had two bedbug sightings this trip, one in the Gold Spike and one at the Four Queens. The first was more than likely a case of the hotel using a mattress pad after the bugs had been killed. It looked as if dead bugs had caught in the rough texture of the small pad just above the mattress. There was no other indication of any bedbugs, but any indication means I ask for a room change and I get it.
The second was more real.
I arrived at the Four Queens at about nine in the morning and they were willing to book me, but only had quiet rooms in the North Tower. I was moving from The D and wanted to be able to walk it in two trips, so I abandoned my request for South Tower and took the North Tower.
Quiet is my one concern.
And Bedbugs.
I walked up without luggage and there were the little black dots in the crevice of the mattress. I was really motivated to talk myself out of the first sighting of just two insects because I wanted an early booking, and I feared I'd lose that advantage. Maybe I was overreacting to lint, I thought. But I could not talk myself out of seeing a long line of the telltale black dots in the crevice of the seam on one side of the mattress.
So down I went for a room change.
I have been moved twice before, last trip in the Flamingo and then this one in The Gold Spike, and I exspected that the bugs would be treated like no big deal by management, and they would remove me without much attention to the issue. Perhaps I would lose the advantage of my early booking and have to really pack to move from the D afterall because I'd need to store with the Bell Captain.
Not here.
Immediately the clerk set out to lock up a new room for me, but explained I needed to make a security report. She took the issue very seriously. In two minutes a security guard arrived. I wrote a statement and signed it and my photo ID was photographed and added to the paperwork.
He wrote down the number of the room I was going to.
Clearly they would follow up and inspect that room after I left.
There would have been attention to my bags as well if I had spent the night with the bugs. The guard said that they would inspect my luggage if it had been exposed. I don't have much faith in visual inspection of luggage, but that is what they do.
As I was going to inspect my new room 1209, the guard was going to inspect the infected room 417, but he did not know I was directly behind him.
As we passed the fellow sitting security in the casino high seat, the guard mentioned where he was going and why. From his tone I caught that he was skeptical of what I had seen. So they must get false reports.
We were in the elevator together and talked about the problem. He had encountered them in a high end resort property he managed in North Carolina, and said that they could occur anywhere, that they were common wherever there was a high turnover of transient visitors.
He told me what I already knew, but everything he told me was true.
I liked him.
He was down to earth and what he said made common sense. I asked if I could watch his inspection. He was happy to have me because I could show him just what I saw.
We did not do much of an inspection because what I showed him was plenty. He said he thought they were eggs rather than live bugs, and he photographed one section of the mattress. The next day I saw him again and he said he suspected that it was a case of poor housekeeping after the bugs had been fried by heat.
They treat there with high temperature heaters and fry the bugs and eggs and everything.
So, one more good note on the Four Queens. They take bedbugs seriously, keep records, have an immediate inspection, follow up by checking where the guest goes next, and use the best extermination methods. It was the most attentive reaction to bedbug worries that I have encountered. And their procedures were serious and attentive immediately, with the inspection happening just minutes after my finding and reporting the sighting and all was done in spite of the fact that my reporting may have seemed questionable to them.
This is already my favorite casino for gambling comps and how I am treated in general. Their serious attention to my biggest worry when traveling just increases my respect.
Contrast the Flamingo where two trips ago I found bloodspots and put a live bug under a glass. Their attitude was close to "whatever" and as far as I know nothing was written down or any report made. No one asked me to show them anything. No one took the new room number so they could look there later.
I really thought that after the Flamingomoved me, they would just remake the bed, replace the cushions which showed bedbug activity, and rent the room again.
It did not make me want to stay there again.
Don't confuse my finding bedbugs at low end properties with a widely held myth that like roaches, fleas, etc they are a result of poor cleaning. They can be anywhere. I only inspect low end properties because I only book low end properties. Bellagio has had bedbugs, but I have not been there to see them.
Keep checking before you move in luggage. I am getting more confident that seeing them is not rocket science. These were clear.
I do think that hotels like Sam's Town where the mattresses are so wrapped up in layers of mattress covers that we can't actually get to the seams to see what is there might be more difficult to inspect. I'm more comfortable when I can just rip the bed apart and check the entire seam and see behind the headboard with my flashlight. The headboards at Imperial Palace were light and lifted off the wall easily. I liked that. No one is vacuuming behind the headboard, so if bugs are in the room, they will most likely be visible there. I always check with a little flashlight, but it is awkward.
Oh, I also sprayed my clothing and shoes that went in the infested Four Queens room although nothing looked alive there. Just another precaution.
The spray is easy to pack.
Also, I think it is good to have a plan of action in case we miss them and sleep with them. When we get home, nothing should come in the house until it is bagged and then all clothing and shoes should be put in a dryer and all luggage at least cleaned and sprayed.
In my case I have an extra chest freezer and I'd just bag my suitcase and put the whole thing in deep freeze for a few months.
I read so many reports that say, "We hope we have not brought them home with us." and wonder why they have taken no precautions to make that a better bet.
Oh, speaking of betting. To compensate me for my inconvenience and reward me for my attentive inspection, the Four Queens had the 10/7 Double Bonus Progressive ( the best DB in the world) deal me a $1045 Royal Flush in hearts in the first five cards on the very next day. Karma.
I've been saying that encountering bedbugs is a lot like catching a Royal. It seems that is more than an analogy. We go along inspecting and inspecting and the bugs never seem to show up, just as we keep tossing hand after hand. Then suddenly the rare occurrence happens and our faith in ultimate possibilities is rewarded.
As I spend my $1045 royal winnings, I'll remember my luck at having it dealt to me and my luck finding those little buggers before I slept with them.
