Pest control is of great importance to any business. No customer or client wants to see rodents or insects crawl across the floor when patronizing a restaurant or shopping for clothing. This proves especially true for the hotel and hospitality industry here in North and South Carolina. The reputation of any hotel is reliant on maintaining good hygiene and a safe environment for staff and customers. Because hotels provide an array of amenities, including restaurants, bedding, and sometimes entertainment, every space in your hotel must be clean and free of pests for your guests to enjoy their stay. Unfortunately, the hotel industry is also quite vulnerable to infestations of pests due to the large number of guests who come in and out transporting different luggage, food, clothing, and other items that may contain hitchhiking troublemakers.
Hotels have to comply with a range of laws and regulations: food and safety laws, health and safety laws, and even environmental laws. In some cases, certain animals protected by wildlife laws can be seen as pests when inside hotels.
Common Pest Problems Hotels in North and South Carolina Have To Face
Because there are so many different rooms within a hotel, including the guest rooms and extra bathrooms, restaurants, the lobby, perhaps a bar, gym, or pool, insects and rodents have tons of places to hide. It’s the perfect place for cockroaches to find food or mice to hide from predators. Here are just some of the different pests you may find yourself faced with inside your hotel.
Cockroaches
It has often been said that when the end of the world comes, cockroaches will be left standing. These “survival of the fittest” pests are attracted to any place that offers food and water. If you have a hotel kitchen, this makes an ideal home for the cockroach.
Ants
Ants are attracted to food sources and moist places. Hotel kitchens and restaurants make a good target, but your guest’s rooms often attract ants due to crumbs and food remnants left behind.
Bed Bugs
Hotels provide the perfect environment for bed bugs. With lots of beds, bedding, towels, and guest clothes to hide in, bed bugs in a hotel setting can spread quickly from room to room and can quickly become difficult to manage.
Rodents
Rats, mice, and other rodents seek shelter and food sources and can end up breeding at alarming rates. Unfortunately, they can also cause a lot of damage to your building’s structure as well as furniture and wiring.
Birds
While birds aren’t usually at the top of the list when pest comes to mind, having a birds nest outside your foundation may not only cause damage but can also cause problems for your guests as they enter and exit your building.
Five Things You Can Do To Minimize Pests
There are several things you can do as a hotel owner or manager to help minimize the number of pests that arise. It’s important to stay proactive and vigilant, follow up on complaints, and keep updated on any new and invasive insects and outbreaks relevant to North and South Carolina. Other ways to help keep your pest population under control include:
Implement an Integrated Pest Management System
The most important step a hotel, motel, or resort can take is to implement an integrated pest management system into everyday practices. It is a concept used by many industries, first adapted in agriculture, as a common-sense approach to controlling pests. It helps control pests more efficiently with minimum use of toxic chemicals, making it safer for staff, guests, and the environment.
Monitor Your Hotel for Signs of Pests
Make monitoring for pests a part of everyday procedures. To do this, you need the help of your staff. Train your team to always be on the lookout for pests and report any signs to management at first notice. Train housecleaning to check for bed bugs and fleas and clean up all food and crumbs leftover by former guests. Train maintenance staff to review all entry points and exit signs of pest activity, especially mice, rats, wasps, bees, and birds. Educate kitchen staff to inspect food serving areas, storerooms, and waste bins for any sign of pests, especially cockroaches, fruit flies, wasps, and rodents. If everyone in hospitality is working together to ensure a safe and cleanly place, your efforts will go a long way in ensuring the success of your hotel.
- Ensure there are no gaps around doors and windows.
- Ensure that all pipe and cable entry points are sealed properly.
- Make sure roof and gutters and maintained to prevent flooding or leakage. Keeping them clean from debris will also help to keep insects such as mosquitoes from using them as a breeding ground.
- Keep all food properly stored and contained in airtight containers and unavailable to hungry critters.
- Properly store all waste and disposal in an outside dumpster with a working lid to keep smells from attracting insects and rodents.
- Fix any leaking pipes, drainage issues and avoid excess moisture. Dark, humid conditions invite cockroaches and a variety of other unwanted guests.
Listen to Your Customers
Your reputation relies on the experience of customers. Pests and insects are a way of life. While we can do our best, we can’t eliminate them all. So it’s important to have a plan in place that deals with customer complaints regarding pests. Make sure your plan is responsive, effective, and professional. You will find that most customers become more upset about a lack of response than an incident itself. Turn that bad experience into a good one by taking extra measures to rectify whatever situation is at hand.
Use a Professional Pest Control Service
There is probably nothing more important than the safety of your guests. So when it comes to pest control, it’s best to leave it up to trained, experienced professionals who specialize in pests for a living. A professional pest control company can offer proactive services and solutions to prevent pests and control them. A legit pest control company will know the laws involved and how to comply. They can help minimize the need to take expensive and disruptive measures. Lastly, a reputable pest control company will provide you with accurate reporting and data that can be used for auditing purposes.
Receive Effective Commercial Pest Control Service With Cramer Pest Control
Your friends at Cramer Pest Control know how to manage hotels successfully and are the trained, experienced professionals you are looking for. We know all federal and state regulations and are familiar with North and South Carolina’s local climate and regional pests. We can help make your hotel a quality place to stay with our commercial pest control. We offer K9 detection, thermal remediation, solutions to all your bed-bug nightmares, and proven results. Learn more about our services by contacting us now. Or give us a call. If in North Carolina, call us at 1-704-763-0204. In South Carolina, you can reach us at 1-803-802-7540.
Want more tips and ideas like this one? Read our other blog articles here.