Britain plagued by a sharp rise in bed bugs, and the surprising reason why

Travelers can carry the bugs on their clothing and luggage, and when a mating pair takes up residence in a bed, they can lay thousands of eggs in weeks. It is also believed that pests are becoming resistant to insecticides, making it much more difficult to get rid of an infestation.

Infestations can have serious financial consequences for hosting providers. Professor Logan added: “A hotel can spend over £20,000 to get rid of bed bugs. It’s hundreds of pounds just for someone to come and take a look during an infestation and it can be very expensive because the treatments may not work the first time.”

A couple who stayed at the Cumbria Grand hotel in the Lake District in May were offered £1,500 compensation after they wrote to The Telegraph consumer advocate Katie Morleycomplaining of having suffered “greatly irritated bite marks”.

Chris Rickard of the Strathmore Hotel Group, which operates the venue, said “despite the best intentions and efforts of the hotel’s owners and operators”, bed bug incidents were “increasing at an exponential rate”.

He said: “High hotel occupancy levels, coupled with climate change, is the ‘perfect storm’ with regard to these highly elusive pests.”

Butlins has also faced customer complaints about the bugs.

A 21-year-old mother booked a £700 four-night stay at Butlin’s Minehead resort in Somerset for her son’s second birthday. During her stay in July, she said she was bitten more than 150 times and was forced to visit a GP after suffering an allergic reaction, according to reports.

Butlins apologized to the woman and ordered an investigation. He suggested that “there was no evidence of bed bugs in the accommodation”, although he later confirmed that she had fumigated the room.

American holidays have also had problems with blood-sucking bugs.

In a viral Tiktok video, a social media user shared images of the infected bites he suffered even after carefully checking his room for bugs while on vacation in Colorado. In the video, large welts can be seen up and down her arms and neck as the potter explains that her friends discovered the bugs under the buttons on the bed frame.

Previously, bugs even ruined vacations before travelers even reached their hotels, prompting Air India flights to be grounded in 2018 when they were discovered in aircraft seats. The airline apologized at the time and ordered an investigation.

A recent report by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health (ANSES) found that 11% of all French homes faced a bed bug outbreak between 2017 and 2022which cost €1.4bn (£1.2bn) to exterminate.

The report found that one of the main reasons for the increase in the number of infestations was an increase in tourism, but that there is no relationship between household income and insect outbreaks.