No one wants to deal with bed bug infestations. But unfortunately for most multifamily buildings and hotels, they’re nearly inevitable. According to PestWorld.com, one out of five Americans has had a bed bug infestation in their home or knows someone who has encountered bed bugs at home or in a hotel. AND! 89% of those home encounters are in multifamily buildings.
That’s a high percentage, but the truth is, bed bugs can happen anywhere. Mass transit, a library, a movie theater – these pests are not picky about their living quarters. So, any facility manager, property manager, or maintenance team should be considering getting proactive in order to minimize bed bug infestations. Why get proactive? We’re here to tell you.
5 Reasons to Get Proactive with Bed Bug Treatments
- Early Identification: Having a trained eye routinely inspecting your units or rooms can keep you ahead of bed bugs. When an expert technician does a thorough inspection, he/she may catch an introduction early – before someone else sees them and even before they have time to multiply. When those inspections are done on a more routine basis (instead of waiting until a complaint comes in) you may be able to get in front of the introduction and stop it before it turns into an infestation.
- Save Time: Getting ahead of a bed bug problem and stopping an infestation early minimizes the need for your residents to repeatedly prep for treatments or replace items like chairs, linens, mattresses, pillows, and wall sockets. Nobody wants to be spending extra money on things like that right now (or ever!).
- Save Your Reputation: Getting ahead of bed bugs will also help decrease damage to your reputation. Despite the fact that it has nothing to do with sanitation, many people link bed bug infestations to the cleanliness of your building. It can be hard to recover from the hit your building’s reputation might take from a bed bug infestation. And even harder to find another resident should this one move out. It may also save a hotel from that one-star review that will inevitably come with a bed bug sighting or coming home from vacation with bites on your legs.
- Caught Off Guard: Many residents are gun-shy about reporting bed bugs in their apartment. There’s a certain embarrassment that comes with this pest and they may feel responsible. The truth is, bed bugs can hitchhike in on luggage, backpacks, deliveries – even on someone’s shoe or pant leg! Having proactive inspections done means even if the person with the bed bug problem fails to report it, your pest control professional will never miss the root cause of a bed bug issue. And it can help stop the bugs from spreading into neighboring units. Talk about being caught off guard – those residents won’t even know what they almost had to deal with!
- Easy Pivoting: Not only do proactive inspections mean catching bed bugs before they become the most difficult to handle (and the most expensive), but planned inspections will also confirm whatever measures you’re taking are working. And if those inspections show bed bug evidence over and over again, you can sit down with your pest control partner and figure out corrective actions. Having this type of information is integral and will allow you to be flexible and change what isn’t working.
In almost every aspect of our lives, being proactive is so much better than flailing around trying to react to a problem. Some things in life, you can’t be prepared for. Bed bugs are not one of them. Get in front of them. Be prepared. Have a plan. Things go so much more smoothly when you’re ready. And, of course, having an expert pest control partner to help you through it all will also bring a ton of peace of mind, which is something you can’t always say in the same sentence as bed bugs. But it can be – when you face them with a proactive approach.
