Why pest control is important for hoteliers?

Guests are becoming more demanding and expect impeccable service, especially when it concerns hygiene. Any negative review for the cleanliness standards of your hotel can have long-term damaging effects on your business. Any respectable hotel must thus carry out proactive pest control, not only because of its vulnerability to pests but also because of the impact that pests can have on the reputation of the establishment.

Pest problems in hotel industry

‘How do you how to find and get rid of bed bugs?’ is a question that gives most hoteliers sleepless nights. The most threatening pests for hotel rooms are bed bugs and other biting insects. Bedbugs pose more problems for hotels around the world as they can arrive at your hotel in the luggage of tourists and business travelers too.

Early detection of these annoying pests can help tackle them easily. Rats or rodents and cockroaches are the most dreaded in kitchens and other areas of the hotel. Rats are destructive – from damaging the electrical equipment to nibbling off the linens, these rodents can pose health hazards too once they enter the kitchen. Cockroaches feast in the kitchen and if they end up in one of the dishes served to your customers, you’re image is ruined forever. They also prove to be a health hazard and could land you in a health litigation.
The Importance of Pest Control for Hoteliers

About 80% of hoteliers agree that hiring commercial pest control services is cheaper than treating the pests. Here’s why pest control must remain the top priority for the hotel industry:
Impact on Revenue and Increase in Operational Expenses: Rooms are unusable till the time you resolve the problem of pests. There may be customers who request a refund after an encounter with pests at your hotel. All these, will obviously increase your expenses and lead to a heavy impact on your revenue.

Materialistic or Inventory Damage: Rodents or rats can damage electrical equipment or any additional linens stored. Bed bugs can cause severe damage to the sheets, mattresses, sofas, cushions, and towels. Replacing all these materials is a costly affair.  
Lowers Trust of Future Customers: Once negative reviews regarding your hotel and its hygiene practices are up on the internet, the likelihood of customers trusting your brand is very low.

Customer feedback: If your regular customers detect bed bugs in the hotel room, they may lose confidence in your establishment and their loyalty will be lost too. Dissatisfied customers can leave negative comments on travel forums. Bad online reviews by customers degrade the hotel’s reputation and lead to huge losses in the business too.

Health Risk and Medical Cost: Customers and staff may be stung by flies or pests. Sometimes this sting can cause an allergic reaction or gives rise to an infection due to scraping. It may become your liability to pay for the medical costs of staff or customers in this case. Food infested by rodents or cockroaches can pose severe health risks too.
Cost of Remediation and Litigation: A bed bug infestation can be more costly than you can imagine if litigations are involved. Though the episode of infestation is beyond a hotelier’s control, the cost of remediation and litigation has to be borne by them which may be as high as $23,560 per incident.   

What Can You Do to Lower the Impact? As a business, hotels have a duty to look after the well-being of not only their customers but also their employees, their suppliers and anyone else on their premises. This means that the prevention and pest management through pest control services must be conducted safely and in compliance with the legislation by qualified professionals. Here are some steps you can take:

Train staff to recognize the signs of pests and to integrate pest control into daily procedures. Housekeeping must keep a close eye on bedbugs and fleas.

Building maintenance personnel should check potential areas of penetration and signs of pest activity, particularly mice, rats, or cockroaches.Kitchen and food staff should check for pests in kitchens, storage areas, dining rooms and  around garbage cans, including flies, rodents, and cockroaches.

Prevention is also better than treatment. Follow the rules of food hygiene including cleaning, storing food, storing and disposing of waste to avoid attracting pests of any type.
Use professional and commercial pest control services. The most effective way for a hotel to prevent pests is to work well with a professional commercial pest control service company. They can provide preventive pest control services, solutions and guidance to prevent and fight pests safely, effectively and legally.

Raymond Web the digital marketing manager for Take Care Termite and Pest Control.