Imagine finally reaching your hotel after a long day of travel. You open the door to your suite, drop your bags on the floor and plop down on the bed for just a few minutes of rest. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you notice a cockroach making its way along the baseboard.

In the age of online reviews, nightmare pest tales like this one can seriously injure a hotel’s reputation. In fact, an Orkin study on the impact of pest encounters on guests’ loyalty found that 100 percent of bloggers would not stay again at a hotel or recommend it to others if they saw any pests, except for flies at the pool.

Since pests seek out many of the same conditions as people – food, moisture, shelter and comfortable temperatures – every hotel is at risk for a pest infestation.

By training your staff to become familiar with common pest hot spots and basic prevention techniques, you can empower them to become a part of your pest management program.

But what is the best way to train staff? In a tough economy, the most cost-effective way to get reliable pest management training for your employees is through a credible pest management professional. The same trained professionals who regularly inspect and treat hotels in your area can quickly identify the pest habitats and attractants inside and outside your building. With this knowledge in hand, they can offer specific tips to help your employees prevent, identify and reduce pest activity in your unique operating environment.

C.L.E.A.N.

The Five Steps of Smart Pest Management in Hotels
An employee education program should be founded on the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). An IPM approach focuses on proactive steps to manage pest problems through sanitation and facility maintenance, and includes chemical treatments only as a last resort. Employees’ role in your IPM training program can be summed up with the acronym “C.L.E.A.N.”

CONTROL excess moisture in laundry rooms, gyms, and pool and courtyard areas.

Just like people, pests need moisture to survive – and only a very small amount. Inside your hotel, standing water near gym water coolers, laundry room washers, or kitchen refrigerators and freezers is like a refreshing water fountain for pests. By regularly mopping up water from damp floors and checking drains in laundry and kitchen areas for proper flow, maintenance and housekeeping staff can reduce excess moisture and make those areas less pest-friendly.

Inside and outside your hotel, maintenance staff should fix or replace dripping faucets to avoid creating puddles for pests. In pool and garden areas, landscaping staff should change water in birdbaths and ponds at least once a week, and make sure swimming pool water circulates regularly to disrupt the growth of mosquito larvae.

LIMIT unwrapped food and drinks in kitchens and vending and dining areas.

Pests are attracted to both odors and food sources, which means they can detect food and beverage spills if they are left unattended for more than a few minutes. Even the trashcans used to dispose of food waste can attract pests if they are not lined, tightly sealed or emptied regularly.

In addition to frequent trash removal, encourage housekeeping staff to wipe down countertops and clean floors to remove any remaining food residue. By vacuuming around, behind and underneath furniture and appliances, housekeepers also can remove any hidden food debris.

EXCLUDE pests by sealing up potential entry points around utilities, doors and windows.

Termites can enter buildings through cracks 1/32-inch wide, while cockroaches can fit through gaps 1/16-inch wide. To help prevent pest entry, ask your maintenance staff to regularly inspect the building’s exterior for any cracks and crevices, and fill gaps with weather-resistant sealant.

Potential pest entry points can include openings around roofs, utility penetrations and windows. Maintenance should install #16 mesh screens on all functioning windows to help block pest access when opened. Door sweeps and weather stripping along the tops, sides and bottoms of door and window frames also can reduce entry points.

For more tips on common pest entry points and hot spots, download “8 Places to Check Out Before Pests Check In” – a free guide in English, Spanish and Russian available at Orkin University Online (http://www.orkincommercial.com/about/university.aspx). 

ASSESS potential shelter sites for pests in dumpsters, landscaping and storage areas.

Most pests prefer to live in moist, dark places that are near food sources, such as dumpsters, landscape mulch and storage rooms.

To help limit pest activity, maintenance staff should keep dumpster lids sealed and the drain plug in place at all times. Your waste management company can help regularly rotate and clean the dumpster to remove food residue. Since mulch can serve as shelter for pests, ask your landscaping staff to keep mulch no more than two inches deep and at least six inches away from the building.

Inside the hotel, housekeepers should keep storage areas dry and clean, and remove any unneeded stored paper or cardboard boxes to help reduce areas that can hide pests. Ask staff to rotate boxes of stored goods on a first-in, first-out basis to help limit shelter for pests and to store materials in plastic bins instead of cardboard cartons.

NOTIFY management and a pest management professional at the first sign of pest activity.
Common signs of pest activity include droppings, dead or live insects, wood damage, and damaged or destroyed goods. Pests can damage your building and carry and transmit diseases, so staff should alert management and a pest professional to any pest activity as soon as possible. Key facts to share include: what kind of pests, and where, when and how many pests were seen in the hotel.

Also, since bed bug infestations have been reported in all 50 states, ask your pest management professional to show housekeeping staff where bed bugs typically live in hotel rooms and how to spot common warning signs like brown or red stains on bedding. For a free, downloadable guide with bed bug tips, check out “Bed Bugs 101: A Hospitality Professional’s Guide to Recognition and Prevention,” available at Orkin University Online.

Many pests are a natural part of our environment, but travelers will not tolerate any pests in your hotel. By training and involving staff in a proactive pest management approach before an infestation can develop, you can help prevent pests from taking up residence where they do not belong – and protect your hotel’s hard-won reputation in the process.

Patrick Copps is Technical Services Manager for Orkin’s Pacific Division. A Board Certified Entomologist in urban and industrial entomology, Mr. Copps has more than 35 years experience in the industry.
For more information, email Mr. Copps at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text94461 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.orkincommercial.com

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