Minimizing Hotel Expenses

The five ways

Hotels can minimize pest control expenditure by being proactive:

• Have an integrated pest management policy
• Monitor your hotel for signs of pests
• Prioritize pest prevention
• Listen to customers
• Use a professional pest prevention and control service

Have an integrated pest management policy

The most important step a hotel can take is to ingrain pest control into everyday practices by adopting IPM, integrated pest management. IPM controls pests more efficiently, more effectively, and with minimal use of toxic chemicals, so it is also safer for customers, staff, and the wider environment. Its four major components are setting action thresholds, monitoring and identifying pests, preventing pests, and using best-in-class control methods.

Monitor your hotel for signs of pests

Train staff to recognize the signs of pests and make pest monitoring part of everyday procedures:

• Housekeepers to check for pests such as bed bugs and fleas, often brought in by guests, which makes detection the first line of defense
• Building maintenance staff to check for potential entry points and signs of activity, especially mice, rats, wasps, bees, and pigeons
• Kitchen and restaurant staff to check kitchens, storerooms, serving areas, and around waste bins for flies, cockroaches, and wasps

Standard procedures should include taking guests out of infested rooms and closing the rooms until the pest has been eliminated. For bed bugs this can mean closing adjacent bedrooms, including above and below, to make sure they have not already spread through the building structure.

Prioritize pest prevention

The best way to prevent pests is not to attract them in the first place. All pests need food and shelter, so if you make food freely available they are likely to come and eat it. The major prevention measures are food hygiene practices (cleaning, food and waste storage and disposal), building and interior design that limits access points, and building maintenance to keep the structure pest-proof, no gaps around doors and windows, sound screens, sealed pipe and cable entry points, and well-maintained roofs and gutters.

Listen to customers

Customer experience and business reputation are all-important for hotels and can be damaged in an instant through social media, which can rapidly multiply the overall cost through loss of customers. Have a plan in place to deal with customer reports and complaints about pests effectively, politely, and quickly. It is often not the incident that upsets customers the most, but an inadequate response from the business.

Use a professional pest control and prevention service

The most efficient way for a business to prevent pests is to have a good relationship with a professional pest control company. A professional service can help you develop an effective IPM strategy, minimize the need for expensive and disruptive reactive measures, offer proactive solutions and expert advice, and provide accurate reporting and records of pest activity and control measures for audit compliance.