bedbugs review

[Jean-Yves61]

Hi Everybody

We are living in Brooklyn, we do airbnb. We spent a lot of time and money to have a nice listing. We are now superhost.

Unfortunately last week, a guest discovered a few bedbugs after they arrived. We never had any problem since we started airbnb a year ago.

We were devastated. Obviously it was from previous guest. The cleaning lady saw nothing and we also missed that.

We straightaway called Airbnb, we accepted the cancellation and did the refund.

The day after we did a treatment and we trashed the bed/mattress/rug of that bedroom....

Airbnb has put our listing on hold for one month.

Our main concern now is that the guest who discovered the bedbugs will leave us a bad review.

Airbnb should be aware that this kind of thing could happen even if we are very cautious.

But a review with the word "bedbug" could kill a listing.... How do you survive to this ?

Thanks.

[Linda108]

Yes the guest will be able to leave a review so you need to construct a professional reply that advises what you immediately did to rectify the situation.  Bedbugs can happen to any of us and to any hospitality type.  However, you are correct that it will put off other travelers.

I have never had bedbugs  reported but I am concerned it could happen.  At Bed Bath and Beyond, I found a bedbug detector  that gives me a little sense of security.  You put it between the mattress and box spring and check it when you change the sheets.  Not 100% but at least something.

[Jean-Yves61]

Thanks I will check this detector 

[Pete69]

Don't you have a bug proof / waterproof mattress protector?

[Jean-Yves61]

Yes we do

[Jean-Yves61]

But protection was slightly open in one corner so we didn’t take the risk to keep mattress

[Emilia42]

@Jean-Yves61, are you definitely positive they were bed bugs? Was there an infestation? 

[Jean-Yves61]

Yes it was beg bugs. Only a few. The bed frame was covered with fabric, so maybe not a good idea for Airbnb even if it was a nice design from West Elm. We saw maybe 10 bed bugs.

Previous tenants were medecin student working at hospital. Bed bug exterminator told us there are a lot of bed bugs in hospitals. So arrivals of bed bugs should be recent.

[Flavia195]

Usually I spray alcohol denatured in my waterproof mattress protector and wash all my white bedlinen and bathroom linen with bleach and high temperature.

Bed bugs are the worst nightmare for us host.

[Jean-Yves61]

So you use only white bed linen because of bed bugs ? It is a shame there so many nice color combinations. But after bed bugs we see things differently for sure.

[Uri25]

Linda makes a great point; the damage is done so the best you can do at this point is to handle it with as much professionalism and accountability as possible. You can explain you had protections in place that did not work and you have taken steps and precautions to do better in the future (you can detail what those steps were). You can also mention you did not hesitate to refund and am genuinely sorry for their experience. Bed bud protectors are a great investment and cloth headboards are definitely not ideal for beds that will used so frequently (hence why most hotels do not use cloth in their designs aside from sheets, pillows and carpets.) 

I'll be on the look out for the bed bug detector as well!