We recently discussed the problem of bed bugs in NYC hotels and how it’s a growing problem that can lead to unwanted media coverage.

Let us specifically spell out what does Bell Environmental for hotels:

  • Bed Bugs live in cracks and crevices and are immune to most pesticides.
  • Bed Bugs and their eggs need to be killed on contact.
  • We use a physical, not chemical treatment of frozen carbon dioxide (InstantFreeze) to treat every inch of the room that the Bed Bugs can occupy. See how InstantFreeze works here.)
  • Our technicians can be rapidly dispatched 24/7/365 to treat rooms so they don’t need to be shut down
  • InstantFreeze is a non-chemical, non-pesticide solution.
  • InstantFreeze is safe to use on every surface of the room.
  • InstantFreeze is safe around guests and staff and does not cause health risks.
  • We can use InstantFreeze to treat the furniture, television, and electronics.
  • An InstantFreeze treatment is dry. There is no residual for you to clean up.
  • The time to treat a hotel room takes about 1 hour.
  • Let housekeeping move onto the next room and let us get to work.
  • Staff and guests can immediately reoccupy the room after treatment.
  • There is no lost revenue from shutting down guest rooms.

Only Bell Environmental has InstantFreeze,  and a whole program that is built around this exclusive chemical-free bed bug solution. After we finish treatment, guests can reoccupy rooms.

What are hotels’ downsides of taking other actions? There are costs in room closures and a hotel’s reputation. Most other pest control companies use on chemicals to treat bed bugs and cause hotels to shut down rooms.  The average room rate per night of NYC hotels was $297 in 2014. Given that New York City had record tourism numbers of 60 million visitors in 2015 we think this number is actually higher and that prices will continue to climb.

The cost of shutting a hotel room are not the single daily room rate. Hotels often close rooms down for 1-3 days due to bed bugs because of chemical treatments. In fact, the American Hotel & Lodging Association recommended that a hotel room be shut down for the entire two weeks between bed bug treatments. During the AH&LA’s February 2011 presentation at EPA summit on bed bugs and AH&LA’s published protocol for hotels it went much further. The American Hotel & Lodging Association – AH&LA, each time there is a bed bug incident, a hotel should treat the affected room, and four adjacent rooms (left, right, above, and below) as a precautionary measure and keep these rooms closed until the completion of a two-phase treatment program lasting two weeks.

Bed bugs also can lead to reputational problems and legal issues if complaints aren’t resolved quickly and completely.

Hotels that don’t want their names included in the article that will be written about this same subject one year from now should contact Bell Environmental today.