Ecolab Pest Elimination Introduces Enhanced Bed Bug Service to Help Curb Growing Problem in Hospitality Industry

NEW YORK CITY | Remembered only as part of a childhood nursery rhyme for the past few decades, hotels and motels across the country are facing a new reality – increased bed bug bites. Ecolab Pest Elimination has responded to this industry challenge by introducing a comprehensive bed bug elimination service in the industry – the Innspect Bed Bug Service™ – to provide five-month, ongoing treatment and removal of bed bugs in hotels and motels across the nation.

Bed bugs haven’t been considered a major pest by the hospitality industry since World War II, but they are quickly becoming an issue once again due to an increase in international travel and a decrease in the effectiveness of traditional pest-killing products. The National Pest Management Association estimated in August 2004 that bed bugs increased by 500 percent in the last three years. Along with this increased risk of finding bed bugs comes additional risks of litigation should a guest suffer from bites and property damages in the thousands of dollars – not to mention the possible negative effects on an establishment’s reputation. The potential of these risks has made the elimination of bed bugs a critical issue in the hospitality industry today.

Unique to the industry, Ecolab’s Innspect service offers hotels five months of ongoing treatment and inspection, making it the most aggressive bed bug service in the industry. As part of the service, Ecolab technicians thoroughly inspect rooms to locate sites where the bugs hide, then fully treat infested and potentially infested areas. Each room treated is marked “out-of-service” by the hotel until Ecolab certifies it’s pest-free, usually a two-day period. Linens, furniture and other room items may also be disposed of if suspected of infestation. Technicians then continue to treat the room for five months with monthly inspections and treatments to guard against resurgence.

“Bed bugs are the toughest pests we work to eliminate, and preventing them is impossible because of their ability to hide and travel,” says Dr. John Barcay, senior scientist for Ecolab Pest Elimination. “Because they present such a unique challenge to hotel and motel managers and pose a serious risk to an organization’s financial health and reputation, we designed our Innspect service to get rid of the bed bugs and keep them away as long as possible.”

The recent proliferation of bed bugs can be attributed to three main reasons. First, the overall strength of pest-killing products has weakened due to government regulation – DDT was one of the most effective products but was banned in 1972. Also, application techniques of those pest-killing products have changed over the last 10 to 15 years. Because bed bugs weren’t a problem, people instead turned their attention to cockroaches, termites and other pests that were more prevalent, allowing bed bugs to quietly creep back into the picture. Finally, international travel has boomed in recent years, and both American and foreign travelers have brought the hitchhiking bugs to the United States from other parts of the world.

“Even at five-star properties, hotels are having to re-adjust their pest control policies to account for the increase in bed bugs. No one is immune to this explosion of bed bugs,” says Barcay. “When considering the property and legal damages that can result from these pests – most of which are uninsurable – bed bug elimination services like Ecolab’s make perfect sense for the hospitality industry, not only as a safeguard against crises but also a building maintenance tactic.”

About Ecolab Pest Elimination - Based in St. Paul, Minn., Ecolab Pest Elimination is the leading commercial pest service provider in the nation, employing over 1,700 sales-and-service associates domestically and internationally and boasting a customer retention rate of nearly 90 percent, well above the industry average of 60 to 70 percent. Ecolab has devoted more resources to research and development than any other company in the industry so technicians can offer customers the most up-to-date innovation with the best traps, baits, tools and pest elimination methods available – it allocated more than $50 million to this cause in 2003. With sales of $3.8 billion, Ecolab Inc. is the leading global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products and services for the hospitality, foodservice, institutional and industrial markets. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.ecolab.com/businesses/pest.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information, images or interviews with Ecolab experts, please contact Trish Scorpio or Jason Sprenger at 651-228-9141.