Bedbugs are crawling in hotels, apartment buildings and college dormitories in surging numbers, spawning a new enterprise for insurance companies. Bedbugs are extremely hard to wipe out once they infest, and the cost can be very high. Infestations of any kind – bugs, rats or cockroaches – are typically excluded from commercial property insurance policies. But increasing pressure from lawmakers to require coverage, along with high demand from hoteliers and property owners to protect them from financial loss during an infestation, has created a new market.
Last month, bedbug insurance coverage was offered for the first time by two national brokerage firms, Aon Risk Solutions of Chicago and New York-based Willis North America; as well as NSM Insurance Group of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, an insurer. Hotels could spend an average $600 to $800 per room to eradicate bedbugs, according to experts. That is in addition to lost income if an infestation becomes public knowledge.
Source: The Buzz
