CAMARILLO, CALIF.—Hygiena introduces SystemSURE Plus, a convenient system that hotel management and staff can use to regularly verify the thoroughness of cleaning performed throughout the hotel. Hotels around the world are using the SystemSURE Plus to monitor food preparation surfaces in kitchens on a daily basis.

ATLANTA—Kimberly-Clark Filtration has introduced a new filtration media that delivers MERV 13 performance for LEED Certified buildings. The media was developed in response to the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) standards for ASHRAE 52.2, MERV 13 filtration performance in LEED new construction and major renovation projects.

OURAY, COLO.—Box Canyon Lodge & Hot Springs has replaced all of its bedding encasements with CleanBrands’ CleanRest line of products. With a spate of recent bedbug outbreaks in the rocky mountain region, Box Canyon’s owners decided it was in their guests’ best interest to create as inhospitable an atmosphere as possible for the bugs.

BLOOMINGTON, IND.—A new green cleaning book by Stephen Ashkin and David Holly, “The Business of Green Cleaning,” has just been published and is now available to facility professionals. Ashkin is founder of the Green Cleaning Network and president of The Ashkin Group.

BOSTON—The Seaport Hotel announced the implementation of an innovative, chlorine-reducing water treatment system to its indoor pool, making Seaport the first hotel in the United States to utilize this green technology.

DAVIE, FLA.—With both the environment and the economy weighing heavily on most hotel owner/operators today, the timing is ideal for the introduction of a new air-conditioning process that not only eliminates wasted energy usage but also results in better indoor air quality. This treatment process is being introduced by ChemTron.

NATIONAL REPORT—Here’s a riddle for you: They are hitchhikers you would never want to pick up. To them, we look like Big Macs on stilts. If they reproduced as fast as rabbits, we would all be better off. What are they? Bedbugs. They are spreading like wildfire across the country, with hot spots in New York City and states such as Florida, Texas and Ohio. They are also living large in the Southwest. One motel owner in New Mexico is paying $63,000 to get rid of them. How bad is it in New York? Last year, there were almost 7,000 bedbug complaints. The number of complaints in 2005: 1,839. In 2006: 4,500. Of course those were not all hotel related but hotels and motels have most definitely been hit hard.

TAMPA, FLA.—Patricia L. Roberts, president of Global PBS, Inc., has been issued a U.S. Patent for a Polymodal Biological Detection System. It greatly enhances pesticide reduction efforts. A Gainesville, Fla., USDA entomologist is coordinating with scientists and engineers at North Carolina State University on developing Global PBS’ prototype bed bug sensor for the hospitality industry.

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes RMB Group, LLC as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. RMB Group’s Rest Easy bedbug spray is a green, all-natural spray used to kill and repel bedbugs and other small insects such as dust mites.

PITTSBURGH—Hotels and other multi-unit facilities battling bedbugs now have an effective, chemical-free alternative with the ThermEx Heat Remediation Solution developed by Chromalox, a leading manufacturer of electric heat and control products, and Massey Services, a leading service provider in the pest management industry.