Hotel Pest Control

Multiple entrances, food preparation and storage areas, cosy guest rooms and shared public areas make your hotel an attractive target for many common pests, no matter how careful you are.

You’ll be well aware of the potential cost and inconvenience a pest infestation can cause. The risks posed to your business from - revenue loss from having rooms out of use, possible litigation by disgruntled guests. Then there’s the impact on employee relations and the risk of fines, for any breach of health and hygiene regulations. We understand you have many competing demands on your time and until you experience an infestation, pest control may not be a priority. Yet, with so much at stake, proactively mitigating pest risks with a preventative pest management program is a sound investment. With over 90 years of expertise and experience in proactive pest management solutions for hotels and accommodation businesses, our professional pest control services will help you ensure that your guests have an excellent experience during their stay.

Our range of professional solutions for the hotel industry reduces the risk of encounters with unwanted pests, protecting your reputation and brand. Whatever the size and complexity of your business, we focus on helping you with industry-leading solutions for every area of your premises to prevent pests and deal with any infestations encountered, including bed bugs and cockroaches, rodents, flies and stored product insects.

Our scientific pest experts develop leading-edge solutions offering you the most effective pest control options – including innovative and  humane electronic pest monitors and traps - such as PestConnect that senses pest activity, sending alerts to our BPCA certified technicians, providing 24/7 protection and monitoring. Other benefits include:

We have been helping UK hotels and hospitality businesses for over 90 years to protect their premises and reputation from pests. The treatments and solutions we offer your business are all carried out by British Pest Control Association (BPCA) certified specialists.

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  My hotel has no pests, why do I need a contract?

  As part of a pest control contract with you, we complete actionable recommendations to mitigate against pest activity, helping to reduce the risk of pest infestations before they occur. A contract will also provide you with our vigilance, giving you an earlier warning of potential pest issues, so a small problem can be quickly controlled, before it has a chance to esculate, saving you time, money and potentially your reputation. There are also legal requirements that hotel businesses must adhere to such as the Food Safety Act 1990 (which makes provision for the supply of food fit for consumption) & the Food Hygeine (England/Scotlsnd/Wales/Ireland) Regulations 2006 (that states any risk of infestation by rodents and insects must be prevented) both require proof of due diligence from businesses.

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  Why is pest control important for hotels?

  An encounter with pests can ruin your guest's stay and negatively affect your business. Reputation is everything when it comes to hotel and accommodation businesses, especially in today's internet age where negative online reviews and social media posts can damage a hotels painstakingly built position of trust with guests. Therefore guarding against an infestation before it occurs is more cost effective (to ensure your food and beverage areas remain open and your rooms are always available) than reacting after the pests have established themselves and caused damage. Proactively mitigating the risk of a pest infestation with a preventative pest management programme is a sound investment.

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  What is pest control in housekeeping?

  Your housekeeping staff are the first line of defence when it comes to spotting telltale signs of a pest infestation early, before they have a chance to spread. So, no matter how big or small your house team they need to be provided with adequate pest awareness training so they can recognise the first signs of pest activity. Make sure cleaning procedures include checking rooms for pests such as bed bugs and fleas - as these are often brought in by unsuspecting guests on clothing and in cases. Other pests such as clothes moths, carpet beetles, silverfish, wasps and mice can also infest hotel rooms. Ensure housekeeping staff have a pest logbook so they can record potential pest issues and any complaints received from guests, so they can be feedback directly to management for actioning. Rentokil's pest awareness training via our myLearning interactive online portal, offers easy access to quality training information to help staff minimise the risks of a pest infestation, by teaching what signs of pests to look for and why it's important to be vigilant.

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  What is IPM for hotels?

  Integrated Pest Management (IMP) is a systematic strategy for managing pests. Our IPM approach is based on four principals - ERDM (Exclusion, Restriction, Destruction and Monitoring). This practice helps minimise pest infestations and health risks to guests and staff by focusing on preventative approaches and deterrents, but where treatment is required the products and solutions used minimise any risks to customers and employees and reduce environmental risk and impact. 

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  Can you be discreet with your services at my hotel?

  We will always endeavour to tailor our visits to your hotel to suit your business needs, scheduling treatments and follow-up visits to fit around your customers, staff and guests. Our surveyors and technicians are uniformed and our vans liveried to avoid any ambiguity about our reasons for being at a particular location. We can attempt to park our vehicles discreetly upon request, but we are not able to guarntee this at all times.

Bed bugs and other biting insects pose the biggest recurring pest threat in hotel accommodation. All hoteliers are at some risk from an infestation, but especially those with a large number of international travellers or guests that move frequently between accommodation. Bed bugs are impossible to prevent as they are brought in by unsuspecting guests in luggage and clothing, as well as via employees, external contractors, laundry services, neighbouring properties, second hand or antique furniture. 

Once in a hotel environment they can also be carried around in bedding and furniture or crawl from room to room through small gaps or crevices in walls, doors or floors - following the route of electrical wiring or pipes. Adjacent rooms on the same floor and those on floors above and below can then quickly become infested, as the bed bugs population spread in search of food. Early detection using bed bug monitors, eagle-eyed house-keeping staff (trained to spot the first signs of bed bugs) and innovative solutions (such as Rentokil's chemical-free heat treatment for insects) can help to ensure that bed bugs are detected and treated swiftly before they have chance to spread to other bedrooms and areas of your premises.

But bed bugs are not the only pests that pose a business risk. Linen and laundry areas can also spread infestations of clothes moths, carpet beetles and fleas. The presence of any biting insects is likely to affect your reputation and distress guests, so treat any warning signs seriously.

Hotel businesses are expected to actively control pests under both food safety law and health and safety law. There is a duty of care to provide a safe environment on the premises for employees, customers, contractors and other people (CIEH, 2009). For kitchen and restaurant areas there is specific legislation regarding food safety with broad requirements for preventing contamination by pests under general hygiene and sanitation practices to prevent contamination of food.

Pests such as mice, rats, flies and cockroaches can pose a high risk for hoteliers of spreading disease in the kitchen, restaurant and dining areas. We are experts in understanding the implications of food safety legislation, which regulates businesses handling and serving food – as set out by the Food Standards Agency, HACCP regulation and monitoring, as well as EU Regulations 852/2004, 853/2004 and 854/2004. Proactive pest control is essential in these areas and will be expected by environmental health inspections.

Flies in your reception and public areas are less of a health risk and more of a nuisance, creating a poor first impression, but if they extend into food preparation and dining areas then they become are far greater risk. Rodents can damage the building fabric by gnawing through cables, plastics and wooden doors in search of food and safe harbourages.

Rentokil offers a wide range of solutions and treatment services to deter and control pests depending on your business’s pest control needs. These include:

• Rodents: the PestConnect system of connected devices;
• Cockroaches: spraying, gelling, controlled atmosphere treatment (CAT);
• Bed bugs: Entotherm heat treatment, insecticide sprays, and pheromone traps;
• Flies: Lumnia fly control units, Rentokil Fly Box, insecticide spray and fly screens; and
• Stored Product Insects: Entotherm heat treatment, fumigation, controlled atmosphere treatment (CAT), insecticide spray.