27 April 2005
Traveller Hotel Group takes aim at in-room insects
Assassins employed to terminate bugs
GENEVA, Switzerland -- The Traveller Hotel Group
(THG) has responded to a recent front page story in The Wall Street Journal
in which it was reported that bugs are moving back into hotel beds. THG
released a statement today saying that it is aware of the bedbug migration
into some of its properties and is taking what it calls a "green" approach to solving the problem.
Instead of relying on pesticides to keep the bugs
under control, the company has contracted with a Florida firm to supply
spiders that hunt down and kill the
insects. The creatures (Tucsonasis compatis), commonly known as "pillow spiders" because of
their fondness for climbing onto pillows as they devour their prey, have
already been introduced into the hotel's operations in Europe and South
America and should be on patrol in every one of the company's properties
by the end of the year.
The pillow spider is a close relative of the giant house spider (Tegenaria gigantea), which is found in many Florida homes where they
run down and devour ants, ticks, fleas, and the state's famous Palmetto
bugs (Periplaneta americana).
Jason Evanderlake, owner-operator
of Arach-Evac in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., the company which is supplying
the spiders, told Travel Fox that before deciding on pillow spiders, his
firm tried other multipeds including the "assassin bug" (Reduvius personatus).
However according to Evanderlake, that idea was rejected because of the
insect's penchant for biting humans around the mouth—hence its other
common name, the kissing bug.
So far the pillow spiders seem to be effective. "The only complaints we have been receiving,"
said Evanderlake, "are from guests who sleep in
the nude." Apparently the spiders can get, according to Evanderlake, "a little
too familiar" with the guests who share their beds."
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