What To Know About The NYC Bed Bug Registry

by | Feb 25, 2018 | Bed Bug Infestation

hotel bed made

There is valuable information on the bed bug registry that is important for everyone should be aware of. In recent years the United States and Canada have experienced a resurgence in bed bugs.

Once believed to be nearly eradicated, these parasitic creatures are making a comeback in a big way.  One resource that has been created to help alleviate some of the problems is the Bed Bug Registry.

By employing the Bed Bug Registry website, which collects user-submitted reports of bed bugs by both address and hotel name, a person who is wary of where bed bugs are a problem can utilize the information to put their mind at ease or take the necessary precautions to avoid the little nuisances.

bed bug

The registry allows you to find the following three pieces of information:

Bed Bugs Around Your Home

This is typically the first thing that a person is going to check.  You want to know if your area of residence has experienced any bed bug incidents.

By entering your address, you can find out if there have been any reports made within a mile of your home.  If you do find any incidents of bed bugs, you can consider an inspection of your own or take the steps required to avoid an infestation.

Bed Bugs on the Move

People are constantly changing residences.  Perhaps you’re moving for school or work purposes, or to simply have a change in venue. No matter the reason, and whether you’re moving to a new house, apartment, or other similar residences, you’ll want to know if any bed bugs have been reported.

The Bed Bug Registry will allow you to see where and when any bed bugs were reported, which will help you decide if you want to move there.

Bed Bugs on the Road

It’s a fact that people love to travel.  It seems that you can’t throw a rock outside without hitting a hotel. A danger of staying in a strange place, however, is the likelihood that thousands of other travelers have stayed in that same hotel, and very possibly in the same room and bed that you are planning to sleep in.

Bed bugs often move around the country and across the U.S./Canadian border by hitching a ride in the luggage of vacationers. This is why the Bed Bug Registry specifically allows you to enter the name of the hotel where you’ll be staying.  Although hotels are cleaned on a daily basis, it’s better to be safe than bitten.

Using the Bed Bug Registry 

Fortunately, the Bed Bug Registry is a user-friendly website to use and offers a wealth of valuable information for local areas within the United States and Canada.

It is designed as a searchable database, so to find the information you need, you simply need to type in some simple pieces of information such as hotel name with city and state and run a query.

Alternatively, if it is an apartment complex or another type of establishment, you can put in the street address as well as city and state. There is also a section on the website that provides instructions on how to file your own bed bug report to help other travelers have an insect-free experience.

There are other notable ways that you can use this site. For example, you can also sign-up for “push” alerts that will let you know if bed bugs have been reported within a mile of your home or place of business.

The Bed Bug Registry also lists city maps for major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver. Additionally, it has recently added bed bug reports on its homepage for easy navigation to get to the information you want.

The website is expanding its content through a blog as well as a resources page, which helps visitors learn more about the bed bug problem, how infestations are occurring, and what they can do about it to help stop the spread of bed bugs across the country and around the world. There are some articles, links to other bed bug resource sites, and links to products and treatment ideas for bed bugs.

In all, The Bed Bug Registry is a valuable free tool and a viable weapon effectively addressing the bed bug epidemic.

Quick Facts about The Bed Bug Registry

Why was the Bed Bug Registry created? The Bed Bug registry was developed and is administered by Maciej Cegłowski who is a writer and computer programmer. It was a way to deal with a traumatic experience in a San Francisco hotel involving bed bugs.

Maciej thought that offering a free, public database about bed bug sightings in the U.S. and Canada by those who experience these insects first-hand would help more people deal with the issue and better motivate hotels and apartment buildings to do something about their problem. Since it started in 2006, it has logged 20,000 bed bug reports.

  1. What information is available? You can opt to enter a hotel name and city/state or a street address in the database system and find out if there have been any citizen reports filed. You can also view interactive city maps of major metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto to name a few, which show where the bed bug reports are centered or clustered. The website also has a resources page with lots of useful information and links as well as a blog, which provides even more information about bed bugs and how you can identify, prevent, and treat them.
  2. How do you know if the reports are accurate? Because it is a free site where anyone can post, and the site owner does not review these, it is difficult to know just how accurate they are. When there are situations where it appears that competitors, angry customers, or upset tenants have posted to get back at a particular hotel or apartment building owner, the site does try to flag those.
  3. Should this be the only website I check? Because of the possibility that there is an inaccuracy or that the problem may have been fixed, it is best to expand your research and also check other websites like Trip Advisor for more input on the bed bug issue.  Also call the property directly to inquire, whenever possible.
  4. What type of warning system does the bed bug registry provide? The site will send you an email whenever someone reports bed bugs at a location within a mile of you. You can also opt to set up multiple alerts, using either a street address or zip code. The site will even email you all of the messages on these multiple reports in one single digest form to save you getting blasted with numerous emails. Your email address is only used for this purpose and is not used for any marketing purposes.

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