Just seeing the words 'bed bug' in a hotel review can cost properties big money
Everyone's mother has said that old 'sticks and stones' rhyme in a singsong voice, trying to remind their kids that words can't ever hurt them. With apologies to my own mom, that isn't exactly true in the hotel industry. According to a recent study from the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, seeing the words "bed bugs" in an online hotel review can lower the value of a hotel room by $38 for business travelers and $23 for leisure travelers.
Jerrod Penn, the study's lead author and a doctoral student in the university's Department of Agricultural Economics, said:
"Survey respondents were asked how they would respond to reading an online review that reported bed bugs while looking to book a room for an upcoming trip. A majority of business and leisure travelers said they would not select that particular hotel."
The survey of 2,100 travelers showed just how terrified hotel guests are of bed bugs. If the respondents found an actual bed bug in their own hotel rooms, they said that they would switch rooms (and ask for additional compensation), leave the hotel entirely or mention their disgusting little bedmates on social media. Signs of bed bugs were also more likely than other common hotel annoyances — such as weird smells, dirty linens or an unclean bathroom — to make guests leave a hotel.
But, as a side-note, two-thirds of those who were surveyed "were unable to distinguish a bed bug from other household insects."
University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter told Kentucky.com
"Many of these [social media] reports are not substantiated, but people are entitled to say their piece. There's a lot of economic hardship to the hospitality industry as a result of these reports of bedbugs in their facilities."
The study was funded by Protect-A-Bed, which makes mattress protectors (and a heated suitcase that supposedly kills bed bugs). The company had to be delighted to hear that the respondents "put the greatest economic value" on hotels that had invested in protective mattress covers, followed by professional inspections by pest control firms.