Bedbugs are biting in to the profits of hotels and holiday resorts are reporting record levels of infestations attacking travellers.
The pests are small parasites that come out at night to feed on human blood from their hiding places in beds, carpets and other soft furnishings.
Infestations are reported as worst in the US and Europe, with New York topping the list of cities battling the bugs.
Travellers staying in an infected hotel risk carrying the bugs home unnoticed in their luggage.
Bedbugs are hard to kill, more elusive and less prone to insecticides than cockroaches, ants and termites.
They can live for a year or more without eating and can withstand temperatures from almost freezing to 50 Celsius.
Lloyd’s underwriters are teaming up with brokers Aon and Global Excess Partners to offer comprehensive bedbug insurance to travellers.
According to Lloyd’s, bedbugs trigger major problems for hotel owners, landlords and businesses as rooms lose revenue while undergoing expensive chemical treatments.
Bedbugs were almost killed off by DDT, but since the chemical was banned for inducing cancer, the parasites have swelled in number to their current epidemic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained the bugs are not only a problem for developing countries, but are growing in numbers in the US, Canada, the UK and across Europe.
“Bed bugs have been found in five-star hotels and resorts and their presence is not determined by the cleanliness of the living conditions where they are found,” said the CDC.
Travellers can spot bedbug bites as they itch and swelling in to welts, thdn subside after a few days.
The bugs do not live on humans, but come out to feed then scuttle off to a hiding place.
Because they are smaller than apple pips, the bugs are hard to spot secreted in clothing, shoes and suitcases.
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