VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Bedbugs may be small, but they can create big problems for commercial property owners and others.

Bedbugs also may take the biggest bite out of a company's reputation, experts said during a panel discussion at the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s recent Annual Conference & Exhibition.

“The big numbers are all attached to reputational risk,” said Marshall N. Glinksy, a shareholder at New York-based law firm Anderson Kill & Olick P.C. A huge “ick factor” is associated with the bugs. A company associated with bedbugs can suffer a tremendous hit to its reputation, which could mean loss of revenue when potential guests skip infested hotels.

“It's an issue that is best handled if you confront it and take care of it,” said Mr. Glinsky. A bedbug infestation can have a “tremendous ripple impact on business,” and not just hospitality businesses, he said. “The big exposure is reputational exposure.”

Another panelist outlined reasons why bedbugs appear to be on the rise.

Increasing travel is a key factor, said Kevin J. Madden, managing director of Chicago-based Aon Corp.'s Aon Risk Solutions in New York. Bedbugs are extraordinarily portable, he said. Restrictions on the use of pesticides such as DDT that work against bedbugs also play a role, he said.

The top three areas for bedbugs are cinemas, hotels and rental cars, said Philip D. Flanary, vp-risk management for Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc. The bugs, which he said have an average life span of about 10 months, also have begun showing up in office buildings as well as more traditional environments.

Mr. Glinsky said a common misassumption about bedbugs is that their presence is a cleanliness issue. Instead, it's an issue of people bringing them into an environment on their clothing or in their luggage.

Ashford's Mr. Flanary said the bugs can be detected by a variety of methods, including by employees, canine scent detection and monitoring devices. They can be dealt with by using pesticides, fumigation, superheating the infested premises or subjecting the creatures to extreme cold, he said.

But Mr. Madden pointed out that dealing with the issue carries a price: The use of pesticides or fumigation to rid a room of bedbugs can take a room out of service for a week or so, with an accompanying loss of revenue.

Mr. Madden said insurance is available for third-party claims. He said he knew of no bedbug coverage exclusions in commercial general liability or workers compensation policies. Hospitality industry entities can purchase “loss of attraction” coverage in property policies, which doesn't cover the replacement costs of bedding or the cost of hiring an exterminator, but can cover lost revenue.

Mr. Glinsky said several legal theories have been cited in lawsuits alleging damage from bedbugs—including negligence, breach of implied warranty of habitability, nuisance, battery and even fraud.

But, “the hard dollars associated with the claims are not really big,” said Mr. Glinsky. He said bedbug claims are “not an exploding area of personal injury law.” Oddly enough, a lot of the cases are brought by lawyers on behalf of themselves or family members, he said.

“The plaintiffs bar is not chasing these cases” because payouts have been relatively small, Mr. Madden said.