Cockroaches in Hotels

In this article, we look at everything about eliminating roaches from hotels, including where they can be found, what you can do, and ways to prevent a cockroach infestation in the future.

Why Are Hotels So Prone to Roach Infestation?

Research shows that cockroaches and bed bugs are the most common pests in hotel rooms. The biggest reason for this is the foot traffic in hotels; roaches like living in areas with humans where they can steal food and get shelter, and there are plenty of both in hotels.

Here is a more detailed overview of the things that make cockroaches common in hotel rooms:

1. Food

Hotels cater to a lot of people at once. Furthermore, not every guest wants to eat in the dining areas and will want food delivered to their rooms, giving roaches an opportunity to spread.

In addition, even after eating, dirty dishes may be left out for relatively longer periods before being collected by the cleaners. This gives the bugs more time to steal the crumb and leftovers.

2. Shelter

With so many places to shelter and reproduce, we could say that hotels are like havens for cockroaches. Hotels tend to have large areas, meaning that they can fit more populations of these ugly pests. Moreover, roaches become hard to find and have more places to run.

These days, hotels need to offer many facilities to the guests to remain competitive. This includes bathrooms with hot tubs, multiple sinks, jacuzzis, and hi-fi electronic devices. Unfortunately, these are all places where cockroaches can stay and lay eggs.

3. Foot Traffic

Sometimes, cockroaches can tag along with guests. Especially when traveling, people may have dirty and sweaty dresses in their luggage, and cockroaches are also known to feed on bodily fluids and even stained fabric.

The situation is still favorable to roaches when the guests bathe. These crawlers are hydrophilic, meaning they love moist places, and the wet bathroom floor and sinks give them an environment where they can thrive.

The Early Signs of Roaches in Hotel

Remember, there’s a reason that roaches have been able to survive for 140 million years and have quite the history. Find out why a cockroach is called a cockroach. They’re good at disguising themselves, and sometimes, you may not even be able to notice cockroaches in your hotel until the problem becomes significant.

The idea is to get rid of them as soon as possible, and for that, you’ll need to know how you can spot roach signs in your facility:

Presence of Cockroach Eggs

Cockroach eggs are enclosed in a biological casing called ootheca. After producing these shells, the females hide them to protect them from predators and even other cockroaches.

Especially if you find ootheca in the open, it means that the infestation problem is very big since the cockroach couldn’t even find proper hiding areas for it. If they are hiding, here’s our guide on getting roaches out of their hiding spots!

What Do Cockroach Egg Casings Look Like?

The ootheca is shaped like a small pill or a purse (say like a kidney bean or pumpkin seed).

The size can vary depending on the species- palmetto bugs and german cockroaches lay smaller eggs about 8mm long. In contrast, the ones of oriental and smoky brown cockroaches can even reach the length of 12 mm. Brown-banded cockroaches have the smallest oothecae, which may not even be 5 mm.

In terms of color, most cockroach egg shells are either black or dark brown, but German cockroaches have tan-colored shells.

Roach Feces

Cockroaches defecate as they walk. Hence, their poops spread everywhere. In addition, their cockroach droppings are used by other roaches to navigate safe routes, and again, these other roaches will also poop in the same area, causing the dirt to build up.

Cockroach feces look like specks of pepper or coffee grounds. They’re like small oval-shaped grains that can be black or dark brown.

Shed Skin

As cockroaches become adults and grow in size, they’ll need to shed their skin about 5 to 8 times in their lives. As they do so, they will leave behind an exoskeleton that is light brown and cockroach shaped. Some may even mistake the shed skin for a dead roach.

Foul Odor

Cockroaches give off a musty and oily smell like rotten soy sauce. This smell is generally not detectable in a single roach, but you’ll definitely notice it if there are many of these buggers in the hotel room.

There are many reasons cockroaches have a bad smell. This includes the pheromones their bodies secrete to communicate with other roaches, the chemical odor they leave when they die, and the dirt clinging to their bodies as they live in unsanitary conditions.

Damage to Property

This one is uncommon in hotels where food is abundant, but cockroaches can eat about everything when the situation arises. Of course, given their size, they won’t chomp away stuff but can leave tiny bite marks on cloth fabric, paper, and even your guest’s hair.

Sounds

Cockroaches make a hissing sound, which is like a very disturbing chirp. However, they don’t do so to communicate; these insects only make noises when they feel threatened, are fighting, or when attracting mates.

Places Where Cockroaches Can Hide in a Hotel Room

Before moving to the next part, let’s discuss the places where you are more likely to find roaches inside a hotel:

Bathroom

Bathrooms tend to have a lot of moisture and shadows. Bathroom sinks, tubs, and toilets are perfect hiding spots for cockroaches since these places are also great water sources. Always check your bathroom for cockroaches first!

Laundry Room

Laundry rooms give cockroaches’ warmth, moisture, and even food. They can eat the stains on the clothes, and the insides of washing machines are also perfect hiding places for them.

Kitchen

This doesn’t really need to be explained much. There’s food and water in the kitchen, and there are also holes. Especially if your kitchen has a lot of roaches, you’ll need to be very careful since you may end up serving diseases to your guests.

The best way to get rid of cockroaches in your hotel is to call pest control company like VITALCARE..