This is a subject that hoteliers do not like to talk about. Yet bedbugs, which poison the lives of thousands of inhabitants in Ile-de-France, also infect these places of passage par excellence. You only have to see some comments on the TripAdvisor site. One of them, dated November 2019, states as follows about a Parisian hotel: "Bed bug, no gesture and especially no treatment. Better sleep in your car! "
These small animals of less than 7 mm, after having almost disappeared in the 1950s, have been proliferating in France in recent years. Everyone is affected and requests for intervention from companies specializing in disinfection are increasing regularly, among individuals but also professionals, such as hoteliers.
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Even if the presence of these insects does not indicate a hygiene problem, the repercussions on the image of the hotel can be disastrous. “The hotelier is a victim in this kind of case. It's not that its establishment is dirty, but it has welcomed people who have brought bedbugs, ”insists Jean-Marc Banquet D'Orx, general president of the UMIH (Union of hotel trades and industries Ile-de-France), the only union to have answered our calls.
"It traumatizes the directors, we talk about it among ourselves, but timidly"
The invasion of bedbugs "is a major problem for us hoteliers", he confirms. “It traumatizes the directors, we talk about it among ourselves, but timidly. »Attention taboo subject.
Beyond the reputation of the establishment, "it is a scourge that is very expensive". When a room is infested, "you have to change the complete bedding, the box spring, the mattress, it can range from 300 to 10,000 euros depending on the category of the hotel," says the president. Then you have to bring in a company for a chemical treatment. It is an immediate cost of around 1500 euros per room between the intervention, cleaning, and the corridor that we will also treat to avoid proliferation. "
"The financial loss is significant and is not fully covered by insurance"
We must count in this figure "the closure of the hotel room while the new bedding is delivered," explains Jean-Marc D'Orx. “The financial loss is significant and is not entirely covered by insurance. "
Aware of the problem, the UMIH will soon participate in a new meeting on the subject in the National Assembly which has finally taken up this issue after years of silence, in particular at the initiative of Bas-Rhin deputy Bruno Studer (LREM).
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