It was the Farmington, New Mexico Days Inn that hotel guests claimed had the recent bed bug troubles.

But KOB reports that the local Best Western is now publicizing their pro-active campaign against bed bugs. They say exterminators are coming once a month and spraying when needed. The video (below) shows Ladybug Pest Control peering into the cracks where the floor meets the wall, and looking closely at overturned box springs.

Note to hoteliers: being seen to be pro-active about bed bugs is good for business.

See the video on this story, from KOB, below.

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KOB.com in New Mexico reports,

Tuesday’s Farmington Daily-Times reports three Santa Fe Police Department employees who recently stayed at the hotel had bug bites all over their bodies.

They say hotel managers told them “it was not the hotel’s problem.”

Not the hotel’s problem? Whose problem is it?

That is a delightful response to a customer complaint of blood-sucking insects in a bed paid for for the night. The hotel has assigned a new manager to this Days Inn, but that hardly solves the problem of guests having to put up with bed bugs.

Apparently, there’s no one to complain to:

The police officers also discovered that no state agency has authority to do anything about the problem.

That is a very distressing statement.

The Daily Times of Farmington reports that State Sen. William E. Sharer, R-San Juan notes this is not the first time bed bugs were found in this Days Inn:

“During the summer of 2007, I was informed of a bedbug infestation occurring at the Days Inn in Farmington,” Sharer wrote to Albert Vigil, secretary of New Mexico Department of Health, on Feb. 5. “Unfortunately, a second incident has recently occurred at the same motel.

Sharer expressed frustration that “no governmental agency has clear authority to regulate this issue because there are presently no enforceable standards.”

No enforceable standards? Governments can set enforceable standards regarding bed bugs in homes and hotels.

I hope the people of New Mexico, and those who travel there, will start asking their politicians about this. They might start by writing to State Senator Sharer himself.

Update (10/1/2008):

More from the Daily Times today.

Apparently a lawsuit was already pending, filed by four plaintiffs who claim to have been bitten by bed bugs in the same hotel in summer 2007. Their attorney, Rich Valle, says the two sets of two clients were staying on different floors in the hotel and met at a local urgent care center, after seeking treatment for their bites.

Valle claims the hotel got what seems to be sound advice about treating for bed bugs, but didn’t take it:

A local exterminator recommended the hotel treat rooms adjacent to those in which the 2007 bug biting incidents happened, Valle said. He estimated the cost of the additional treatment at $150, a charge Valle said hotel managers opted not to pay because they deemed it excessive.

Days Inn management offered one of his clients a “bed bug discount” after he complained, Valle said. A similar $15 per bug discount was offered to the police officers after they took a bug to the front desk clerk working Sept. 21.

“I hope some of this changes,” Valle said. “I hoped our lawsuit would make this stop.”

Before Valle read a related story in Tuesday’s edition and contacted The Daily Times, a woman identifying herself only as “Bernice” called the newspaper to say she sustained bites at the same hotel about one year ago.

“I tried to contact the hotel manager, but I never heard back,” she said. “I finally gave up.”

No regulations exist to oversee cleanliness issues at lodging establishments in New Mexico. Unless a lodging business is a member of New Mexico Lodging Association, consumers have nowhere to turn for redress.

Let’s not think for a moment that this particular hotel is the only one with bed bug infestations that are being allowed to get worse and worse.

This can happen in any hotel, chain or family-run, expensive or cheap.

Obviously, the hotel industry needs guidance about bed bugs, and what is required to get rid of them. And if no one on the government end of things gives a hoot, citizens are not only going to increasingly get bitten by bed bugs, they’re increasingly going to bring them home.Similar Posts:

• Farmington Days Inn treats for bed bugs; New Mexico’s laws still need attention

A news round-up for today:

This article in the Quad-Cities Online reported yesterday on bed bug infestations in a public housing complex in East Moline, Illinois. The reporter quotes one resident who has been battling bed bugs since fall.

