This video made by National Geographic has some really enlightening and educational information about bed bugs. It sheds some light of the feeding habits of bed bugs and allows you to see actual bed bugs feeding.

Click here to learn more about bed bugs.

Bed bugs survive on the blood of warm-blooded mammals. They are known as nocturnal insects since they tend to feed and usually come out of hiding at night-time.

While humans sleep, bed bugs extract blood in a very painless fashion. During their feeding time, they inject their saliva into your skin. The saliva contains anticoagulants and anesthetics. Bed bugs usually only feed for five minutes at a time. Those five minutes of feeding can keep the bed bugs filled up for a long period of time, so even if they do not have another immediate host, they can survive. If they cannot find a human, they would then feed on the blood of next closest warm-blooded host, such as a dog, cat, or other pet.

It’s easy for one to confuse a mosquito bite for a bed bug bite. So how do you determine if a bite on your skin is a bed bug bite? Research has said that bed bugs bite in a linear pattern of three bites so if you have three consecutive bites about your skin then you have been bitten by a bed bug. Some people even refer to these bites as “Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner”. Bites from bed bugs are usually red in appearance and can be either flat or raised bumps.

Many people react differently to bed bug bites. Some bites might show up immediately where as others may not see signs up to nine days after being bitten. In some people the bites do not show up at all. This makes it hard to determine if there is a bed bug infestation present in the home or not. To many, bed bug bites may even eventually lead to moderate to severe allergic reactions. Other symptoms of bed bug bites may include going into a state of shock, nausea, and even feelings of illness. Luckily these allergic reactions are not very common.

One of the main challenges of hotel bed bug outbreak management is controlling the report details and keeping that information within staff boundaries — without letting it needlessly spread out to visitors and guests.

Luckily, the days of Egyptian Bed Bug Outbreak Management (100% deNIAL) have become more rare. If your company or chain policy is still Egyptian-centric, i.e., housekeepers are terrified to even report bed bug findings, then you are officially living in deNIAL. How’s that working out?

Let’s continue with the understanding that your hotel is grown up and taking a proactive stance to detect, deter and destroy bed bugs. This means that housekeeping and front desk staff are on the case when bed bugs are discovered or a guest report is filed.

Proper management of hotel bed bug outbreak information is critical to help you get rid of bed bugs in the hot zone before they spread. Now of course an loud talking, irate guest at the desk can make this difficult, but proper crisis management techniques can even minimalize this factor. You main goal at all times is calm quiet responce — and fast direct action.

Sometimes it’s hard to get things done quickly and quietly, but in most cases you will need to do exactly this. No matter the source of the report, the plan of action should flow something like thing.

Alert front desk to the zone and extent of the outbreak.

Alert housekeeping supervisor and schedule double close spot checks and bedding flips in the hot zone.

Alert maintenance to to the bed bug infestation and order adjacent room barrier treatments.

Log everything to document what you know and what was done to handle it. Remember, these notes should be stored for later in case litigation is brought against your hotel. Time, date, names, etc are critical to documenting the outbreak response and information management.

So yes the best practice is to keep bed bug outbreaks quiet, but also the folow up action is even more important to maintaining a safe and guest freindly hotel for all to enjoy.

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Dwayne Coots

Bed Bug Bureau
Field Intelligence Agent 001