I like to think I apply a good strategy to both games. But to win at a bedbug inspection and not take them home with me, perhaps saves me ten times the royal winnings.
The second was more real.
I arrived at the Four Queens at about nine in the morning and they were willing to book me, but only had quiet rooms in the North Tower. I was moving from The D and wanted to be able to walk it in two trips, so I abandoned my request for South Tower and took the North Tower.
Quiet is my one concern.
And Bedbugs.
I walked up without luggage and there were the little black dots in the crevice of the mattress. I was really motivated to talk myself out of the first sighting of just two insects because I wanted an early booking, and I feared I'd lose that advantage. Maybe I was overreacting to lint, I thought. But I could not talk myself out of seeing a long line of the telltale black dots in the crevice of the seam on one side of the mattress.
So down I went for a room change.
I have been moved twice before, last trip in the Flamingo and then this one in The Gold Spike, and I exspected that the bugs would be treated like no big deal by management, and they would remove me without much attention to the issue. Perhaps I would lose the advantage of my early booking and have to really pack to move from the D afterall because I'd need to store with the Bell Captain.
Not here.
Immediately the clerk set out to lock up a new room for me, but explained I needed to make a security report. She took the issue very seriously. In two minutes a security guard arrived. I wrote a statement and signed it and my photo ID was photographed and added to the paperwork.
He wrote down the number of the room I was going to.
Clearly they would follow up and inspect that room after I left.
There would have been attention to my bags as well if I had spent the night with the bugs. The guard said that they would inspect my luggage if it had been exposed. I don't have much faith in visual inspection of luggage, but that is what they do.
As I was going to inspect my new room 1209, the guard was going to inspect the infected room 417, but he did not know I was directly behind him.
As we passed the fellow sitting security in the casino high seat, the guard mentioned where he was going and why. From his tone I caught that he was skeptical of what I had seen. So they must get false reports.
We were in the elevator together and talked about the problem. He had encountered them in a high end resort property he managed in North Carolina, and said that they could occur anywhere, that they were common wherever there was a high turnover of transient visitors.
He told me what I already knew, but everything he told me was true.
I liked him.
He was down to earth and what he said made common sense. I asked if I could watch his inspection. He was happy to have me because I could show him just what I saw.
We did not do much of an inspection because what I showed him was plenty. He said he thought they were eggs rather than live bugs, and he photographed one section of the mattress. The next day I saw him again and he said he suspected that it was a case of poor housekeeping after the bugs had been fried by heat.
They treat there with high temperature heaters and fry the bugs and eggs and everything.
So, one more good note on the Four Queens. They take bedbugs seriously, keep records, have an immediate inspection, follow up by checking where the guest goes next, and use the best extermination methods. It was the most attentive reaction to bedbug worries that I have encountered. And their procedures were serious and attentive immediately, with the inspection happening just minutes after my finding and reporting the sighting and all was done in spite of the fact that my reporting may have seemed questionable to them.
This is already my favorite casino for gambling comps and how I am treated in general. Their serious attention to my biggest worry when traveling just increases my respect.
Contrast the Flamingo where two trips ago I found bloodspots and put a live bug under a glass. Their attitude was close to "whatever" and as far as I know nothing was written down or any report made. No one asked me to show them anything. No one took the new room number so they could look there later.
I really thought that after the Flamingomoved me, they would just remake the bed, replace the cushions which showed bedbug activity, and rent the room again.
It did not make me want to stay there again.
Don't confuse my finding bedbugs at low end properties with a widely held myth that like roaches, fleas, etc they are a result of poor cleaning. They can be anywhere. I only inspect low end properties because I only book low end properties. Bellagio has had bedbugs, but I have not been there to see them.
Keep checking before you move in luggage. I am getting more confident that seeing them is not rocket science. These were clear.
I do think that hotels like Sam's Town where the mattresses are so wrapped up in layers of mattress covers that we can't actually get to the seams to see what is there might be more difficult to inspect. I'm more comfortable when I can just rip the bed apart and check the entire seam and see behind the headboard with my flashlight. The headboards at Imperial Palace were light and lifted off the wall easily. I liked that. No one is vacuuming behind the headboard, so if bugs are in the room, they will most likely be visible there. I always check with a little flashlight, but it is awkward.
Oh, I also sprayed my clothing and shoes that went in the infested Four Queens room although nothing looked alive there. Just another precaution.
The spray is easy to pack.
Also, I think it is good to have a plan of action in case we miss them and sleep with them. When we get home, nothing should come in the house until it is bagged and then all clothing and shoes should be put in a dryer and all luggage at least cleaned and sprayed.
In my case I have an extra chest freezer and I'd just bag my suitcase and put the whole thing in deep freeze for a few months.
I read so many reports that say, "We hope we have not brought them home with us." and wonder why they have taken no precautions to make that a better bet.
Oh, speaking of betting. To compensate me for my inconvenience and reward me for my attentive inspection, the Four Queens had the 10/7 Double Bonus Progressive ( the best DB in the world) deal me a $1045 Royal Flush in hearts in the first five cards on the very next day. Karma.
I've been saying that encountering bedbugs is a lot like catching a Royal. It seems that is more than an analogy. We go along inspecting and inspecting and the bugs never seem to show up, just as we keep tossing hand after hand. Then suddenly the rare occurrence happens and our faith in ultimate possibilities is rewarded.
As I spend my $1045 royal winnings, I'll remember my luck at having it dealt to me and my luck finding those little buggers before I slept with them.
I like to think I apply a good strategy to both games. But to win at a bedbug inspection and not take them home with me, perhaps saves me ten times the royal winnings.
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