Bed bug infestations can significantly impact hotel labor staff, affecting their working conditions and personal well-being. Unfortunately, high travel demand this summer will lead to perfect conditions for increased bed bug activity. This article from USA Today highlights the increased likelihood for bed bug complaints on your properties. The surge in bed bug activity is already well underway. Per this article from SFGate, the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu had to close three gates for three weeks to treat a bed bug infestation earlier in June. If bed bugs can cause that much disruption at an international airport that cannot be avoided if you wish to visit this area, imagine how much they can disrupt your individual hotel – which is subject to significant local competition.
This summer’s bed bug surge will unfortunately put additional strain and stress on your employees. Your housekeeping and maintenance staff will likely bear the brunt of the responsibility in the immediate aftermath of encounters between bed bugs and guests. Removing and cleaning the infested linens, mattresses and furniture, if they can even be salvaged, adds hours to your staff’s workdays. Employees may also feel uneasy and anxious about working in an infested area for fear of bringing home bed bugs that have “hitchhiked” onto their clothes and possessions. The threat of dealing with a bed bug infestation in their own homes—as a direct result of their workplace—affects the psyche of your labor force as much as it does your brand’s reputation. Neither result bodes well for business and the bottom line. The extra workload combined with the stigma of the bugs can lead to emotional fatigue and even burnout for your staff, which may likely begin to explore work opportunities elsewhere.
ActiveGuard® Mattress Liners allow hotels to provide constant protection for everyone at your hotel, both guests and staff. These liners stop bed bugs from biting your guests for a full two years from installation and prevent eggs from being deposited, halting any introduction of bugs from establishing an infestation. Sustaining this unparalleled prevention is easy…simply replace the liners after two years.
In addition to ActiveGuard, there are additional steps a general manager should take to prevent a disastrous bed bug-ridden summer. Every hotelier should be confident that their staff has been trained to identify a bed bug and understand the importance of alerting their manager. Establishing clear lines of communication between housekeeping staff and their direct managers can help reduce overall employee levels of concern—nothing breeds confidence better than an understood operations strategy. A step-by-step approach needs to be communicated to every employee, including remediation if required by a licensed pest service provider, once a guest bed bug complaint has been triggered. By prioritizing employee training, fostering a supportive environment for worried and overextended staff, and implementing effective preventive measures such as ActiveGuard, hotels can mitigate the impact of bed bugs on the retention and recruitment of invaluable staff members.