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A Quality Inn’s Harsh Response to Bed Bugs Prompts State InvestigationThe bed bug response plan of a hotel general manager has resulted in unwanted attention from the media and government officials. Wednesday March 09 2011 @ 01:45 PM Source:WickedLocal.comThe bed bug response plan of a hotel general manager has resulted in unwanted attention from the media and government officials. A Quality Inn Hotel in Brockton, MA is under investigation after bed bug complaints resulted in the building being put on lockdown. The lodging facility is one of the participants in the Emergency Assistance Shelter Program that houses homeless families in hotels until housing in shelters can be provided.
.jpg) After a surge in bed bug complaints from the homeless occupants, the general manager of the hotel building decided to impose rules on the residents that did not allow them to go into other hotel rooms, or allow their children to play outside the rooms, and lingering in hallways were also prohibited. The temporary lockdown resulted in a group of mothers complaining to the media.
I can’t sleep at night because of the bedbugs. I have such anxiety, I’m always cleaning, said Bre Berry, mother of a 1-year-old. They got us locked down, Berry said. The kids can’t play with other kids. If they just had a playroom, or even one room where they can play and two parents can watch them.
—Excerpts @wickedlocal.com
The hotel is now under investigation from not only the Brockton Health Department, who commissioned a pest management firm to treat the building and is now waiting for the report, but also the state Department of Housing and Community Development who has decided to immediately review all the hotels used in its Emergency Assistance Shelter program.
While the hotel has no violations and has a valid lodging license, bed bug complaints had been made within the past two months to the local health department.
The events that occurred at this hotel are the results of failures at several different levels:
Hotel Management: The lack of having an effective and efficient bed bug response plan that addressed the issue and educated the occupants, resulted in exasperating the problem.
Government Officials: If effective evaluations of the lodging facilities participating in the Emergency Assistance Shelter program were performed consistently, any red flags could have been addressed and prevented early on.
Homeless Shelter: Participating homeless shelters should have protocols in place to periodically assess the conditions of the facilities they used for these housing programs.
You can read the full story here
Written by: Ashley Reid, Public Relations Intern
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