If you own a hotel or a restaurant, surely your business has encountered its fair share of pests. What exactly should you know about pest control if you wish to protect your business, and in effect, your customers from the irritation and nuisance pests bring?
The hospitality industry is made up of several fields within the service sector, which includes lodging, food and drink services, transportation, and event planning, among others. The most common businesses in this industry are hotels, amusement parks, restaurants and bars, and casinos. These establishments bank their success on the full experience of their customers with their products and services.
As with any other business, a pest-free environment ensures a better consumer experience which leads to more return customers and a better public image. If you own or manage any business in the hospitality industry, here are a few things about pest control that you should know about:
1. Time Is Always of the Essence.
Timely response in pest management is always an effective one. Unwanted pests can create a lot of problems for business owners in any industry, but the risks are significantly higher in the hospitality industry.
Pests in businesses such as restaurants and hotels are not only detrimental to the establishment’s overall reputation but can also lead to heavy fines or worse, complete closure of the business.
To prevent situations like these from happening, creating a regular and detailed pest management program is key. Instead of relying on spot cleaning, meaning you act on the problem once it’s there, you can go for more proactive, more preventive measures for better security.
A good pest management program identifies all possible threats that can pester you over a full year, and puts in place scheduled monitoring and treatment procedures necessary to combat each pest situation.
By holding regular inspections and planned infestation raids, you are not only saving your business from future problems; you are also saving money by avoiding unnecessary and unplanned pesticide purchases and damage control services.
2. The Staff Should Be Properly Trained to Detect and Respond to Potential Pest Problems.
For a business to successfully eliminate the risks of pest infestations, the entire workforce should be properly informed and trained to understand and adapt to the threats that pests pose.
Pest management is not a task that is exclusive to the pest control teams, it is essential that everyone who works in the business do their part in preventing and appropriately reacting to pest infestations.
Key areas in pest management that training should focus on are awareness, early detection, and response.
- Awareness means the employees are fully aware of the effects of pests on the business and the customers, ranging from possible health consequences to financial and operational outcomes.
- Early detection involves being able to identify the warning signs of a pest infestation.
- Response training means each employee understands his role and responsibility when it comes to reporting and controlling pest problems.
3. Businesses Should Maximize the Use of Safe Practices to Lessen the Chances of Pest Invasions.
Investing in extra cleaning hours can go a long way towards ensuring a pest-free environment for your customers. Ideally, a hospitality business puts a premium on cleanliness and orderliness by having a dedicated team for cleaning functions. However, if financial restrictions do not allow that, you can simply assign additional cleaning tasks to each employee for a collective effort around pest management.
Simple tasks such as regularly checking the walls, floors, and narrow spaces in addition to maintaining a cleaning schedule can add up to a significant improvement in your establishment’s overall tidiness, considerably lessening the chances of unwanted pests visiting and staying around your business.
A Final Word on Pest Management in the Hospitality Industry
When running a business, especially in the hospitality industry, an effective pest management program should be embedded in the organizational plans and strategies. Hiring a professional service like Rocklin Pest Control can save your business from unnecessary expenses and negative customer experiences. Rocklin Pest Control uses an integrated and professional approach to help your business prevent and control pest situations at an affordable price.