How do you protect against Bedbugs?

[Olga202]

Dear AirBnb hosts , how do you protect yourselves against bedbugs?  How often guests leave you with bedbugs - I am just starting my first apartment and want to find out ho other hosts are dealing with this issue. 

[Marzena4]

Hello @Olga202 I have never had any (knock on wood) but I keep pretty high level of hygiene. But I do have an anti-bedbug spray in the closet, just in case.

[Regina38 · Accepted solution]

I have bedbug protector matress cover on both matress and box spring and on pillows. I also have another less expensive pillow protector on the pillows that is easier to wash. I hsve a mattress pad on top of that and remove that after each guest checks out and launder it along with the outside pillow protector and all the linens including bedspreads, sheets, pillow cases, and blankets. I vacuum around the bed and the sides of the matress. I was advised to pay special attention to the headboard area as my friend in License and Inspection in our city said their training says that they are attracted by CO which is exhaled. So I move bed away from wall and clean there too. Also dust under bed and vacuum the whole apartment of course.

I check all upholstered furniture and decorative pillows too. 

Good luck and happy hosting!

[Gordon0]

[Touches wood again] No bed bugs here but I am under no illusion that it would be the death of my Airbnb 'business'. 
"Nice location, pretty room, got bitten to death by bed bugs". 

As well as using an anti bed bug mattress protector, I'm also anally methodical about cleaning and checking for the critters. It's probably more about good luck tho. 

[J99]

   We encountered bedbugs in New Orleans at 300 Common Street condos which are used for Airbnb.  The host was Winston, who did  send men to get rid of the offeding matress and all linens. However, when we requested a partial refund he denied the presence of bedbugs. We had photos pof the bites and bug to prove our case. He claimed a clean inspection with documentation from the people the building used ti inspect all the apartments; we definitively had been exposed to bedbugs. We were not the only ones; I just read a review from Denna fronm Ohio who stayed at the same place with Winston as host and she also found bedbugs in one of the 2 bedrooms, as we had. Airbnb and Winston did nothing to alleviate the problem!!!

[Robin4]

@J99

Thanks Jim for bringing that to everyones attention. Hosts who have a laissez faire attitude to bedbugs need to be exposed and removed from the platform. They don't just effect themselves they affect and cause massive disruption to other hosts as well and need to be treated harshly!

Cheers......Rob

[Serge12]

Bedbugs are hitchhikers . They are experienced travellers. They don’t just happened in a home out of nowhere . I thoroughly clean the room after and before each guest so I know it is bugs free but through no fault of their own guests sometimes bring bugs with them unknowingly. 

[John1523]

I had found out hard to eradicate bedbugs by owner because they can hide themselves really well, which makes me difficult to eliminate them. I had applied insecticide on the mattress, box springs and bed components, bed sheets, blankets or clothing but, it is of no use. Then, on suggestion of my neighbour I had called up bed bug exterminator in East Bay area, where they had gone through with proper inspection of my home to determine the extent of Beg Bug infestation. Then, the exterminator in East Bay had treated with heat to ensure the infestation is completely exterminated.

[Robin4]

@John1523

Hi John, @Regina38 has the answer you must have really good quality mattress protectors and pillow protectors. Mine get changed and washed between each guest along with the linens. Ovbviously some guests are not going to put you at risk but, for any youngish travellers here on holiday I make a point of showing them the steps I go through to make sure I never have this problem, stressing that it for their safety as well as mine. If there are ever bedbugs in this listing, it is the guest who is complaining that has introduced them.

And John there are guests who have cottoned onto the fact they can have a free holiday by playing the bedbug card! One I came across last year in support carried a supply of them....I was not privy to the mechanics of how he and his partner kept them alive but they introduced them to a listing during the last couple of days of a scheduled two week stay, claimed from Airbnb and got a full refund for the entire trip and the hosts listing was shut down until an exterminators clearance cerificate could be provided to Airbnb. They came unstuck because they, the previous year, pulled same stunt and were immediately banned from the platform. But the damage was done. That stay cost the host thousands!

It is probably never likely to happen unless you are into the backpacker end of the market John but document everything you do. Keep date stamped photos of your washing regime. Don't just hang your bedding on a line to dry. Bedbugs cannot handle high heat, Always dry (or give the impression to suspect guests) you dry your bedding in a commercial clothes dryer. Domestic dryers are not hot enough but,

bedbugs will not survive 30 minutes in a laundomat dryer on high heat. Give Airbnb no reason to side with the guest.....As it has happened in the past CS do now take a harder line with bedbug complaints and require a good deal of proof before they will take a guests word for it.

Cheers......Rob

[Serge12]

I could not have said it any better. I totally agree with you on every point. 

[Brianna38]

I have a zippered bedbug protector on the mattress, box spring and all the pillows. Added bonus that they protect against stains/liquids. 

I think it is nieve to assume because we may live in a nice clean house in a nice clean neighborhood- and our guests seem the same, that while traveling it couldn’t happen. I am it taking that risk, it gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it, shiver...shiver...

[Ruth419]

Yes, I also had a huge bedbug problem after the guests left my home. However I had called up an exterminator who treated my home my home was very kind and I felt sure that all would be well.

[Pete69]

Never seen a bedbug in my life, but just to be safe I have a mattress encasement that is waterproof and bed proof. The last thing I want is an infested mattress.

[Jessica1686]

@Serge12  I agree with you. I have placed luggage racks for guests to put their suitcases on, because if the bedbugs are traveling in their suitcase and they put it on the bed, the cycle begins!