We’ve heard bed bugs are spreading. Any advice to avoid them / getting rid of them?
Is a possible bed bug infection covered by the Airbnb host guarantee?
After reading about all the bedbug scams people try to pull, I installed these.
https://www.bedbugsupply.com/bed-bugs-traps-and-monitors.html
Edit: I got the “Volcano” with the packets that go in them. I got 4 for each bed, one at each leg underneath. Maybe overkill but better safe than sorry, my beds cost a lot of money.
@LoneStar, Do you worry that guests will see them and think you have had a recent problem with them?
There are multiple existing threads about bed bugs and the Airbnb response. As you can imagine if the word bedbug is mentioned Airbnb shuts down your listing ASAP.
1 Like
Several days after staying with us, one guest said he got crabs (as in pubic lice) at our listing. Curiously enough, his girlfriend who stayed here with him didn’t.
Airbnb said they’d pay for an exterminator to come out and inspect. Turns out the inspection was free. No bugs here. The exterminator sent a fax to that effect to Airbnb.
Perhaps the man slept somewhere without his girlfriend on the night after they stayed here? Hmm.
The man’s review and complaint went bye-bye.
1 Like
Perhaps she has a Brazilian? No hair. No lice.
2 Likes
Maybe so. Didn’t check.
5 Likes
Too many Volcano traps… one per bed is enough, and be sure to check them frequently! The pheromones in the packet are good for about 3 months and it will attract them from anywhere in the room. Then be sure to inspect bedding, floors, and the trap every time you turn the room.
I had guests cancel and leave after 3 hours here with no notice because some small beetles had crawled into a trap and died, and they thought I had bedbugs. I was able to convince Customer Disservice that I didn’t have them, so avoided shutting down my listing.
As a preventive, sprinkle Diatomaceous Earth along your baseboards and sweep into the cracks every several months. If a guest brings in bedbugs the DE will kill them.
And no, the bogus “Guarantee” doesn’t cover bedbugs.
I had a couple, he originally was from Honduras and the two of them lived in LA. I get a call from the male one late evenng after they had been in my place for four or five nights of an eight day stay. He tells me that I have bed bugs because his GF has bites ‘all over her body’.
There is no bed bugs in my place. I’ve never known anyone having bed bugs and those critters aren’t even common in my area. I am quite firm in my approach and ask him, ‘didn’t you just spend the past two days in the rain forest areas hiking? None of my past guests have mentioned this issue and I haven’t noticed the problem. I’m confident that your GF was bitten by some unfriendly bugs.’
He never mentioned it again but it wasn’t until the review period passed that I felt better about the situation.
This is written in the TOS. They do not cover a thing and shut you down until inspection proves you are bed bug free.
I almost booked your place last month, but I needed 2 rooms for longer then you had available. I ended up at the Wyndum by the airport. It was 5-7 minutes from my grandsons house, but I would not recommend it for the most part. My grandson is in the USCG. Beautiful place to visit.
1 Like
Not really. They would have to climb under the bed to even see them. Would they know what they are if they saw them? I doubt it.
I always look under the beds with a flashlight before I leave a rental to check for anything I might have dropped under there. I would know just by looking at them that they are for bugs (not necessarily bed bugs), but I’m probably not a typical guest in that respect.
Given the amount of comments I see in local reviews about bugs in rentals, I would think aggressive pest control measures are viewed as a welcome difference.
Another reason for hosts to do the same thing, before bookings… I would not want a guest finding dust bunnies.
RR
I’m sorry — you would have had to book early this year! I was worried about the large number of 3 and 4 day holes in my calendar in May, but it was very busy all summer, and most of those holes filled up a week or two out.
Book earlier the next time you visit so you can stay downtown!
I am very aggressive about bed bugs. The best strategy is to assume you have them.
All beds and pillows have bedbug proof covers.
All bedding is washed in bleach and dried 30 min in the dryer.
All rooms are sprayed with industrial strength spray.
All bedframes are steel. No carpets, etc. And under one bedpost is a sticky trap to prove no infestation.
The basement carpet was dosed with denatured alcohol.
We have even done the superheated house scenario.
Last year was war in Hamilton. The setup to be bed bug proof was expensive. But it works.
2 Likes
Let Google be your friend @O_Apartments all the ususual suspects - Amazon, Ebay, Wayfair.
@justMandi is not in the same country as you.
These are the brand I use:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYA0TXE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Up here you can get bed bug proof covers at any good linen supply house, including Wal Mart.