Variety of measures keep bugs, rodents out

Hotel & Motel Management, March 15, 2004 by Elaine Yetzer Simon

Hotels are under constant assault from pests. Food, water and shelter--a hotel has all a pest could want in a new home.

Frank Meek, national pest control technical manager for Orkin, said all kinds of pests, including rodents, flies and cockroaches, are attracted to hotels.

"Hotels attract pests because they receive a steady flow of traffic around the clock, allowing pests plenty of opportunities to sneak in from the outside," Meek said. "Once pests are inside, they not only are attracted to guestrooms, but also to foodservice areas, recreation areas and laundry rooms."

Matt Remmen, technical services manager for Western Pest Services, said the roaches found in hotels typically are the German variety, which likes tight corners with nearby water, and the American type, which come inside through subground conduits or plumbing access.

"[American cockroaches] are found in areas you have bulk equipment," he said. "You're going to find them with lines coming into the building, not behind a fridge in a guestroom."

"Any place you prepare food, you're likely to have problems with the German cockroach," said Stoy Hedges, manager of technical services for Terminix International. "It can go around on food carts, laundry carts; people who stay at the hotel can bring them in in their luggage. They can appear anywhere."

Ants are another common problem for hotels.

"Some ant species, such as Pharaoh ants, can nest and reproduce indoors, so it's important to understand what species are causing the problem," said S. John Barcay, senior scientist at the Ecolab Research Center. "Some will require exterior pest-control service, while others will require more attention to indoor treatments."

Barcay said flies can be divided into two groups--those that invade from the outside, such as house flies, and those that can breed indoors, such as fruit flies.

"House flies, blow flies and bottle flies all originate from outdoors and breed and feed on decaying garbage, manure and other unsanitary conditions," he said. "They rarely breed indoors unless the garbage is stored inside for longer than one week. Indoor-breeding flies, such as fruit flies, lay their eggs on fermenting substances such as rotting produce, dirty drains and rancid food debris in kitchens.

"Fruit flies are therefore considered pests of poor sanitary conditions and can reproduce very rapidly if there is enough organic food debris left to ferment for extended periods of time."

Rats and mice tend to invade from outdoors, especially during the fall. They also can be brought inside the hotel via pallets during deliveries.

Population control

Hoteliers can take a variety of steps to reduce pests.

"Have a master cleaning and maintenance schedule and keep to it," Hedges said. "Any crack could be an entrance site for pests. Anywhere food matter can accumulate needs to be taken care of."

Mike McGuinness, technical director for pest prevention for Steritech, agreed hoteliers need to focus on the cause of the problem.

"Flies will be corrected with attention to sanitation," McGuinness said. "Rodents can be slowed by eliminating exterior storage of junk. Cockroaches and flying insects can be slowed by using sodium vapor bulbs on the exterior, installing air curtains [in dock areas] and curbing employee behavior, such as chocking doors open and leaving lights on all night that can be shut off.

"In general, a clean structure, sound by sealing cracks and seams with no storage on the exterior and no plants touching the building, has much less pest pressure."

Taking care of outdoor areas also reduces the likelihood that pests will take shelter indoors.

"Trim your landscaping away from the building," Remmen said. "If you trim it so the ants can't use the trees and branches as bridges into the building, you've taken a huge step to reduce them."

Remmen said sealing holes rodents can enter through is the backbone of rodent control.

Other musts include installing tight-fitting door sweeps, getting rid of cardboard boxes in storage rooms to discourage cockroaches, and keeping countertops and floors clean of food debris.

While many people think pesticides are the first line of defense, pest-control companies use those types of chemicals sparingly.

"In [integrated pest-management] programs, pesticides are applied only when necessary to achieve acceptable levels of control with the least possible harm to humans, non-target organisms and the environment," Meek said. "To prevent pests in hotels, after recommending proper sanitation and exclusion measures, we may use baits, traps or insect growth regulators, all of which will kill pests in a way that is harmless and unnoticeable to guests."

Duke Hoffman, director of strategic contracting for Avendra, a procurement company that offers pest services through Ecolab, said the bait system often is one of the best options.

"For the most part, the bait is going to take care of what you potentially would see in a guest-room," he said. "The bait system is odorless. It looks like peanut butter and is about the size of a fingernail. It can be put in the middle of the back of the bed, behind the sink--places where you want to have it out of view of the guests, but it's still effective."