Bed Bugs?

Before booking any hostel or hotel I check out online reviews at tripadvisor.com, hostelbooker.com and other such sites. Try googling the hotel name you are interested in. If there is any mention of uncleanliness or bugs I will not book there.

Do a Google search on bed bugs and learn how to inspect your room for signs of past or current infestations.

Keep your luggage and clothing off the floor (especially carpeted floor).

And before someone logs in here and tells you to spend money on a sleep sack as a way to avoid getting bit, I can tell you that is false information. If bugs are in the mattress, they will work their way into your sleep sack and you'll just infest your luggage and your next hotel, hostel, etc. you check into.

Unfortunately bed bugs can be anywhere, including expensive , 4 star, clean hotels. The only difference between a nice clean place that gets them and a dirty place, is the dirty place doesn't get rid of them!!
They get around on peoples suitcases and clothes.. so...

Seriously bed bugs can be anywhere, and as noted a sleep sack does not protect you.
What protects you is checking the bedding out before you stay in the room. There are websites that explain in depth what to look for , go find them.

Thanks for all of your input but I'm really looking for someone to say, " I've been travelling for ....years and I've never seen a bed bug....." Ha Ha
Please give me some peace of mind here

I've been traveling in Europe for 40 years (since 1967) and have never seen,heard, or been bitten by a bedbug. Does that resolve your question? I should add that most of my travels have been in Germany, Norway, Dnmark, and Switzerland.

We have done about 300 days in the past 15 years and never saw a bed bug.

As one person said, even a high end hotel can have B.B's. Those buggers are little hitchhikers and like fleas, can infest an area from hopping one's luggage.

Before settling in your room, check the bed, top and inside. You will know if you see bed bugs. If you do, contact the front desk immediately and see if they can relocate you.

When you come back to Canada, before putting your luggage down, toss all laundry in the machine, and put away your luggage (away from your bed, etc.) to avoid any hitchhikers.

I've travelled a lot all over Europe and never seen a bed bug.
The only place I got bit was in a hostel in NYC.

OK Melanie, I too have never encountered them either, and that goes over many years of travel, including some pretty budget choices in my youth. You have a 99.9% chance of being just fine, remember you are more likely to be hit by a car,, LOL

O.K. I feel much better!! Thanks everyone! 1 1/2 weeks to go! So excited!

Bed bugs happen!!

I like to ask to see the room first before accepting it. I pull the bed out from the wall, look between the mattresses and along the wall and under the bed, if I can.
I've walked into some very well appointed rooms and followed this same procedure. They can be anywhere as others have said.

I always use the luggage rack and not the bed or floor. I consider my luggage contaminated and never pack it on my bed.
I keep it in a sealed plastic bag when I'm not using it.

I've encountered Bed Bugs on a couple occaisions. Once in the UK and once in Portugal. Both were at 4 star hotels. It made for one very itchy Pairing and miserable flight home. I kept having to excuse myself to the Lav to have a good scratch!
You can get treatment in lotion form. It's not fun hunting it down when the Pharmacia is closed.

I've never seen or been bitten by a bed bug. But they do exist, and not just in Europe. There was a story a year or two back about high class hotels in New York being infested by BBs. You're never safe...they're out there...muuhahahahahaha

Seriously, there's not much you can do except check the bedsheets before you retire for the night.

Night-night. Don't let the bed bugs bite.

Have a great trip!

A while back we were staying in an old hotel in Rawalpindi and before bedtime the inn keeper came in and sprayed the bed sheets with DDT. Although we were a bit shocked, we figured DDT was better than bed bugs or other critters. Haven't had bed bug trouble in Europe, but have had a few run-ins with fleas in South France. But California has it's share of fleas too.

One of the reasons bedbugs are back is because we can't use DDT anymore in the U.S. That was the old way of treating bedbugs.

Before I travel anywhere, I check out the hotels I plan to stay in on Tripadvisor.com travel.yahoo.com and other sites.

That doesn't mean those places may not have bedbugs it just may mean they haven't been reported.

LIke others have said, keep your luggage off the bed and the floor. I now use a sealed large ziploc bag as my laundry bag so if I should encounter them, they will be sealed in the ziploc bag and not get all over everything in my luggage.

