’ve just gotten back from vacation and we have bites all over,’” he said. “And these are nice, high-end condos in places like Scarsdale.”

Glen said he has treated hotel rooms in the tristate area.

Glen said it costs about $300 to $400 per room to apply chemical treatments and 120-degree Fahrenheit heat“

The industry has good pest-control professionals at work, and hoteliers have to be aggressive in marketing that they have such clean environments because of these professionals,” he said. “The problem is that the bed bugs are constantly being reintroduced into the rooms or that environment..

“I know most hotels have strict protocols to deal with the issue,” Serra said. “Many housekeepers are trained to look for a problem. Once it’s found, the room and the rooms around it are isolated.”

Of the circulating reports of bedbugs making guest appearances at midtown Manhattan motels, movie theaters and clothing stores, Serra said geographically, New York could be more viable.

“New York is an enormous city with a large international tourist flow,” she said. “But, no hotel is immune to bedbugs. The person usually brings it in.”