Pests are a big concern in the hospitality industry so when guests visit a hotel, they expect a clean and healthy space where they can relax and they don't want to share a room with critters.

Hoteliers can take steps to train staff and maintain cleanliness. However, infestations still happen.

According to experts, 25% of the food that passes through a hotel kitchen is thrown out. With room service, restaurants, buffets and catering, that equates to a lot of daily food waste. It's no wonder pests are attracted — to them, it's a feast.

Some of the most common hotel pests include:

• Flies
• Rodents
• Bed Bugs
• Cockroaches

If your hotel is dealing with unwanted guests, follow the advice below.

Train Best Practices
Teach staff best practices to prevent an infestation. Cockroaches and flies can instantly scare off guests and result in bad reviews. Ward off pests by tossing leftovers, cleaning up spills and covering trash bins. Always store food in airtight containers. To prevent an infestation — or monitor an existing one — lay cockroach traps around the hotel kitchen and check them regularly.

Rodents are another common hotel concern. Staff should store food properly in the hotel kitchen and restaurant. Seal off all possible access points, like cracks, vents and screens. Check the hotel's surrounding perimeter for garbage. You should also cut back tall grass and weeds.

Preventative training is a small investment that can save you lots of money in the long-term. When you prevent an infestation, you can avoid the costs associated with professional extermination and furniture replacement.

Look for Warning Signs
Teach your staff the warning signs. If they see any presence of pests, they can alert management right away. The sooner you catch an infestation, cheaper — and easier — it will be to get rid of. The ideal solution is to discover and amend the issue before it alters the guest experience.

Bed bugs, for example, are small. Yet they're detectable with the naked eye. Instruct staff to keep an eye out for tiny blood spots on sheets, blankets, pillows and furniture. Since bed bugs can lay up to 12 eggs per day, you'll want to take action as soon as possible.

Rats and mice also leave evidence of their presence. Cleaning staff should look for droppings and stains around rooms and hallways. These critters tend to be more active at night, when most of the team is at home, and guests are asleep.

Find a Trusted Expert
Many hotels wait to seek out an exterminator. When a problem arises, they have limited time to find a qualified professional. To get the job done, they may compromise on quality. The more you wait, the bigger the problem will get.

Don't let pests control you. Instead, have a trusted expert on speed dial. You'll want an exterminator who's adept at working near guests, ideally one with commercial experience.

In extreme cases, some hotels have to shut down to deal with an infestation. When you respond to the problem immediately, you reduce this risk. You can also avoid costs associated with linen and furniture replacement.

Try the IPM Approach
IPM (integrated pest management) relies on several combined methods to effectively manage pests. By considering pest life cycles, along with available control methods, hotels can determine the most economical way to manage pests.

With the IPM approach, you start by identifying action thresholds. Which conditions indicate when to take action on a pest population? Seeing one single pest may not be cause for alarm. Next, monitor and identify pests. You can do this effectively with the help of your team.

The first line of defense is prevention. After that comes control. Evaluate which pest control method is the most effective with the least risk. This is the technique you should try first.

A history of pest sightings is bad for any hotel. In today's digitally-inclined age, it's more important than ever to control pest populations and garner top reviews. With large amounts of food prepared and disposed of each day, hotels are a target to pests like cockroaches, flies and mice. However, there are plenty of steps you can take to rid your hotel of unwanted visitors.

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Kacey Bradley is the blogger behind The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts. Along with writing for her blog, she has written for sites like U.S. News, SUCCESS, Ruffled, and more!

www.driftercollective.com