These 7 Las Vegas resorts had bedbugs over the last 18 months

Seven Las Vegas Strip hotels popular among tourists and entertainment seekers have attracted some unwelcome pests over the past year and-a-half: bedbugs.

That's according to a Southern Nevada Health District complaint first obtained by local news outlet KLAS.  

The hotels include Circus Circus, Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, Palazzo, Tropicana, MGM Grand, and Sahara, records obtained by CBS MoneyWatch indicate.

A guest at Caesars Palace alleges they were bitten by bedbugs in January. The room was taken out of service while the five-star hotel's housekeeping team investigated the incident. Bedbugs were found and the room was treated, according to the complaint. 

Caesars Palace did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. 

"So much blood"

A guest at Sahara Las Vegas also reported a bedbug sighting in September 2022. 

The guest said "they squished it and there was so much blood," according to the complaint. The hotel confirmed the presence of bed bugs in the original room, which was subsequently treated. The guest had been moved to another room. 

The Sahara did not immediately reply to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. 

Inspectors also validated a guest's bedbug complaint at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in June. The hotel operator did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. 

At Circus Circus, bedbugs were found in a guest room in January 2022 after a guest complained that they had been bitten. Bedbugs were detected again in June, in response to a second guest complaint. 

Circus Circus did not immediately reply to CBS MoneyWatch's request for comment. 

At the Tropicana Las Vegas, a guest who visited in late January 2023 said they found bedbugs in their room and were subsequently transferred to another room. After the original room was treated, it was rented out again, according to the complaint. 

Hotel calls incidents "highly unlikely"

A spokesperson for Bally's Corp, the entertainment company that owns the Tropicana Las Vegas, outlined its protocol for responding to guest complaints about bed bugs, saying the hotel regularly administers "preventative maintenance programs."

"While highly unlikely, in the event of a complaint, we immediately isolate the affected room and its surrounding areas," Arik Knowles, the hotel's vice president and general manager, said in a statement to CBS News. "At that point, a third-party service will evaluate the situation and provide a recommendation on appropriate next steps, including professional treatment should anything be found."

An MGM Resorts International spokesperson confirmed a single bedbug incident, but said it took place more than one year ago. 

The spokesperson said that the resort has "robust preventative measures and response protocols to address and resolve any issues that may arise."

"In extremely rare cases involving bedbugs, we deploy comprehensive isolation, cleaning and extermination procedures that eliminate the problem and ensure other rooms and guests remain unaffected," they added. 

Its protocol for responding to bedbug complaints involves moving the guest to a new room and closing off the room from which the complain originated. A third-party expert then inspects the guest quarters. When bedbugs are determined to be present, the room in question as well as surrounding rooms are cleaned to eradicate the bugs. 

A number of additional complaints were made at different resorts but responding inspectors did not detect any pests.  

Hotel guests travel with bedbugs in tow

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) acknowledged that bedbugs do indeed often make their way into hotels because they can hitch rides in guests' luggage or on their clothing. 

"The industry has best practices that include using proactive measures and services, regular inspections, and vigilant monitoring in order to detect any potential problems early," the group said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. 

In a tip sheet on its website, the group urges anyone staying at a hotel to investigate their room for pests before settling in.

That includes pulling back the bedsheets and inspecting mattress seams for stains or spots indicating that bedbugs are present. The bloodsucking critters can also hide behind the headboard and in sofas and chairs.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommends travelers be on the lookout for telltale signs of bedbugs. 

They are roughly the size of apple seeds and are visible to the naked eye, but can hide in cracks in furniture. 

Hotels are prime venues for infestation given the high rate of turnover among guests. Staff and guests should look for the following telltale signs of bedbug infestation:

• Live or dead bugs
• Small bloodstains from crushed insects
• Dark spots from droppings
• Bedbug remains on linens, mattresses, bed springs, behind the headboard, in furniture, and between floor boards.

To be sure, bedbugs can make themselves at home anywhere people sleep, according to the National Pest Management Association's chief entomologist Jim Fredericks.

Hotels, shared apartments, dormitories and even single family homes are vulnerable to bedbug infestations. 

"There isn't anything magical about hotels that make them more or less susceptible, except that they have a high turnover rate," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "There, you have a high volume of people moving through one particular room in a relatively short period of time, and bedbugs are really good hitchhikers."

Bedbugs that enter hotels in passengers' luggage, backpacks and purses can return home with them via the same mode of transportation.

He advises hotel guests to take the following steps when they return home from trips in order to keep their homes bedbug free. 

• Wash or dry clean your clothing immediately. Dry clothing on high heat to kill eggs, nymphs and adult bedbugs. 
• Keep your luggage away from the bedroom. Instead, store it in a basement or elsewhere so that stowaway bugs do not cause an in-home infestation.