NYC: BEDBUG CAPITALOF THE US

Tourists are being bitten by bedbugs, not in some seedy hotels, but in some of NYC's swankiest hotels

Tourists visiting New York are returning home with dome souvenirs they didn’t ask for – bedbug bites. And they did not pick up those souvenirs at some seedy hotels, they got bitten in some of the city’s swankiest hotels.

Mayors are known for bragging about the virtues of their cities, but neither former Mayor Michael Bloomberg nor current Mayor Bill de Blasio have uttered a word about the bedbugs which seen to thrive in what appears to be the bedbug capital of the United States.

BEDBUGS REPORTED IN SOME OF NYC’S SWANKIEST HOTELS

By Leonard Greene

New York Daily News
February 8, 2016

It’s not just the fleabags and flophouses.

Bedbugs have been reported in some of the city’s swankiest hotels with a list that includes the Waldorf Astoria the Millennium Hilton and the New York Marriott Marquis.

According to the Bedbug Registry, a nationwide database of bedbug reports and complaints, bedbug sightings in New York hotels have jumped more than 44 percent between 2014 and 2015.

The data focused on establishments that are members of the Hotel Association of New York City.

Of the 272 association members, 65 percent, or 176 members, have had a guest file at least one complaint about bedbugs at the property.

Eighteen hotels had a combined 363 complaints, representing 42 percent of all bedbug complaints.

“I stayed in room 2306 for one night,” a Millennium Hilton guest wrote in a complaint to the hotel in 2014. “I found blood on my sheets and a live bug on my bed. I ended up with 60 plus bites.”

At the Times Square Doubletree guest said a stay there last year left hundreds of bite marks on the face, neck arms and hands.

“Extreme case of bed bug attacked on my entire upper body,” the guest wrote.” Went home to Florida a day early and ended up in my local emergency room.”

Last month, a California couple posted a YouTube video about their $400-a-night Central Park hotel room nightmare. The couple found dozens of bedbugs beneath their mattress at the Astor on the Park Hotel.

Lisa Linden, a spokeswoman for the hotel association, said hotels in New York are addressing the issue.

"Bedbugs are a global issue that extend beyond hotels,” Linden said.

”Every member of the Hotel Association of NYC that we are aware of has an active anti-bedbug program in place. If a problem arises, it is dealt with immediately and effectively."

Scientists who recently studied the bloodsucking creatures in the city’s subway system discovered a genetic diversity among bedbugs depending upon the neighborhood where they were found.

They said the discovery could lead to better insecticides.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apparently the NYC bedbug infestation has spread to the urbs.

NEW YORK MAN BURNED TRYING TO KILL BEDBUGS INSIDE RENTAL CAR

Associated Press
April 15, 2015

EASTPORT, N.Y. -- Police say a Long Island man set his rental car ablaze while trying to kill bedbugs inside the vehicle.

Scott Kemery suffered first- and second-degree burns in the incident Tuesday outside an Eastport supermarket.

Police say the Bridgehampton resident poured alcohol over the insects, then sat in the car and lit a cigarette, setting off the blaze.

He fled the vehicle on his own.

Detective Sgt. Edward Fitzgerald told Newsday that someone told Kemery that if he saturated the bedbugs with alcohol it would kill them.

Police say two other cars were heavily damaged from the intense heat of the fire.