Hospitality is entering a new phase in how travellers choose hotels.
Analysis based on new research by Phocuswright, conducted across 1,082 travellers in the US, UK and France finds that pests like bed bugs are the #1 hotel booking concern, ahead of cleanliness and staff friendliness, and holds as the top concern across all age groups and trip purposes tested.
Valpas, the globally recognised bed bug safety certification standard, operating across 350 member hotels in 80+ destinations and 25 countries, independently verifies hotels at room level in real time thanks to proprietary in-room technology and pushes that proof directly into the booking platforms, OTAs and AI assistants where guests make their booking decisions.
The research shows how visible reassurance influences booking behavior, and for UK operators the implications are immediate. An issue long treated as an operational and behind-the-scenes, one has become the single biggest concern when choosing a stay.
Hospitality has done this before. Non-smoking, Wi-Fi and sustainability all began as operational issues before becoming visible booking standards. Bed bug safety is following the same path. Our role is to provide the independently verified proof that turns a guest concern into a commercial asset, visible where booking decisions are actually made. The UK is one of the next markets where that shift becomes reality.
said Martim Gois, Co-Founder and CEO of Valpas.
The behaviour has already changed
Travellers are not passive. Around 70% of US travellers and roughly half of travellers in the UK and France take precautions against bed bugs both during and after their stay – for example by inspecting their room on arrival or washing clothes in high heat after returning home – yet most never raise the concern with the hotel directly.
Yet the research reveals a striking gap between vigilance and capability: only 32% of US travellers, 19% in the UK and 12% in France say they would actually recognise a bed bug if they saw one. The result is a silence gap: guests are actively managing bed bug risk, while operators often only hear about it after something has gone wrong.
What happens when proof becomes visible
Show travellers visible, independent certification and their behaviour changes immediately. Between 79% and 84% say they would choose a certified four-star hotel over an uncertified five-star at the same price. Roughly 80% of travelers say they would pay more for a stay at a hotel with visible, continuous, independent bed bug safety certification, typically 3-5% above the standard nightly rate. And the benefits extend beyond the first booking: 78% of UK travellers say they would return to a certified property, and 72-78% of all respondents say they would try a brand they had never used before if it carried independent certification.
The commercial stakes for UK hospitality
Around 80% of travellers are willing to pay more for certified bed bug safety, and this opportunity is substantial: were the certification universally adopted and priced into room rates, Valpas analysis indicates it would represent roughly €9.5 billion in additional annual revenue across the three markets surveyed — the US, UK and France combined.
The cost of inaction is just as real: Valpas analysis indicates €2bn to €5bn (£1.7bn – £4bn) is already being lost each year across the three markets through incidents, guest compensation and the booking suppression that follows a single negative review.
With AI assistants now actively mediating hotel searches, up to 30% of US travellers already use them to check a hotel’s bed bug safety record before booking, hotels without visible proof of safety risk being overlooked during consideration.
Hospitality is joining a shift already underway across European capitals as bed bug safety follows the trajectory of Wi-Fi and sustainability into the booking flow, from invisible operational concern to visible, bookable standard. For decades, the industry stayed silent, and that made sense. There was nothing to show. Now there is. The hotels that surface this credential first won’t be taking a risk. They’ll be setting the standard.
About the research
The Phocuswright 2026 survey covered 1,082 travellers across the US, UK and France (balanced by age, gender and trip purpose; leisure and business travellers). Key statistics for reference:
- Pests such as bed bugs rank as the #1 hotel booking concern, ahead of cleanliness and staff friendliness
- When visible certification is available, travellers would choose it over star rating, brand loyalty, location and user ratings
- 79-84% of travellers would book a certified 4-star hotel over an uncertified 5-star at the same price
- Roughly 80% would pay more for visible, continuous, independent certification (typical premium 3-5% of ADR)
- 67-73% would choose a certified hotel over a usually-loyal but uncertified brand
- Roughly half of travellers (53% in the US, 51% in the UK and 52% in France) say they would not book a hotel that had even a single recent review mentioning bed bugs.
- €9.5bn (£8.2bn) three-market revenue opportunity if certification were priced into ADR; €2bn to €5bn (£1.7bn – £4bn) currently lost annually to incidents and review-driven demand suppression
- Up to 30% of US travellers (15% UK/France) now use AI tools to research a hotel’s bed bug reputation before booking
