Being in the pest control industry I just assumed that hotels, especially those in major cities with major tourist attractions, would keep their employees abreast about bed bug infestation issues.  What I have discovered is completely the opposite is true.  Not all hotels are informing their staff members of what bed bugs are, what theylook like, where they can be found in a guest rooms, or how they are transmitted from person to person.  This is quite disappointing as bed bug infestation numbers continue to climb in every city across the United States.

I recently made the decision to make a trip out of state to attend a singing convention.  Each year the contest is held in a different city, most of the time in the United States, but occasionally in Canada.  This year’s  destination was the city of brotherly love…Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It should be noted that this particular convention occurs once a year and 10,000+ wonderful folks traveled from all parts of the world to attend the fantastic contest sessions and reacquaint themselves with friends near and far.  Because I decided to attend the convention late in the game, I was not able to go through the normal channels of dealing with the Convention Bureau and instead dealt with one of the convention hotels directly.  After checking “The Bed Bug Registry” to see which hotels had any reported bed bug infestation problems, I made contact with one particular hotel that appeared to be in the clear.

Prior to contacting the hotel, I knew that the hotel was a nationwide 5 star hotel chain as I had stayed at another site previously.  I contacted the hotel and was greeted by a kind staff member who graciously answered all of my questions and was even kind enough to grant me the convention rate, which was a considerable savings in comparison to their normal advertised rate.

Please check back on Friday for the conclusion.