Other Possible Hiding Places
Underneath chairs, couches and other
furniture
Pet bedding
Between cushions of upholstered furniture
Underneath area rugs and edges of carpets
Between the folds of drapery or curtains
In the drawers of night stands, dressers, etc.
Behind baseboards
Around the door and window casings
Behind electrical switch plates
Under loose wallpaper, paintings posters etc
In cracks in the plaster
In telephones, radios, clocks and similar
places
Sample
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Hotel/Motel
Establishments with high occupancy turnover rates are especially vulnerable to bed bug
infestation but no place is safe from bed bugs. As a precaution all establishments should
have an integrated pest management (IPM) plan in place.
Preventive inspections are the best way to uncover infestations in their initial stages
when they are easiest to control. A good IPM plan includes:
o Training all employees to identify and inspect for bed bugs.
o Having housekeeping check for signs of bed bugs whenever the sheets are
changed.
o Having maintenance staff inspect all rooms thoroughly as soon as nighttime
temperatures reach 70˚ F (21 ˚C) and above, or anytime after the hotel/motel has
seen an increase in travelers, for example after the State Fair or the International
Balloon Fiesta.
Inspecting for bed bugs
In the early stages of an infestation, bed bugs will most likely be found around the
seams and tufts of the mattress. Later on, they will spread to cracks in the bed
frame and to gaps behind headboards, baseboards, pictures, window and door
casings, wallpaper and other small areas.
o Look for the insects, their cast skins, eggs and dark spots (bed bug
excrement) on the mattress and box springs.
o Check pillowcases, sheets, bed skirts, mattress pads and the bed frame.
o Remove the headboard. (Spray-painting the wood on the wall and the back
of the headboard white helps to see bed bugs and their excrement quickly.
Remember to scrub the area clean and re-paint after treating for bugs.)
o Use a flashlight to check behind and underneath furniture and woodwork.
Always inspect new and used furniture
before bringing it inside.
Bed bugs usually stay near their source
of food, but will crawl several feet to
obtain a meal and can spread to adjacent
rooms through cracks in the wall and
door frames and along wires or pipes.
Nymphs (immature stages) can survive
months without feeding and the adults
can survive for more than a year without
feeding. Closing up a place and
removing their food will not rid the
place of bed bugs.
If a customer complains of bed bugs:
1. Reassure the guest that bed bugs are not known to spread disease but that the
hotel/motel takes all bed bug complaints seriously.
2. Provide customer with a new room that is NOT adjacent to their current room
3. Provide customer with large trash bags to put all their belongings in.
4. Instruct the customer to put everything including their luggage in the bags until an
inspection has been completed.
5. Provide customer with a fact sheet on bed bugs.
6. Have the room thoroughly inspected for bed bugs.
7. Provide customer with inspection results.
If bed bugs are found:
1. Inspect all rooms adjacent to the room where bed bugs are found. If an inspection
was done in response to a complaint, inspect all the rooms the customer who
complained was in.
2. Put all rooms found to have bed bugs out of service, as well as all rooms adjacent
to the one(s) with bed bugs.
3. Treat all rooms taken out-of-service for bed bugs.
PESTICIDES:
Only use products labeled for bed bug control.
If a product is labeled “restricted,” only a licensed pest control applicator
or company may purchase or use it.
Read the labels carefully. Follow the instructions and application rates
exactly and strictly adhere to all the manufactures’ instructions when
applying pesticides.
NEVER spray pesticides on top of the mattresses or on sitting surfaces.
Note: routine spraying for other bugs is not an effective control measure
for bed bugs.
4. Adjacent rooms without any signs of bed bugs can be put back into service as
soon as the pesticide instructions deem it safe.
5. Thoroughly clean and repair all rooms that had bed bugs by:
Scrubbing the mattress seam with a stiff brush to free bed bugs and their
eggs.
Vacuuming everything possible in the room.
Tilt the mattress, bedspring and furniture upside down to reach every
where. Concentrate on seams, creases, folds and around any tufts or
buttons and wherever your inspection revealed the presence of bed bugs. It
is not easy to free bed bugs and their eggs so it is necessary to carefully
scrape and move the end of the suction wand. Clean the vacuum cleaner
after using it in a bed bug infested room. The whole vacuum cleaner or
just the bag should be sealed in a bag and put in a cold or hot place for
several days before clean the vacuum or disposing of a bag kill any live
bugs inside the vacuum cleaner.
Washing and drying all bed linens (sheets, pillowcases, bed skirts,
blankets etc. . .) at the hottest setting possible. A dryer at 140˚ F (60˚ C)
for 20 minutes is required to kill bed bugs. If you send items to a
professional dry cleaner, be sure to let them know to treat for bed bugs so
they can handle the items appropriately. Do NOT forget drapes or window
coverings in infested rooms.
Seal crevices and cracks to eliminate shelter. Especially concentrate on
any openings around pipes or wires.
Repair or remove peeling wallpaper
Tighten any loose light switch covers or electrical outlets.
Recordkeeping
Owners and operators should keep a written record of:
1. All bed bug complaints
a. Dates
b. Room number(s)
c. Inspection results
d. Responses to complaints and results
e. Treatment and cleanup if applicable.
2. All route inspections
a. Dates
b. Room number(s)
c. Inspection results
d. Treatment and cleanup if applicable.
3. Pesticide applications
a. Name of company if using a professional pest control company
i. Copy of their license
ii. Documentation of all services they provided
iii. Documentation of inspection results and room releases.
b. Name of pesticide used
c. Quantity of pesticide used
d. Date(s) of pesticide used
e. Where pesticide was used
