If you’re in the hospitality business, your primary responsibility is to provide your guests with a pleasant experience in every way possible. Aside from serving appetizing food and upgrading your accommodation, you also have to actively combat your hotel’s biggest enemy—pest infestation.
For guests who simply want a place where they can relax, pesky pests are the last creatures they want to meet. And if their supposedly enjoyable stay turns into a nightmare, you can be sure that they’ll head to their social media to share the experience—ruining your business’ image in the process.
To protect your reputation and avoid serious financial losses, it’s a smart idea to think of your pest control strategies as soon as possible. You can start by making yourself aware of the most common pests that plague hotels, such as these three:
1. Rodents
Rodents are naturally attracted to kitchens and waste storage areas where they can get their food supply. If you fail to follow proper food and waste handling practices, these scurrying creatures are likely to book their stay at your hotel, too! Once they do, they can easily spread foodborne and waterborne diseases and can also damage your furniture, fixtures, and electrical equipment.
Lastly, they reproduce fairly quickly and can adapt to any environment, so you must work on rat or mice control as soon as possible to prevent further problems.
The fundamental step is to observe standard food hygiene practices and keep your food preparation and trash areas clean. Make sure that possible entry points, such as doorways and vents, are closed off to keep these rodents away. Lastly, enlist the help of pest control experts to effectively protect your establishment.
2. Bed Bugs
Bed bugs can be very difficult to spot, but they can easily find their way to your guests’ clothing, luggage and other personal belongings. What’s worse is that the bite of these small parasitic insects often causes red itchy bumps in the skin that can also be painful.
You need to be vigilant when it comes to dealing with these small bugs before the infestation rapidly grows and your guests start to protest.
Inspect all possible breeding places for these pests, such as the mattresses, beddings, and even the cracks and crevices in the walls. Once you have identified the possible sources, implement the appropriate control measures.
It also helps that you train your staff to identify early warning signs of a bedbug infestation. Moreover, implement effective cleaning procedures that target the previously identified breeding places to prevent them from invading your hotel again.
3. Cockroaches
Like rodents, cockroaches prefer to live in humid places where they can easily get food. That said, there’s just a lot of places in your hotel for cockroaches to settle down, such as your kitchens, restaurants, bars, waste areas, as well as the private bathrooms.
Moreover, they love to hide in dark places and corners and are more active at night. They can also find their way to other hidden spots, such as your building’s drain pipes and sewers. Just the mere sight of these pests is enough to put off your guests, so you must act quickly to keep them from settling down in your hotel!
The basic step is to keep your food storage and preparation areas clean from even the tiniest drop of food or liquid to avoid attracting cockroaches. Handle your wastes properly and put them in suitable containers as you dispose of them. Additionally, check if your deliveries might have any presence of cockroaches in them to avoid bringing them to your hotel.
Conclusion
A big part of preventing these common hotel pests from finding room in your infrastructure is to create and observe proper food hygiene processes and cleaning standards. It’s definitely a challenge to deal with an infestation in your hospitality business, but preparation will save you from all the trouble, allowing you to keep your guests happy and satisfied.
For reliable pest control in West Bromwich and surrounding areas, you can count on us at Willis Pest Control! We offer round-the-clock support for your pest problems so we’ll be ready to help you any time of the day. Get in touch with us to learn more.
