Continuing from Wednesday…
It should be noted that I was quite thorough in my inspection of my first hotel room. I removed and inspected each of the dresser and nightstand drawers, inspected the curtains, floorboards, clock, telephone, picture frames, headboard and of course the bed and bedding. The bed bug infestation that I found was localized at the foot of the bed, in the seam of the mattress, and yet the bed bug sniffing dog found several hot spots in the room that I completely missed. It is estimated that humans are about 30% accurate on their visual inspections for bed bugs, and bed bug sniffing dogs are about 98% accurate.
Clearly, this particular hotel considers a bed bug infestation to be a serious matter when it is discovered at their establishment. Once there was confirmation from pest control that there was indeed a bed bug infestation in my first room, they jumped into action to remedy the situation. Mind you, I did bring management ACTUAL bed bugs, in various stages of their development; but I do appreciate their attention to detail in this matter regardless.
Their first step in treating their bed bug problem was to immediately move the guests that were staying in the hotel room on either side of the infested room. Once those rooms were in quarantined off, pest control and the bed bug sniffing dog were called in. My initial room was chemically treated as well as the adjoining rooms. The real surprise came when I was informed that it was hotel policy to completely strip the room of its contents when there is a bed bug infestation. Under the cover of night, every single removable item (including the carpet) in that room was wrapped in plastic and removed. I was assured by the hotel staff that everything in the room would NOT be sent out for fumigation, but instead would be incinerated! WOW!
If you have a bed bug infestation, contact Stern Environmental Group for the most up-to-date bed bug products and services, including the always reliable bed bug sniffing dog services.
Stay tuned for more vacation follies. Blood sucking bed bugs are alive and feasting on folks in Philadelphia. I was lucky; many of my friends were not!