Report 5Guest roomsThe national code of practice, 4th edition
Bed bugs in accommodation
The bed bug code of practice asks anyone who provides accommodation to try to show “due diligence”: a bed bug management policy, housekeepers trained to spot the signs, a set routine when a guest complains, and rooms with few places for bed bugs to hide. The code is the fourth edition, of March 2013, edited at Westmead Hospital’s Department of Medical Entomology on behalf of a working party of the Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association.
General information, not legal or medical advice. This page describes the code in plain words. The code says each edition is valid for at most eighteen months before it is reviewed; the edition AEPMA publishes is the one described here, and it is listed at the foot of this page.
Who the code is written for
The code is written for anyone who controls bed bugs or could spread them by accident, from the hospitality industry and its housekeeping staff to landlords, linen contractors and second-hand furniture sellers. NSW Health lists it among its resources on bed bugs.
On health, NSW Health is plain: “Bed bugs are not considered as a public health hazard. They are not known to spread disease, but can cause annoyance due to itching and loss of sleep.”
A policy, and staff who know the signs
The code describes due diligence as taking every reasonable action and care to prevent significant harm or undue risk. For accommodation, that means reducing the risk of bed bugs before they arrive and acting promptly once they are found, and a bed bug management policy, reviewed regularly, helps a business show it.
- Housekeepers trained to recognise blood spotting on sheets, mattresses and walls, and the bugs themselves, and to inspect beds as routine.
- Inspections ideally done when linen is changed, with the date written down even when nothing is found.
- Staff information in more than one language where needed, training records kept, and front desk, management and maintenance staff trained too.
When a guest reports bed bugs
The code sets out what should happen when a guest complains, or housekeeping finds evidence:
- Record
Investigate every report of a possible infestation and record it as an incident. This is the business’s responsibility.
- Move
Move the guest to another room straight away wherever possible, and consider helping them treat their belongings.
- Write it down
Note when the report came in, the room number, whether and where bugs were seen, and the guest’s complaint, which may include whether bite marks were visible.
- Care
If the guest has a severe reaction to bites, encourage and help them to get medical help. Staff should never give medical advice.
- Explain
Show the guest some empathy: explain that bed bugs are becoming more common across the whole industry, and that the business has strict policies for handling them.
- Inspect
Have the room inspected as soon as possible by trained staff or a pest manager; an untrained eye can miss bugs behind a bed head. If it cannot be inspected that day, leave it empty until it is. Record each date: the inspection, the call to the pest manager (ideally the same day), the room’s closure, the treatment, and the day the pest manager declared the bugs gone.
- If confirmed
Inspect and treat the room the guest moved into once they leave; give the guest information on keeping bed bugs from settling in at home; and consider telling guests who stayed in the room over the previous month. A hotel in a chain should tell its head office.
The code also asks for discretion: nothing discussed where guests might overhear.
What the business leaves to the pest manager
The code is firm that accommodation staff should not attempt insecticide treatments: licensed pest managers are the ones trained to handle insecticides safely. Entry to an infested room should be limited to essential, preferably trained, staff, partly so they do not carry bugs home. Trying its own control first can spread the infestation and raise the cost. Leaving a room empty is no cure either: bed bugs can live for many months without feeding.
The code says one treatment is unlikely to finish the job, asks for at least one follow-up visit, and makes the final inspection the test of success. It does not advise spraying as prevention, because most insecticides registered when it was written gave very poor control of bed bugs as a residual treatment.
A room with fewer places to hide
The code’s idea of a bed bug “unfriendly” room is one that is easy to inspect and treat. Among its suggestions:
- Metal-framed beds, set like an island away from the wall, with no bedding touching the floor or walls; ideally, no bed head at all.
- Solid tiles, which hold fewer hiding places than carpet; cane and wicker furniture holds many.
- Cracks sealed, loose wallpaper reglued, and sealant around wiring and pipes.
- A removable, washable mattress encasement. The code does not recommend mattresses pre-treated with insecticide.
- Linen supplied and hot-washed by the business, not guests’ own; used linen bagged in the room and not left in the corridor.
- No second-hand mattresses or furniture unless they can be confirmed free of bed bugs.
Nothing should leave the room before the pest manager has inspected it. After that, and only on the pest manager’s advice, bed linen, curtains and clothing are bagged, sealed and labelled before they leave the room, then washed in the hottest water possible, above 55°C, or dried in a hot clothes dryer for at least 30 minutes, or both. Anything thrown out is labelled as infested, made unusable, sealed in plastic, and preferably sent to landfill or incineration; it should not go to a recycling facility unless that facility can treat it for bed bugs.