If you run a holiday flat, a guesthouse or a hotel in Humewood, the pests that cause you the most trouble usually arrive with someone else: in a suitcase, a delivery box or a bag of takeaways. The answer is not a heavy spray before every season. It's knowing which pests come in this way, spotting them early and treating them properly before the next booking.
Humewood sits on the beachfront next to Summerstrand, and a lot of its buildings are hotels and holiday flats rather than family homes. That shapes almost every pest call we get here.
The pests that follow the guests
Bed bugs
Bed bugs are the one most hosts dread, and with good reason. They travel in luggage and clothing, hide in mattress seams, headboards and the joins of bed bases, and come out at night to feed. One guest can leave them behind without ever knowing they had them. Signs to look for when you strip a bed: small dark spots on the mattress piping, tiny pale shed skins, and guests mentioning itchy bites in a line on the arms or shoulders.
Caught early, a bed bug problem can be kept to one room. Left for a few weeks, it spreads along the corridor through wall sockets, skirting and luggage racks. Our bed bug treatments across Port Elizabeth start with a careful inspection of the affected room and the ones either side of it.
German cockroaches in kitchenettes
Self-catering units have small kitchens that are used hard for a week and then left. Crumbs behind the fridge, grease under the two-plate stove and a forgotten bag of rubbish are all a German cockroach colony needs. They also move between units through shared plumbing. Gel baits placed in cracks behind appliances and under sinks clear them far better than a spray, and they don't leave a smell your next guests will notice.
Rats around bins and refuse areas
Hotels and restaurants produce a lot of food waste, and refuse rooms near the beachfront are a regular spot for Norway rats. Where bins stand on bare ground or lids don't close, rats burrow nearby and travel along walls into stores and kitchens. The problem is very similar to what we deal with in rat control just up the road in Summerstrand.
Flies in summer
Busy summer weeks, outdoor dining and full bins bring house flies into kitchens and breakfast rooms. Screens and good bin management do most of the work; we add targeted treatment where flies are breeding.
How we work around bookings
- Quick assessment. Send us a photo of what you've found on WhatsApp. We can usually tell you straight away whether it's a bed bug, a carpet beetle or something harmless.
- Inspection of the room and its neighbours. Pests rarely stay in one unit, so we check either side and above where needed.
- Treatment timed to your calendar. For most insect work guests don't need to move out of the building, just out of the treated room until surfaces are dry.
- Follow-up. Bed bugs and German cockroaches both have eggs that hatch after the first visit, so we come back to finish the job.
Regular service for hotels and guesthouses
A business with a steady flow of guests is better off with a scheduled service than waiting for a complaint. We set up a monitoring plan with rodent stations around the outside, checks in the kitchen and refuse areas, and an inspection routine for rooms, with a record of each visit.
The mistake we see most
Using a supermarket bug bomb in a room with bed bugs. It doesn't reach into mattress seams or the frame, and it often pushes the bugs into the next room, so a one-room problem becomes three. If you suspect bed bugs, close the room, don't move the bedding into other rooms, and call us.
A beachfront tip
Give your housekeepers a torch and two minutes per room to check the mattress piping and the headboard when they change the linen. That small habit catches bed bugs while they're still a one-room job, which is far easier and cheaper to treat.
What does it cost?
It depends on what we're treating and how far it has spread. A single holiday flat with cockroaches in the kitchen is a small job. Bed bugs across several rooms, or a full hotel on a monitoring plan, take more time and usually involve follow-ups. We'll quote once we know the size of the building and the problem.
For the wider beachfront, see our all-round pest control in Summerstrand, or read more about getting rid of cockroaches in the Bay.
Call 087 012 5550, or WhatsApp us a photo of what you've found in the room and we'll tell you what it is.
Questions we get asked
Do my guests have to leave the building during treatment?
No. For most insect treatments only the treated room needs to be empty until surfaces are dry, so other units can stay booked.
Can one guest really bring bed bugs into my holiday flat?
Yes. Bed bugs hide in luggage seams and clothing, so a single stay is enough to start an infestation, even in a very clean unit.
How do I tell bed bug bites from mosquito bites?
You often can't from the bite alone. Bed bug bites tend to appear in a line or cluster, and you'll find dark spots or shed skins on the mattress. Checking the bed is more reliable than looking at bites.
Should I throw out a mattress with bed bugs?
Usually not. A properly treated mattress can be kept, and throwing one out without treating the room often leaves the bugs behind in the bed frame and walls.
Do you keep records for hotels and guesthouses?
Yes. On a scheduled service we record each visit, what was found and what was treated, so you have a history to refer to.