How to Inspect a Hotel Room for Bed Bugs

 

How to Inspect a Hotel Room for Bed Bugs

A Hub for Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are parasitic pests and infamous hitchhikers. They’re photophobic, which means they do not like being in the light. Rather, they prefer dark places to hide such as the interior spaces of luggage, as well as purses. This is the reason why hotels and motels have unfortunately become hubs for passing bed bugs – they crawl in and out of luggage, hitchhiking their way to home after home throughout the US. Luckily, with a quick precautionary inspection, you can protect yourself and your family from these nasty hitchhiking pests.

First Thing’s First…

The first thing you should do prior to conducting your search is ensure that your luggage is kept off the floor and bed. This step protects your belongings from any bed bugs that may be present until you get a chance to clear the room. You can bring your luggage into the restroom to sit on the hard floor, leave it on the luggage cart, or even place it on a metal or wooden luggage rack.

Light it Up!

Bed bugs are very small, and they are incredibly adept at hiding. They tend to lurk in areas that are very dark and sheltered from view. Due to this, it can be really hard to spot them without a little help and, surprisingly just a little bit of light from a flashlight can make a big difference in your search for these bloodsucking pests.

What Am I Looking For?

Adult bed bugs are reddish-brown in color with flat, oval-shaped bodies. They measure about 3/16 inches in length and are flat similar to an apple seed. After a sanguine meal, they are swollen, red, are more rotund. Aside from seeing the actual bugs themselves you may notice other signs of an infestation such as bed bug bites (after staying in the room for a bit) or reddish-brown stains on bedsheets, couches, or other fabrics.  

Inspect Your Bed

True to their name, bed bugs do prefer to infest beds because it provides them with easy access to their prey: you. As such, it is very important to always check your hotel bed before settling in for the night and potentially laying yourself out like a buffet for these parasitic pests. Here’s how to thoroughly inspect your bed:

1. Lift up the blankets and linens from the sides of the bed
2. Look in the fabric creases of the fitted sheets and where the mattress rests on the frame
3. Pull up the fitted sheet and check in the cracks, folds, seams, etc. of the mattress on all sides
4. If present, check any bed skirts
5. Pull back the blankets and linens to check both the fitted sheet and top sheet for any spots that may look like dried blood (this is indicative of bed bugs having fed on other people there)
6. Check each pillow with special attention to the seams

Check Other Furniture

While bed bugs are most likely to inhabit beds, they can be found a variety of places. This can even include light fixtures, stuffed animals, wheelchairs, and electrical outlets. While those are more extreme areas that these pests have been found, the following are some typical places they hide in hotels.

• Chairs
• Dressers
• Footrests
• Bedside tables
• Curtains
• Bed frames

What Do I Do if I Find Bed Bugs?

In short: leave! You shouldn’t pay a hotel to be a victim of parasitic pests and, both morally and sometimes legally, they can’t require you to still pay for the room. We highly recommend you take pictures of the bugs as well as any blood stains on the sheets or bite marks you sustained from staying in the room as proof of your experience (this is extra helpful if you run into any resistance from the hotel). You can even try to capture one of the bugs to bring it to the front desk and show the manager. If you’re comfortable with it, you can simply request a room change, or you can change hotels if you prefer the extra safety and peace of mind. After leaving you have the option of reporting the infestation to appropriate establishments. For example, if you used a booking agency, it is very helpful to let them know about the issue so that they can take appropriate precautions when helping others book a hotel. You can also write a review regarding your discovery. However, bed bugs can be exterminated successfully and often infest hotels due to no fault of their own, so if a hotel displays proper concern and steps to handle the problem, it is advisable to hold off on writing public reviews about the situation. This is because these reviews can be incredibly damaging and encourages people to even avoid the hotel long after the pests have been completely eradicated. However, in the case that a hotel does not display an active plan to take care of the problem and/or gives you trouble even after presenting proof, writing such reviews can help protect others.

Other Ways to Prevent Bed Bugs from Hotels

During your stay, avoid leaving any clothing or bags directly on the floor and try to instead use tables or luggage racks that will make your bags more difficult for bugs to reach. Also, you may be putting yourself at risk by unpacking your clothing into any dressers, so avoiding this when possible can help you stay bed bug free. If you suspect that your precautions weren’t enough, and you’ve stumbled upon bed bugs. Here are some tips to avoid spreading them back into your life:

• If you are getting back into your car or a taxi, try wrapping your luggage in a garbage bag to reduce the risk of the bugs spreading during transportation.
• If bed bugs were confirmed, it is often the best course of action to toss your luggage. While you may miss out on a bit of an investment, the cost of ridding your entire home of the nasty bloodsuckers is far worse on your wallet, well-being, and sanity.
• Leave shoes and any other items that may have been infested outside of your door. Inspect and clean all these items before bringing them back into your home.
• Wash all clothing that may have been exposed in extremely hot water. Or, if the clothes are already clean, try putting them through a hot cycle in the dryer as the heat will kill the bed bugs and their eggs.

But if you’ve unfortunately gotten bed bugs from a hotel room, no need to fear. Call us right away! We are experts at bed bug control and can eliminate those parasitic pests from your home for good.