“I work too. My tax dollars are going to support places like this (government run low-income housing). If people knew how disgusting this is, I’m sure they’d be upset,” said a resident of the Joseph Fulton Homes. The woman asked to remain anonymous.

Interestingly, a number of comments to the article also note that low-income folks should not have to live like that. At least one commenter (going by the name “some anonymous person”) mentions that “only the poor have to live like this.”

Well, not exactly. While it’s true that in this case, it’s a low-income residence, sadly, people of every social class and walk of life are having to deal with bed bugs. Many, many people we hear from at bedbugger.com — low-income, moderate-income and middle-class– have a problem getting their landlords to treat the problem promptly and effectively. The rich are perhaps in the best situation, since they have more possibility of moving, but this problem is not easy for anyone, and everyone who suffers from bed bugs suffers and takes a hit. And it can afflict anyone at any time.

We need better government support for fighting bed bugs, because nobody should have to suffer this problem for long (and a week is too long).

A second local public housing complex, a senior apartment building called Warren Towers, also has units with bed bug infestations, a story which was covered by the Quad-Cities Online on May 30th.

In other news, even though I have a google alert which tells me when people mention bed bugs in the news or in their blogs, I don’t usually mention non-bed-bug-blogs in our news round-ups. There are just too many people blogging their infestations on a daily basis to keep up.

But today, one caught my eye: this professional blog at LibraryJournal.com, suggests that folks are starting to talk about their bed bug infestations not just amongst their nearest and dearest, or in the workplace, but amongst colleagues they may not know well. That’s good news: talking about bed bugs means more people learn about the problem, how to spot it, and its likelihood of appearing in their lives, too.

Bravo to Heather McCormack at Library Journal, and Heather–we hope your Brooklyn bed bugs are on their way out!

Meanwhile, Lisa Hoffman’s Scripps News article on bed bugs (the one also published in the Knoxville News) continues to make the rounds of syndication, now in the Albuquerque Tribune.

Next, for anyone in Boston who does not have to work next Wednesday, the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation is having a Bed Bug Conference.

2nd Greater Boston Bed Bug Conference: Extermination and Legislation
Wednesday, June 13, 2007, 8:30AM – 3:00PM

There is still time to register! Registraton is $25.00 and includes lunch and refreshments. (Click the link above to get to the ABCDC site and download the registration form.)

Sponsored by the Greater Boston Bedbug Task Force, this event will provide updated information about the bed bug outbreak to more than 200 exterminators, inspectors, health providers, property managers/landlords, tenants and housing advocates, as well as members of the general public.

There’s also information at the same link for local residents to apply for a grant from the ABCDC to fight bed bugs in your home. Allston Brighton residents take note! We’re big fans of the ABCDC’s bed bug-fighting attempts (some of which are mentioned here), and we’d be glad to hear about other community organizations that are trying to help people with bed bugs, or help people avoid getting bed bugs in the first place.

And finally, today some tenants in a Jamaica, Queens apartment set off a roach bomb which exploded, harming them and damaging their apartment and belongings.

Authorities say the explosion shattered the windows of Apartment 4E at 164-30 Hillside Avenue just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

Some residents inside the apartment were overcome, and at least two were taken to the hospital.

The force of the explosion reportedly blew pieces of the fourth-floor window onto a construction shed and the street.

Fire officials said the roach bomb explosion may have been sparked by a pilot light or a refrigerator compressor.

In case the fact that bug bombs do not work to rid your apartment of bed bugs did not dissuade you from using one, they’re also apparently potentially dangerous.
ABC 7’s photo shows what looks to be much of the apartment’s contents pushed up against the (blown-out) window.

I realize the news reports this as a roach bomb, but since there are (for good reason) no over-the-counter bed bug bombs, since we know people attempt to use bombs made for other pests to eradicate bed bugs, and since Queens is experiencing a lot of bed bug infestations, I do have to wonder if that might have been the case here.

Don’t try that at home, kids!Similar Posts:

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