Is there anything creepier than having bugs and rodents crawl through your hotel room? Maybe there is but dust mites are sure up there. These very tiny, insect-like pests thrive in warm, humid settings and feed on dead skin cells. Making your hotel in Vancouver the prime habitat for them. While they are too small to see and don’t bite, sting, or burrow into our bodies like other bugs do, this doesn’t mean they are harmless. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Here’s what you need to know about dust mites and how to keep them out of your commercial hotel.
Where do dust mites live?
Dust mites love warm, hidden places that are readily used by people. Since they feed off dead human skin cells (yikes!) places like mattresses, bedding, upholstered furniture, carpets, and curtains are prime spots. While dust mites can occur naturally in any type of home or hotel space, the more humid, the higher the dust mite count. Since Vancouver is one of the more humid cities in Canada, many spaces can be turned into the perfect dust mite nest.
How do dust mites affect your health?
As previously mentioned, dust mites aren’t like parasites that bite, burrow, or sting. Rather, they create harmful allergens from their fecal pellets and body fragments. Therefore, for people who are sensitive to dust or suffer from asthma, dust mites can cause a lot of irritation, even life-threatening circumstances to vulnerable peoples. For example, ongoing exposure to dust mites could trigger mild to severe allergic reactions or cause asthma attacks. In mild cases, people may experience the occasional runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes. But in severe cases, prolonged exposure could lead to these symptoms worsening, causing congestion, facial pressure, or severe attacks affecting respiratory function.
Because of this, it’s crucial that building managers maintain a clean environment to minimize the amount of dust mites in their communal spaces. Especially when it’s in a place where your hotel guests sleep and employees spend 40+ hours per week. But how can you manage this? That’s where our commercial building cleaning services come in handy.
How to keep your hotel free of dust mites?
Dust mites can survive in a variety of conditions. However, they prefer warm, humid climates with access to soft materials. Making bedding, carpets, couches, and curtains prime destinations for your dust mites. To minimize the amount of dust mites you have, our janitorial and commercial building cleaning services include:
- Daily or weekly vacuuming of all carpets, chairs, couches, desks, etc. (depending on your needs)
- A deep cleaning service to target all rugs, carpets, and upholstery
- Regular maintenance cleans of all area rugs, carpets, and furniture
- Applying dust mite spray on rugs, carpets, and any affected or vulnerable furniture
- Regular dusting to reduce the amount of dust and improve overall air quality
In addition to our commercial building cleaning services to target dust mite hotspots, there are some other precautions that can be taken, such as:
- Removing or limiting the number of rugs and carpets in the hotel rooms
- Choose furniture made from leather or artificial leather rather than upholstery
- Replace fabric curtains with hard surface blinds
- Reduce building humidity to about 50 percent
- Ensure air ducts are cleaned regularly to prevent dust build-up
- Use and replace high-quality filters optimized for capturing allergens such as dust mites
- Keep employee stations (e.g., the front desk, concierge, etc.) clean with regular dusting and sanitizing
In need of commercial building cleaning services?
While dust mites won’t cause painful stings or itchy bites, they can greatly reduce quality of life for people with allergies or asthma. That is why it is crucial building owners prioritize the cleanliness of their hotels. With regular commercial building cleaning, your hotel can be a safe and comfortable space with optimal conditions for your guests and employees. Our staff of experienced, passionate, and hardworking individuals can ensure your space is a place people enjoy spending their time. Whether you need janitorial maintenance, a deep cleaning service, or specialized kitchen and restaurant cleaning, we have been serving Vancouver’s commercial cleaning needs for over 25 years. Request a free quote today to start living dust mite free!