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Hoteliers itching to quash persistent pests
Bed bugs are booming in hotel beds, particularly in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. That makes business even better than usual for companies engaged in pest control and sanitation.
In addition to natural disasters like hurricanes, international travel and the growing popularity of natural products for the guestroom factor into the problem. So does the decrease in use of highly powerful pesticides like DDT, according to one company spokesman.
Bed bugs are not only irritating, they can have legal ramifications. The bugs-tan when hungry, brown when blood-engorged, oval, less than a quarter-inch in lengthmade the news two years ago when Helmsley Enterprises settled a suit brought by Mexican businessmen who claimed they'd been bitten during a stay at the Helmsley Park Lane hotel in New York City.
Bed bug trouble has been on the rise for quite a while. In April, the Wall Street Journal quoted an industry publication saying that hotels accounted for the biggest proportion of reported bedbug infestations-37 percent, up six points from the year before. Pest-control company Orkin confirmed to the Journal that reported bedbug calls were way up.
And the returns from this year aren't even in yet. They promise to be dramatic, and that's just for bedbugs; the size of the problem the increasingly populous Formosan termite presents, particularly in the wake of the hurricanes that swept the Gulf Coast and Florida this fall, remains to be measured.
Companies are addressing the situation. Ecolab, which offers the Innspect Bed Bug Service, has developed the "Hurricane Cleanup and Sanitation Guideline Manual" to help institutions revive after the hurricanes and subsequent flooding.
"Some businesses were totally destroyed," says Colleen Dillon, vice president of health care and hospitality for Ecolab. "We've done our best to help people recover, and we did help some customers that we did not help before. It's nice to part of a really big company because you do have resources."
BUBS ON THE MOVE