Bed Bugs On Vacation
Bed Bugs creep and crawl, and they just might be in your hotel room. And they could be coming home with you.
Bed bug infestations can occur at any time, but experts say it’s wise to be extra wary of the critters during peak travel times — like summer, for instance. Hiding in cracks and crevices, the bugs are good hitchhikers and could latch onto luggage and other belongings.
They’re not discriminating travelers and they don’t discriminate between a first-class resort or a low-rate motel. You could find them anywhere.
According to research, 74 percent of surveyed pest-control professionals said they’d encountered bedbugs in hotels and motels within the past year.
Although this number is second to apartments, condominiums and single-family homes — 90 percent of the professionals said they had found bedbugs in these places — it’s still pretty high.
It’s not just hotels, for sure. It’s hotels, vacation cottages, summer rentals at the beach, Airbeds, even a visit to grandma’s house. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to avoid letting the little bloodsuckers become an unfortunate vacation souvenir.
So here are 5 Tips for avoiding bringing Bed Bugs home from vacation.
Inspect Your Room
First and foremost inspect your hotel room. Before settling in, it’s worth doing a quick scan of the bed and any couches or armchairs. Look at the folds and seams of the mattress, little dark stains could be a sign of an infestation.
If it’s a pretty bad case, you might even be able to see the bugs’ castaway shells or pearly white eggs.
If there is an infestation you might be lucky and see a bed bug (I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing, I will let you decide). This is the first and probably the most important tip.
Inspect the Headboard
Look closely at wooden headboards. Although bedbugs are typically associated with clinging to fabric, they can use their claws to grip and climb bed frames as well.
Take a peek behind the headboard if possible, as the critters often hide in cracks, according to experts they are very good at hiding.
The problem is that headboards in many hotels are often quite heavy and can’t be moved. So there is so much we can inspect on the headboard.
Identifying A Bed Bug
Knowing what bedbugs look like is a good start to knowing what to look for. I have dealt with a lot of infestations in my time in the pest control business.
From infestation that was small to bug infestations. Sometimes we could catch the infestation at its early stages and be eradicated easily but, other times we would have to work extra hard and do several treatments.
In the end the outcome was the same and the problem was gone. It’s important to be able to identify the bugs, so you can notify the hotel immediately if you spot them. This isn’t necessarily fun, but if you find a bug in your bed, pick it up and put it in a plastic bag or one of those glasses they have in your hotel room. Keep it there so you can have proof that there were bedbugs in the room.
Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown and about a quarter-inch in length, while the younger ones are smaller and often have a “creamy coloration”. They’re crawling pests, If you see them jumping or flying, it’s definitely not a bedbug.
Keep Suitcase Off The Floor
It’s a good idea to keep your suitcase off the floor. Although either multiple bedbugs or a mated female would need to stow away to bring an infestation home, it’s worth taking precautions.
It’s all a probability matter, and you can bias that probability toward avoiding bringing them home by doing those inspections initially.
You can avoid picking up the pests by leaving suitcases in the bathtub instead of the main hotel room. This might be a bit much for some people but, tell me it’s too much after you bring some home with you.
Traveling is enough of a hassle but, taking extra precautions can go a long way to prevent unwanted visitors from our home.
Anything is possible in the world of bedbugs, but everyone has to make a decision about just how obsessive they want to be.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, it is up to us to be observant and take extra steps to avoid unwanted hitchhikers on our luggage and our person. We just have to make it a habit that we always do a good thorough inspection of our sleeping quarters at all times.
After all, we are on vacation and the only thing we want to bring home with us are souvenirs.
Hi Carlos,
Thanks for your post on this. I have to say that this never had occured to me around the potential risk of bringing them home! I’m definitely going to take on these tips for my next vacation. Are there any specific counties where this issue is more prevalent?
Cheers
James
Hi James,
Thanks for reading my article. I have another article on this site that has the cities have the worst bed bugs problems. This list I made in this year but, was from research from 2016. I writing one now that will be for 2017 and the it will include at least 10 cities. Rounding out the top 3 will be New York City, Philadelphia and Detroit so, that list should be ready soon. As far as in which counties they are a problem in, well they are such good travelers and can go up to 5 months without a blood meal. They can very well be anywhere. We just have to be vigilante when we travel and take extra precautions. Hope this helps, Thanks for your time.
Thanks
Carlos
Hi Carlos, this is a very useful article. You certainly have educated me. Knew that there was a little creature called a bed bug, but didn’t have any idea what it looked like. Thank you for the clear images.
Putting luggage in the bath is an idea which I would never have thought of. It is something that I will definitely do in the future, that’s for sure.
Thank You Roy,
I have heard that before from customers to where they have only heard of the bugs but, never actually seen them. That is one of the reasons I started this site, to bring awareness. I have seen some bad cases of Bed Bug infestations to where the homeowners were horrified about the problem. They just needed comfort in knowing that there was a solution to their problem. Explain to them the process of eradicating and what areas were going to get treated. Each situation is different and needs to be dealt with accordingly. The purpose of this site again is to bring awareness and help out with whatever questions you have about this terrible problem.
Thanks For Your Comment,
Carlos.
Hi! Thanks for this great article on avoiding bed bugs while on vacation.
First of all, those photos of bed bugs that you display are frightening to say the least. Just the thought of one of those little critters getting in my hair or on my body makes me shiver.
That was a really good suggestion – keeping your luggage in the bathtub. I never would have though about it. It’s worth it to me, if I don’t bring any of these pests home.
I’m wondering about a couple of things. What if you get to your hotel and you do find bed bugs. What can you do if the hotel is part of the vacation package? You can’t really go anywhere else.
Also, is there any procedure we should go through when we get home like keeping your luggage on the driveway and spraying it with Raid or something?
Hi Barb
Thanks for reading my article and happy that it was useful to you. That’s one of my main goals with this site is to bring awareness.
About your questions, the one about the hotel having bed bugs is frightening. First you must alert the hotel immediately because, they need to be made aware so that they can take immediate action to eradicate the problem. The last thing they need is to take things lightly and not take immediate action. As, far as moving to another hotel room will be their first option for you (assuming that’s the only room with an infestation) but, I have had customers tell me that when it did happen to them that the hotel manager was able to move them to a different hotel under their same brand and they didn’t have any issues with the process.
As, far as tips for when you get home from vacation is the if you can transport all items in a sealed plastic bag or bags until you can wash or treat the items. Trash bags work well but, they have to be tied. Another helpful tip is unpacking clothes directly into the washer and wash and dry at the highest setting available because, heat is what kills them.
Finally we just have to make it a habit about doing these things when we go on vacation (maybe even to a relative’s house). They might seem tedious to do but, they can save you a lot of headaches or even better a lot of money so, it’s to our benefit to be vigilant.
Thanks, For Your Comment
Carlos (BedBugKiller)