I'm very close to bailing on this Airbnb idea after a second report of bed bugs. We had such a good experience with our first listing and have had hundreds of guests from all over the world stay without any issues. We decided to list a second space (apartment above primary residence) and bought everything new. Things were great and then we had a guest stay with us for a month that was moving back from outside of the US and we are quite certain that this is when they were introduced to our home.
Unfortunately, our next guests were the ones that actually made the discovery. We found them in the cracks of the bedframe and I sprayed them right away with an Ortho product which took care of the ones that were visible. It was extremely embarrassing, very expensive, and we felt so bad for our guests. I'm not a fan of how Airbnb handles this situation; it almost felt like we were being punished and they will also immediately try to line up alternate housing for the displaced guests at a nearby Airbnb...so keep that in mind hosts! They, without a doubt, need to figure out a better way to handle this. They shut us down for 1 month to provide time for a professional service to complete 3 treatments. The techs said that didn't see a single live bug during any of the treatments and that on a scale from 1-10 our problem was a 1 or maybe even .5.
So, a couple thousand dollars later we are back in action and booking up and about a month in another guest has spotted a bed bug. I have been watching like a hawk for any sign and cleaning like a person with OCD ever since the first experience and I just can't believe this. This might sound ridiculous but I almost think that the hotel industry or other Airbnb haters are paying people to plant them or something. A really wonderful idea has started to turn into a nightmare and I'm just not sure what to do : (