Bed bug incidents in hotel rooms are becoming increasingly more common. Hotel guests, news reporters and social media boards are all taking notice. A recent article in Conde Naste Traveler warns that Bed Bugs in Hotel Rooms Are on the Rise. As a hotelier what can you do to protect not only your mattress, but your guests who are sleeping on them? When it comes to bed bugs, protection begins with your mattress and box spring; two places where bed bugs strike most frequently.
Finding the best bed bug mattress cover can be a good first step to prevention, assist in the early detection of bed bugs and become an essential component of an ongoing bed bug program. You will quickly find out that not all mattress covers are created equal. Here is a list of features to consider when comparing encasements to active mattress liners:
• Determine what is most important for you to protect: the person sleeping on the mattress, the mattress itself or both. Some covers offer protection to just the mattress or box spring; encasements are one example of bedding-only protection. Just as their name suggests an encasement fully encases the mattress preventing bed bugs from infesting it. This does not prevent bed bugs from infesting the surfaces of the encasement where people sleep; it simply protects the mattress. Encasements are also available for the box spring, a major repository for bed bugs. However, they are highly prone to ripping and tearing given the sharp edges associated with bed frames. Once encasements are damaged, they cannot be repaired.
• If you are looking for a cover that kills bed bugs, you effectively have one option. Active mattress liners are specially formulated with an active ingredient built-in that kill bed bugs. Encasements rely on starvation of bed bugs, typically over a one-year period, and only for those bed bugs trapped inside. This also assumes that the encasement has not been ripped or torn through use, rendering it no longer useful. Encasements have no impact on bed bugs on its surface or on the outside.
• Ease of installation is typically an important factor particularly in cases where you have a large number of beds to cover. For these circumstances, consider a liner that can be installed as easily as a fitted sheet and does not disturb hotel operating efficiency. Encasements typically require two people for installation and require lifting of the mattress and/or box spring.
• Minimizing time-intensive ongoing maintenance is likely of importance to your hotel staff. If you are looking for a maintenance-free product be wary of mattress protection products. For example, encasements are meant to trap bed bugs inside and require constant inspection to ensure that rips or tears have not occurred, allowing bed bugs to escape.
Finding the best bed bug mattress cover for you and your hotel’s needs doesn’t have to be difficult. For more information about bed bugs in hotels and mattress covers, visit hotelbedbugprevention.com.
About Allergy Technologies
ActiveGuard Mattress Liners kill bed bugs. Easily installed on mattresses or box springs, these liners offer two-year continual prevention and control against any adult bed bugs, nymphs or eggs. ActiveGuard has no cautionary signal words or use restrictions on its label. Only four sizes—single/twin, double/full, queen and king—fit almost every available mattress or box spring, and accommodate up to extra-large in length and 17-in. in depth. Underlying is ActiveGuard’s formulation; a unique and proprietary delivery system that offers sustained bioavailability of permethrin for two years. Newest research supports that after a short exposure to ActiveGuard of only 10 minutes, bed bugs regardless of their level of resistance, begin to show significant reductions in feeding (biting) and a dramatic inability to lay eggs. This results in discontinuation of population growth thereby halting progression of an incident to an infestation. If you are seeking a pro-active preventative approach, ActiveGuard should be considered as the centerpiece of your long-term solution to keep bedding from being infested. ActiveGuard Mattress Liners are covered under U.S. Patents 5,916,580, 6,214,365, 6,440,438 and pending patents.
Act now to start preventing bed bugs in your hotel http://hotelbedbugprevention.com/hotel-prevention/.