Planners Not So Bugged by Bed Bugs

The bed-bug epidemic may be grabbing headlines and creating stampedes to forums like the North American BedBug Summit held last September outside Chicago (see our story in the November 2010 issue), but meeting planners are much more focused on things like cost and location.

That’s from a survey of meeting planner reactions to the bed-bug hullabaloo, conducted in October by The Knowland Group. Here are some of the findings:

Only 8 percent of meeting planners inquire about bed-bug outbreaks when researching meeting spaces, and 82 percent never do.

Fear of bed bugs have led only 2 percent of planners to ask for clauses pertaining to outbreaks in meeting contracts. However, a good number — 18 percent — do ask about bed bugs after a hotel is booked.

Attendees are even less likely to bring up the question of bed bugs in meeting hotels. Most — 88 percent — have never expressed and concern to planners.

And while 4 percent of meeting planners report that the absence of bed bugs is their Number One concern when booking events at hotels, for most planners, other considerations rate far greater attention, including location (33 percent), cost (25 percent), meeting space (20 percent), and amenities (9 percent).