Reports of bed bugs at seven hotels on the Las Vegas strip have recently come forward.
Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, Circus Circus, Palazzo, Tropicana, MGM Grand, and Sahara are among the list of hotels with recent reports of bug bites. The first report was filed in 2022, according to Southern Nevada Health District records reported by KLAS-TV.
The records show complaints at two Caesars Entertainment properties: bed bugs found at Planet Hollywood in June, and someone bitten while staying at Caesars Palace in January, according to KLAS-TV.
A Circus Circus executive was notified of a guest being bitten by bed bugs in their room in January 2022, the records reportedly show. Inspectors found bed bugs present and closed the nearby rooms for two weeks so they could be thoroughly cleaned.
That same month, an MGM Grand room was treated after inspectors found bed bugs and a Palazzo guest told health officials they were bitten during a stay, according to the records.
MGM Resorts said in the unusual event of a bed bug report, hotel officials immediately move guests to a new location and close off the room in question.
“Providing guests with a safe and enjoyable experience is our top priority, and we have robust preventative measures and response protocols to address and resolve any issues that may arise,” an MGM representative told USA TODAY. “In extremely rare cases involving bed bugs, we deploy comprehensive isolation, cleaning and extermination procedures that eliminate the problem and ensure other rooms and guests remain unaffected.”
In October 2022, a Sahara hotel guest said they squished a bed bug. The room later tested positive and was cleaned, KLAS-TV reported.
The Tropicana Las Vegas had a report of bed bugs this past February and told KLAS-TV that “while highly unlikely, in the event of a complaint, we immediately isolate the affected room and its surrounding areas.”
USA TODAY has reached out to all seven hotels for comment as well as the Southern Nevada Health District for further clarification on the reports.
How to look for bed bugs
Bed bugs gravitate toward places with fabric where humans like to lounge, like beds and sofas.
“There’s likely no place where bedbugs are infesting the bathtub,” said Michael Bentley, director of training and education at the National Pest Management Association. “If they’re in the bathtub, we’ve got a bigger problem and we’re not making it any further into the bedroom.”
Keep the luggage away from the rest of the property until after it is thoroughly inspected for bed bugs.
Bed bugs while traveling:How to tell if you have bed bugs in hotels, rentals and what to do if you take them home
How to find bed bugs in hotels
To find out if a hotel or Airbnb has bed bugs, do more than just pull back the bed’s fitted sheet and eyeball it.
Halee Whiting, owner of a hotel sales support company and a popular TikToker who created a viral video about how to check your lodging for bed bugs, recommends first, turning off all lights and closing the shades. Then, turning on the flashlight, check for the bugs.
Shine the flashlight on the beds during inspection. Pull the sheets back and check under the creases of the mattress, Whiting added.
“They’re pretty cryptic insects,” Bentley said. “Their body is flattened, kind of like business cards, so they can tuck themselves into these tiny nooks and crannies inside of beds and bed sheets and little seams along the bedspread.”
Where do bed bugs come from?Here’s how they get in and how you can check for their presence.
What to do if you find bed bugs in a hotel
If you find bed bugs or any sign of them, like their feces, document what you’ve found in photos and video and contact your hotel or rental host immediately.
Most good hotels will refund the stay and put the room you found them in and every room around it out of order until the bed bugs are exterminated, Whiting said.
One property, however, only put the room in question out of order, which allowed the bugs to spread and eventually forced the closure of 24 rooms until the problem could be solved, Whiting shared.
Airbnb’s policy is to refund guests if they come across bed bugs but it doesn’t always mean there won’t be extra costs.
Andrew Forcier of Columbus, Montana said Airbnb refunded him when he found bed bugs in his apartment rental in Montreal earlier this year, but only covered 30 percent of the more expensive hotel he had to book at the last minute instead. That cost him $500.
Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers
