STR Bedbug prevention

[Mogen Keene]

Would love the advise of other STR owners on bedbug prevention. We have a STR in the Smokies and I don't know if I want to just risk dealing with it if the problem arises. I have read about the huge hassle they are to get rid of, plus the loss of rent and potential bad reviews.

I have received very affordable quotes for spraying monthly and more costly quotes for quarterly heat treatments, with different opinions on what is best. Curious to know what others in the area are doing. Thanks in advance!

[Luke Carl]

You can not prevent bedbugs. You can do your best... but there's no guarantee. They will happen at some point. And it's a crappy day. But it's not the end of the world. 

On this day you will learn your "Bedbug System" and if and when it ever happens again... you're prepared. 

1. Bedbug encasement on all mattresses and box springs. 

2. Monthly treatment from licensed exterminator. 

That's about all you can do. 

When the bedbugs come... send over exterminator to confirm or disprove their existence. If they are confirmed.... get out the heaters. Heat the house for 24 hours and all bugs, not just bedbugs, will be dead. Someone would have to bring the bedbugs BACK into the house for them to come back. This heating process around $1000 depending the size of the property. 

You can also hire a company with bedbug sniffing dogs to come into the house and prove their existence. I find this unnecessary. Just ask your exterminator to look around. If you have them.... He will know. 

The guest that discovered the bedbugs will need to be moved (by airbnb) to another property. Cancel the next guest to give yourself time. ***NEVER cancel a guest from your end -it will kill you. In this case have Airbnb cancel and move the next guest. 

You will get a bad review from the guest that discovered them and there's nothing you can do about it. 

Provide Airbnb with receipts from licensed exterminator that the service has been performed and you're back in business in 48-72 hours. 

NOTE: you may or may not choose to buy new mattresses and or furniture. The bugs are dead as could be. If the mattresses aren't that old it may not be worth replacing them. 

Good Luck on your journey. 

[Luke Carl]

You can not prevent bedbugs. You can do your best... but there's no guarantee. They will happen at some point. And it's a crappy day. But it's not the end of the world. 

On this day you will learn your "Bedbug System" and if and when it ever happens again... you're prepared. 

1. Bedbug encasement on all mattresses and box springs. 

2. Monthly treatment from licensed exterminator. 

That's about all you can do. 

When the bedbugs come... send over exterminator to confirm or disprove their existence. If they are confirmed.... get out the heaters. Heat the house for 24 hours and all bugs, not just bedbugs, will be dead. Someone would have to bring the bedbugs BACK into the house for them to come back. This heating process around $1000 depending the size of the property. 

You can also hire a company with bedbug sniffing dogs to come into the house and prove their existence. I find this unnecessary. Just ask your exterminator to look around. If you have them.... He will know. 

The guest that discovered the bedbugs will need to be moved (by airbnb) to another property. Cancel the next guest to give yourself time. ***NEVER cancel a guest from your end -it will kill you. In this case have Airbnb cancel and move the next guest. 

You will get a bad review from the guest that discovered them and there's nothing you can do about it. 

Provide Airbnb with receipts from licensed exterminator that the service has been performed and you're back in business in 48-72 hours. 

NOTE: you may or may not choose to buy new mattresses and or furniture. The bugs are dead as could be. If the mattresses aren't that old it may not be worth replacing them. 

Good Luck on your journey. 

[Julie McCoy]

Bedbugs suck.  Big time.  But what @Luke Carl said is correct - you cannot 100% prevent them.  All you can do is treat as quickly and effectively as possible.  Your cleaners are your #1 bedbug detection system - they should be checking the sheets and mattresses during each clean for any signs of them, and can save your bacon if they detect them before a guest does!  

[Jill F.]

I have had good luck with chemical treatments. But I have long term rentals and in both cases, the tenants reported in time for us to treat before the situation got too terrible. I do require all mattresses and boxsprings to be placed in bedbug proof covers prior to move in. Not everyone reacts to bedbug bites so you don't always know when you got them.

[John Underwood]

What Luke said.

Sounds like he has been there done that.

[Justin Anderson]

I've bed bugs in one of my long term rentals.  Lucas is spot on with everything he said, but let me share a couple of things I learned and a funny story...

