As the weather improves and the hospitality industry gears up for tourist season, hoteliers have multiple hygiene issues to consider. First impressions last and the presence of flying insects in your reception area or restaurant won’t leave hotel guests with the best impression. Which is why taking preventative fly control measures is so important.
Not only are flies extremely annoying, but they pose a health risk, spreading with them bacteria that can cause harmful diseases. Apart from having to deal with your guests complaining, your hotel’s reputation may be at stake if fly problems are not addressed effectively.
Flying insects spread disease:
Flies feed by regurgitating onto our food and then using their straw-shaped tongues to suck up the partially dissolved food. They also like to eat what we eat, but they also feed on bacteria-laden faeces, manure and rotting produce, thus contaminating food for human consumption when they move from one surface to another.
Flies carry E.Coli – the primary cause of gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and vomiting. Flies create an unhygienic and unhealthy environment for customers and employees: the mere sight of flies may cause damage to the reputation of any establishment.
Fly control tips for hoteliers:
Prevent flies from ruining your guests’ experience:
- Vinegar or fruit flies are attracted to ethanol, which is why they bother guests enjoying beverages. These insects breed in sugar-rich substrates like barrels and crevices in beer cellars. In order to control flies, it is important to have these areas checked on a regular basis.
- Flies respond to differences in contrast: mounting a dark coloured electric fly killer on a light wall will be more effective. Rentokil’s range of Lumnia fly control units from Rentokil offer market-leading LED technology in a stylish finish.
- Limit flies ability to breed and feed by removing all potential food sources. Ensure that your bar and restaurant area is free of spilled drinks or snack crumbs to alleviate your fly problem.
- Place fans near the most vulnerable areas in your property – such as doorways – and keep them blowing. Flies cannot land in a crosswind.
- Empty rubbish bins regularly and keep them as far away from kitchen doors as possible. Make sure that lids seal tightly and are always closed. Place fly bait boxes in outside areas to prevent flies from breeding.
- As a DIY fly control solution, hoteliers can install fly strips across doorways, and fly screens across windows. Alternately ensure doors and windows remain closed.
- Ensure that kitchen drains and fat traps are clean and free-flowing. Biological dosing from Initial is an environmentally friendly, non-chemical preventative maintenance program for grease traps, which is installed, serviced and maintained by Initial. By eliminating blockages, bio-dosing results in a pest-free, free-flowing drainage system.
Professional fly control services
Employing the tips above can help prevent a simple fly problem from becoming a full-blown infestation. However, whilst prevention is always better than cure, hot weather can mean that a small fly problem rapidly does become an infestation.
In that case, it is important to call in the experts quickly before guests are affected. Rentokil pest control technicians are discreet and can visit at times that suit your establishment. They are trained in a number of fly control methods, such as spraying and installing fly traps and bait stations. Their expert knowledge of fly biology means more efficiently targeted insecticide application. Regular fly control inspections by qualified pest control technicians also prevent the re-occurrence of a fly infestation.
For more information on how to get rid of flies or to arrange a free pest control survey of your business, contact Rentokil.
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