BTW--another bit of advice. when you first get into your room. Take off the bedspread and move it to some area where you won't have to deal with it. They aren't cleaned as often as you think.

Bugs aren't just in the beds -- my left arm was eaten alive by something living in a first class pillow on an American Airlines flight home from Hawaii this past January (I'd used the pillow to cushion the arm rest between me and my husband -- they didn't bother him at all!) I finally figured out that the pillow was the issue and had the stewardess take it away -- I had bite marks with scabs, quite unlike flea or mosquito bites. Next time we go tropical I'll wipe myself down with a bug repellent towelette first!

Frank is absolutely correct about the bedspreads! I used to manage a 4 star Property for a Major Hotel Chain and the HSKP Manager told me they are washed every month at best...Sooner if there is visable staining. If there are no noticable stains, that bedspread goes right back on the bed. Definately toss it to the side and request an additional blanket from HSKP if you are chilly or crank the heat.

Most blankets are now sealed in drycleaner plastic bags, and are yours to keep for a couple bucks. That way you know it has not been reused. They need to seal the pillows in plastic as well. I think it is a health and safety issue.

I had to be treated after one flight. I can only guess where/how but I know I was out of my mind with itch upon landing after using the unsealed blankets. I swear they were saved just for me b/c I was Spouse of... It made for one itchy Pairing!

The Airline bought me some lotion for $14 Euros. Or put the $ on my SO's paycheque, once I submitted the receipt...Better than nothing, I guess...

Well! All you people from Mike on....you could have nicely refrained from posting. I was feeling very good about things. Now I'm feeling itchy. LOL
Just kidding. Not going to worry about it

Okay, dearheart, here is the answer you are seeking: Melanie, I am 65 years old, I've lived and traveled all over the USA, also places in Canada, Mexico, and Europe, and never, in my entire life, have I seen a bedbug anywhere, except on tv or in a spooky advertisement of some sort. :)

Good choice Melanie - don't worry about it. I don't (ut I suppose if I ever ran into bed bugs I might start).

Hi Melanie,
... bedbugs don't come out until you are sound asleep. Like mosquitoes, they home in on the carbon dioxide you exhale. You won't see them. They aren't numerous, either. One bug bites several times --usually right over a vein in your leg or your foot.
... However, you may be able to see where bedbugs spend the day waiting for you to go to sleep. If your hotel room is "infested" you may find evidence of their nest(s) on the back of the bedstead. You may be able to find photos of bedbug nests on the Internet (at Google.com, maybe)so you know what to look for.
... Sorry about this disgusting topic... Don't you just HATE bugs???
ciao ... P

Melanie, I used to think BBs were just another nuisance until a recent stay at a perfectly normal hotel in PA last month. I woke to find them crawling on my pillow and under my sheets. Now I am in a living hell trying to be sure I didn't infest my home because I wasn't educated on how to prevent carrying them from place to place. Please educate yourself on how to inspect a room (bedbugger.com is a great website) and how to prevent carrying them out of a room that has them...that's how they get spread to airplanes and other hotels, etc. I think the risk is probably low but given how hard it is to get rid of them once you get them in your house, it's worth taking precautions. It's not just about getting bit, it's about preventing their spread. Happy and safe traveling!

I've had bedbugs and survived!! My son has had both bedbugs and fleas, and my daughter had bedbugs several times. Most of these cases came from Central America although my son's fleas came from a hostel in Bulgaria. We all had lice too when the children were little--it went around the neighborhood. So relax, take a few precautions & if you get them, it's not the end of the world.

For those really concerned about bedbugs, I just found this carryon travel size bedbug spray that's non-toxic:

http://elfbrands.com/shopexd.asp?id=40

Trip Advisor is a good website to get comments from previous guests regarding particular hotels -- good & bad. I've only seen one comment about bedbugs.

Melanie,

We have travelled extensively for many years in Europe and North America and have never encountered them until a 4 star Munich hotel after the World Cup. The hotel felt bad, apologized and said they were brought by other guests which appears to be true. We were covered in bites, there is not mistaking it as there were still bugs. I now take off the sheet and mattress cover and look for small rust coloured stains, That is a good indication of them.

They are not fun, but they can be everywhere. My son brought some home from Merritt, BC. which cost us a fortune for fumigating his condo,. so look every where every time. Not to be paranoid, but I too check on Trip Advisor.