I recently found a bedbug in my hotel bed. Having visited friends in Dubai who had gone through this problem, I knew how to avoid bringing them into my home. Many items had to stay out on my back patio until I made sure they were safe to bring inside: washed and dried laundry on "hot", and spent time and expense disinfecting or treating with rubbing alcohol my bag and other items.
Since then, I've been surprised at the number of people I've talked to who have had experience with the critters, and I've have also done research on the internet. A traveler I know suggested leaving all items in the bathroom of one's hotel room and keeping everything possible away from the area around the hotel bed. If I'd done so I would have had much less stuff to disinfect. I think it would be valuable information to have an exchange of tips on this subject.
Posted by
Freedonia
16274 posts
Why not tell us what hotel.
This week I mark 1500 straight nights in hotels and I've yet to see one.
Posted by
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
8293 posts
You recently found a bedbug in your hotel bed. How is that helpful? Which city? Which hotel?
Posted by
WA State
3961 posts
Fortunately I have not experienced bed bugs in my travels. The unfortunate fact about the critters is they can "hitch a ride" in luggage, purses, backpacks or other items placed on soft or upholstered surfaces. You can avoid transporting bed bugs when staying at a hotel by placing your bags on a suitcase stand away from the wall rather than on the bed or floor. If you are staying at a hotel, etc. and experience bites or see the bugs, immediately inform staff and move to another room. From what I've researched, washing affected clothing, etc. in hot water & hot dryer will kill the bed bugs.
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16538 posts
The unfortunate fact about the critters is they can "hitch a ride" in
luggage, purses, backpacks or other items placed on soft or
upholstered surfaces.
Right. You can pick them up on trains, at movies theaters, at shops, etc. Hotels are not the only places which have them, and no country or quality level of hotel is immune. But we've never had a problem nor have we taken extensive precautions to avoid them. At the first sign of critters, we'd be demanding a transfer but so far, so good.
I've had a bigger issue with foreign mosquitoes and gnats. I react much more severely to their bites than I do at home because I haven't built up an immunity to them.
Posted by
The Heartland USA
8966 posts
Recently, some were discovered in the dining area of the food court at our airport. Best guess is that they came with someone's luggage. There's plenty of information on what to look for in a hotel room on the internet (legitimate sites, not sellers of products), but unfortunately, most people dont look into it until after the fact.
They don't climb smooth surfaces well (neither do brown recluse spiders), which is why clothes on the floor and bedclothes touching the floor are not good, at home either.
Posted by
Minneapolis
58 posts
Due to the popularity of travel, bed bugs are a problem worldwide. I suggest you keep your luggage off the floor and immediately wash everything when you get home. Even some of the nicest hotels (foreign and domestic) have had problems with bedbugs.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
I learned not to put my head on the back of the seat in the Paris metro forty years ago. I pulled a crab out of my hair near the nappe of my neck. Only one and got it the same day I picked it up.
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
1028 posts
I am fortunate in that I have never experienced bedbugs, however, I have had friends and colleagues over the years who have. I use basic precautions when I check in, from leaving my luggage, etc on a hard surface, checking the beds and furniture. What I don’t normally do when I travel is check other surfaces in transit (metro/subways, planes, etc), but given some of the comments on this post, sounds like I need to be looking more closely.
Posted by
San Francisco
14976 posts
Fortunately, that has never occurred in all my traveling since 1971, be it in the US or Europe, regardless of where I stayed, ie, hostel, university dorm, Pension, B&B, small hotel, Zimmer frei arrangement, 3-4 star hotel. or night trains, motels (US).
Posted by
akron, ohio
503 posts
I have not had a problem with bed bugs in all my travels, however, I have been visited by two cock roaches two nights in a row in a Greece hotel bathroom (while on the RS Greece tour!). For that reason, I would never put my luggage in a bathroom as was suggested to you. They will gladly hop into your luggage. I realize they are not confined to bathrooms and can be anywhere in your hotel room, but seeing them two nights in the bathroom was enough for me.