How Do You Check Hotels for Bed Bugs?

How Do You Check Hotels for Bed Bugs is the focus of this article. Bed bugs are insects we like to associate with the dirty environment. A hotel will be the last place we will expect to find bed bugs. But they’re there all the same. It’s usually not because a hotel room is poorly kept. It is just the circumstances surrounding the movements of these bugs. They’re like hitchhikers, happily catching the next free ride to their destination. You have a business meeting in the next town. You’ve checked into a hotel room. Now, how do you check hotels for bed bugs?

A Hotel Experience

Growing up, I had formed a mental picture of what a standard hotel room should look like – beautiful artworks hanging on the wall, impeccable cleanliness, excellent bed and bedding, stunning bathroom furnished with the top-of-the-line toiletries.

It is no surprise then that I will feel so elated checking into a nearby hotel while on my very first vacation abroad. A holiday vacation quickly turned into a nightmare for me when I got covered up with an intensely itchy rash a few days after check-in. The culprit? Bed bugs. It is safe to assume I’ve not seen hotel rooms in those same idolizing eyes anymore.

Bed bugs And Hotels

Bed bugs are everywhere, and hotel rooms are no exceptions, no matter how sparkling clean they tend to be on the surface. Findings by a bed bug exterminator say that about 5% of hotel rooms are infested and advises us to take extra safety measures when booked into a hotel.

Checking Your Hotel Room For Bed Bugs

So, how do you check hotels for bed bugs? You can follow these steps to feel safer:

Once checked in, ensure your luggage are still unpacked while you run through a short search.

Room Inspection

Turn over the bed sheets and blankets, and check the mattress for bed bugs. Particularly check cracks of the bed’s headboard. Keep your eyes open for live bugs, their nymphs and eggs. Presence of rusty, reddish stains may be signs you have bed bugs around. Lift the mattress and check under the bed. A flashlight will help in this regard.

Systematically check the room. Look at cracks around the windows, check the curtains and window blinds, clocks, paintings on the wall. Do not overlook any area. Any cracks in which a credit card can fit in should be thoroughly checked. Upholstered furniture should be paid attention to also.

After thorough checks have been carried out and there is the slightest indication that your room is infested, the request should be made for a new room.

Keep your room neat

Even when you feel your room is safe, you could be dead wrong. That’s why it is important you do not spread your stuff all over the place. If it is possible, your things should remain in your luggage. A bit extreme you may say. But with bed bugs, no measure is extreme.

Wash and clean everything when you get home

When you arrive home from your stay in the hotel, take the necessary precautions by leaving your travel clothes in the steam-washer for a minimum of 30 minutes. The heat will kill the bed bugs. Just washing with warm water won’t do.

On a final note, how do you check hotels for bed bugs? Sticking with our steps above will save you from a great deal of trouble or someone else’s mental picture of hotels as the perfect getaway spot might just be dashed also.