Luxurious Accommodations Flip to Unlikely Tech to Combat Bedbugs

Change take

Nobody wants to pay ultra-luxury prices and be forced to think of mistakes while on vacation. For this very reason, Valpas hopes it has created a better insect trap to ensure guests have a pest-free stay.

Mary Ann Ha

Valpas, a Finnish startup that helps dozens of luxury hotels fight bed bugs, is telling investors it’s unlikely to have built a better trap. It uses the so-called Internet of Things or the online linking of devices to exchange relevant data and increase the efficiency of the process.

“Valpas is a new hygiene and safety standard for the hospitality industry, a hybrid of hardware, software and label,” said Martim Gois, co-founder and CEO of Valpas. “Integrated into bed structures, the product scans the room, connects the bed legs together and forms a mesh IoT [internet of things] Network. The hotel is informed about its rooms in real time via the network.”

The 2013-founded company, which uses traps hidden in custom-made legs for the beds, closed a $1.74 million funding round in February. Investor ActivumSG Ventures led the round, backed by TESI, Realty Corporation, Maki.vc, Icebreaker.vc and Reaktor. Valpas has raised a total of $2.38 million in venture capital to date.

The sum of money is less conspicuous than their high-end clientele. The startup has signed 150 hotels under premium brands including Pestana Hotels and Resorts, Autograph Collections and Design Hotels in over 20 European cities.

Valpas works because it’s based on science—beetle behavior, to be precise. Bed bugs are attracted to human blood, so as soon as they feel the constant stream of CO2 expelled by human exhalation, they move towards it. The Valpas bed legs additionally attract the animals with a specially developed collar and coating. Once the bugs crawl up the leg, they fall in and get trapped in a small cavity.

It’s also a system that works proactively, rather than the reactive response that hotels use with standard pesticide treatments. In the past, hotels have discovered they have bed bugs weeks after introducing bed bugs, and by then they have an infestation – use pest control, which is already too late. Before Valpas, there was no way to guarantee customer safety from these parasites, but now hotels have the option to reassure their guests that they’ve solved the problem before it even becomes one.

Not only is the typical response to pest problems retrospective, but the Valpas team quickly realized that the greenhouse gas footprint of these pesticides and the companies that supply them is more than half the current environmental footprint of all fossil fuel companies.

Operating a Valpas member hotel makes it effortless for hoteliers to contribute to the hospitality industry’s transition to more sustainable, fossil-free operations.

The installation of the product is designed so that hoteliers can do it themselves if they wish. Existing bed legs are simply swapped out for Valpas bed legs and where the bed design has no legs the product can easily be incorporated into footless bed structures. Not only is the system fairly easy to use, but it’s also affordable, with two-star hotels right through to five-star hotels all using the product for pennies a night.

Bug proof hotel?

Aside from comfort and cost-efficiency issues, one key concern for hotels, especially among mainstream and conventional hotels, when it comes to Valpas, stands out: fear of how guests will react to the “bed bug-proof hotel” label.

Although 40 percent of travelers have experienced bed bugs at least once, hotels’ reluctance to openly discuss hygiene and safety is why many choose to do nothing about it.

“It’s such a nightmare experience, nobody wants to talk about it,” said Gois. “But in the end it’s still a problem and a basic, bare minimum in the hospitality industry. What we can share is the amazing customer feedback our existing member hotels have experienced and the increased demand for bookings that Valpas has brought.”

Valpas member hotels have achieved an average rating of 9.0 on Booking.com and increased guest satisfaction by up to 35 percent. And despite being a “pest control product” that hoteliers are typically afraid of, Valpas is succeeding in appealing to the luxury hospitality industry across Europe.

“Luxury” today is something that is constantly changing and can mean many things to different people,” said Gois. “Luxury hotels are essentially leaders, trying to differentiate themselves from their peers to provide travelers with the next most important thing. That’s next.”

Not only are hoteliers drawn to the sustainable, innovative nature of Valpas products, they also increase their confidence in providing guest comfort, which in turn reduces the need for room closures and the risk of negative brand exposure. Quickly transforming into a membership for the standard, the Valpas label helps luxury hotels achieve the overall quality that people normally expect from “luxury”.

“The company’s mission is to enable every traveler to enjoy the living world with confidence. We hope to dedicate this funding to the company’s goal of expanding into new geographies such as the Far East and the United States.”

[UPDATE: Details on the Valpas funding round were added after publication.]