Insect experts bring bedbugs to suburban Chicago hotel for summit on bloodsucking pests

Bedbug experts bring samples to Chicago-area hotel

ROSEMONT, Ill. — A suburban Chicago hotel says it’s doing business with the enemy this week as it hosts the 2010 North American Bed Bug Summit.

The bloodsucking pests are running rampant in New York City, where they’ve have been discovered in a theater, office buildings, stores, housing projects and posh apartments.

Experts say Chicago’s bedbug problem is expected to rival New York’s in two to three years.

But the director of sales at the Hyatt Rosemont says he’s not worried about an outbreak there while the summit is going on. Aaron Bastable says he’s confident exhibiters will keep the bedbugs on display locked tight in their jars.

And, if anything goes wrong, the hotel is occupied by a small army of experts in spotting and killing the pests.