Bed Bugs a Hot Topic of Conversation at IHMRS

I just returned from the annual International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show (IHMRS) in New York City. I managed to walk every aisle of the trade show floor--not an easy task given there was more than 800 exhibitors. The one trend that jumped out at me like a bed bug on steroids was, well, bed bugs. In all of my years attending IHMRS, I have never seen so many vendors selling mattress encasements, bed bug detection systems, and bed bug treatment solutions. Of course every company selling mattress encasements--a way to keep bed bugs in or out--said their product is superior in one way or another to those encasements sold by other companies.

As in past years, there was a company offering the use of its bed bug sniffing dogs as a means for detection and prevention. Will there come a day when hoteliers keep their own beagles on property to sniff out the little critters? Maybe not but dogs are a great pesticide free way of preventing bed bug infestations. One company displayed an innovative heat treatment system to kill bed bugs; another offered equipment that uses carbon dioxide to freeze insects to death.

I sympathize with hotel owners who are trying to figure out the best way to deal with bedbugs. Should they purchase their own equipment and train their own staff to deal with the bugs? Use outside experts? I have written about bed bugs a couple of times for Green Lodging News. What I learned is that their is no "one" solution for bed bugs. It takes a multi-prong strategy to deal with them and it is most challenging eliminating the pests without using pesticides.

It takes just a few seconds now to alert the world that your property has bed bugs. There is an even a website that lists problem hotels. The little monsters can do a lot of damage, even if there are just a few of them in just one of your guestrooms.

I will be writing about "natural," "nontoxic" ways of dealing with bed bugs again very soon. If you have had success using non-pesticide solutions, I would love to hear from you. Leave your comments here or write to editor@greenlodgingnews.com.