- Chemical treatments don't kill all phases of the bed bugs.  Only heat will kill them throughout their life cycle.  (Plus chemicals doesn't easy get behind an outlet face plate or down in a groove in the wood floors where they may hide)

- I don't worry about it at all because it's outside of my control. But I've had rentals for over 10 years and STR for a few years and only had that one case.

Ok... Fun story time from a local Pigeon Forge friend that I'll call A.

They get a call from a guest "Karen" a few days into their vacation...  

Karen: "OMG I can't believe it.  It's SOOOO horrible.  There are bedbugs here and they bit granny.  She's itching and red and it's horrible!  You've got to get me out of here ASAP."

A: "I'm so sorry about that, Karen.  I'd be frustrated if I found bedbugs too.  I'm so sorry you've gone through this and let me make it right."

Karen: "Damn right, and thank you.  You better not try and make me pay after this nasty experience."

A: "Will you be at the cabin for a bit so I can send someone to go check on this?"

Karen: "I don't know why but I guess so."

Proceeds to call the exterminator to explain the situation.  The exterminator plus bed bug dog meets the cabin manager at the cabin an hour or so later...

Karen: "About dang time you showed up!  Where are you moving us?"

A: "I brought the exterminator so he can help me find the bed bugs so we can get you moved. The dog is good at finding them and he'll let us know where they are."

Karen: "Hang on, let me grab my suitcases out of there before you go in."

A:  "No, maam.  I need you to stay out here so we can do our job.  It will only take 5 minutes."

Karen then gets mighty fidgety as A goes into the cabin.  Wonder what has her worried??

Well, the dog proceeds to sound on the garbage in the kitchen.  Odd, right?  Well it turns out there was an mailing envelope and an empty vial label bedbugs, purchased online.

And in an effort to be thorough, the exterminator goes through the rest of the cabin and the dog sounds on the suitcase.  He brings it outside to Karen and asks her to unzip the pocket.  After a bit of back and forth, she unzips it to show a second vial that has bedbugs still inside.  

You see, Karen had a buddy that was staying a few cabins down the road and the expectation is that she was going to share her 'FREE VACATION!' method if it worked.

Scammers are out there and they usually don't go to these lengths... But it's possible!

[Joseph Prohaska]

There's already been some great advice so I won't rehash any of that. The only thing I would add is that you cannot prevent bedbugs, BUT you might be able to implement a system for your cleaning person to follow in order to identify the nest and potentially find the bedbugs before you get a complaint. You can create a checklist of likely locations of bed bug nest for your cleaning person to visually inspect before cleaning the house (they'll probably appreciate not working in a bedbug-infested house). There are also several signs of a bed bug infestation such as droplets of blood on the bedsheets. 

If you can identify the bed bug infestation then there's no happy guest or bad review to deal with. I'm sure there are copies of the systems that hotels floating around somewhere on the internet. 

[Mogen Keene]

Thanks everyone for the great advise, really appreciate it! I feel better hearing that people who have been doing this a long time have only had this happen rarely, I wasn't sure how common they were. In the short time I have been doing this, I have certainly been learning that I have to just roll with the punches, try not to get too stressed when something goes wrong. 

Have also heard about the free vacation tactic, hope it never happens, but I guess got to give them some points for creativity, lol

[Julie McCoy]

@Joseph Prohaska My cleaners are already trained to detect bedbugs, I didn't have to train them.  They trained ME!  Professional cleaners shouldn't need to be trained by owners on things like that.  The particulars of how I like my cabin set up?  Sure.  The particulars of doing their job well?  I fully expect them to be on top of that.

@Justin Anderson I've heard those stories anecdotally and they always make me nuts because first of all, screw their "free vacation", and second of all, it makes me want to bill them for bedbug treatment.  Hopefully all who try that are karmically paid back by bringing the bedbugs home with them.  

[Luke Marsh]

As a couple others have mentioned, we also use bedbug encasement on mattresses, we do monthly chemical sprays from a local exterminator, and semi-annually we do a heat treatment. All of our cleaners are knowledgeable on detecting bedbugs too. Bedbugs suck, and you can only do so many things to prevent them.