What we will do on the island
Treat the whole room rather than the bed. Bed bugs live in the frame, the headboard, the skirting and the carpet edge, so a treatment aimed at the mattress leaves most of the population where it was.
Confirm what you actually have before treating it. Plenty of bites are not bed bugs, and plenty of bed bug cases are mistaken for fleas. Treating the wrong insect costs you a fortnight and teaches the real one nothing.
Work discreetly, which matters more here than almost anywhere. An unmarked arrival and an ordinary-looking van are a reasonable thing to ask for and we will not make a performance of the visit.
Why bed bugs matter here in particular
Bed bugs travel in luggage. Anywhere with a high turnover of guests sees more of them than a street of family homes does, and that is simply what a visitor economy costs: holiday lets, B&Bs, hotels and self-catering cottages all take the same risk every changeover day.
A let with bed bugs has not done anything wrong, and treating it as a hygiene failure is both unfair and unhelpful. What matters is catching it in one room before a changeover carries it into the next.
The practical difficulty for an island business is timing rather than treatment: a room out of use in the middle of the season is the real cost, which is why knowing who to call before you need them is worth something.
Where we will cover
The whole island, PO30 to PO41: Newport, Ryde, Cowes, East Cowes, Sandown, Shanklin, Ventnor, Freshwater, Yarmouth and Bembridge, along with the villages between them.
We are not putting a date on it, because a date we miss is worse than no date at all. What we can say is that the list below is the first thing we will work through.