Wondering how to avoid bedbugs when traveling and while staying in hotels?
Learn specific steps for checking a hotel room for bed bugs. This FAQ on searching a hotel room (from New York State Integrated Pest Management’s bed bug FAQs) is brief and excellent. NYSIPM also provides a printable Travel Card on this topic (click for a PDF) which you can carry with you.
Here are a few tips to help protect you and your luggage from bed bugs, as well as from they hitchhiking their way back to your home after your trip.
Before you go – Check out your hotel’s online reputation for bedbugs
Before you book a room, Google your hotel’s name and “bedbugs” and “bed bugs”; if you haven’t chosen one yet, look them up on tripadvisor.com. There, customers review hotels. If they had bad service, a small, outdated room, or (gasp!) bedbugs, you’ll hear about it. If you see one nasty report, of course, take it with a grain of salt. But multiple bad reviews, or reviews which repeat a particular critique, can be bad news. I have used tripadvisor many times and find the reviews useful not just to reassure me there are no bed bug reports at a hotel, but also to find good, moderately priced hotels, and a real insight into what rooms and service and location are like. Their highest ranked hotels are not always expensive and I have been very pleased when I have chosen them.
Pre-Trip Packing Tips
You might want to use hard-sided luggage, if possible without zippers. Bedbugs love cloth and many times, regular luggage zippers are so thin, they won’t necessarily keep them out. To be extra safe, seal your items inside your luggage with a bed bug luggage liner, compression bags, or other related item that is designed to help keep your clothing and other items safe from bedbugs.
One item specifically made to protect your luggage contents is the bed bug luggage liner. Lastly, some travelers use to protect their luggage and its contents is to use an extra large ziplock bag inside the suitcase; in the hotel, keep the Ziploc sealed (If it isn’t air-tight, it is not bug-safe).
Upon your arrival at your hotel
Keep your luggage off the floor and bed
Keep your luggage on the luggage rack (not bed or floor); first carefully check to see the luggage rack is free of pests (look at it from top to bottom, and under the straps). Check the mattress, headboard, frame and pictures (as much as possible), following these instructions. For more helpful tips, click to download this PDF of this comprehensive article by entomologists Steven Kells and Jeff Hahn of the University of Minnesota, which describes the steps you should take if you’ve been exposed to bed bugs (but is also helpful on how to search for and avoid them in the first place).
Some sufferers suggest purchasing a bottle of bed bug spray such as Rest Easy Bed Bug Spray and using it in your hotel (spray mattress, around head board and related areas.) Remember, these products kill bed bugs you can see–if they’re sprayed directly, but if you see bed bugs, you should not be in the room! Leave! Insist on a bed bug free room, and take precautions when you get home to make sure you did not bring bed bugs home.
Before Unpacking Your Luggage
Many travelers throw a suitcase on the bed or keep the bag zipped up on the floor using bed bug luggage covers such as these, in hopes of keeping out any wandering scourges. Instead, place your baggage -- including any purses, backpacks, or camera bags -- on a luggage rack or in the bathroom, where there are fewer nooks and crannies.
How to Inspect Your Hotel Room
Bedbugs like to lodge themselves into cracks, crevices, folds, and ruffles in areas frequently trafficked by humans. When you arrive, pull back the covers of the bed and inspect under the linens and pillows. Use a flashlight if necessary. Look in the seams and sides of the mattress, box spring, and frame, and then check behind the headboard. The majority of the pests away from the bed will be within close proximity: under and around nightstands and lamps, and in the pleats of upholstered furniture (a favored hideaway) and drapes. The bloodsuckers can also reside behind wall hangings, such as mirrors and paintings.
Consider using Bed Bug Spray
Bed bugs can be a problem in even the nicest hotels and resorts. If you wish additional protection, you can get additional bed bug protection by spraying hotel beds and dressers with natural bed bug spray such as Rest Easy Bed Bug Spray.
Several versions of bed bug spray can be found on the market, however many travelers have concern about using bed bug sprays that have chemicals when used around their hotel bed and luggage. That's where some travelers have moved to using all-natural bed bug sprays ling is one of the common ways to "pick up" bedbugs. After coming home from a trip, bedbugs are free to unpack themselves from your luggage and infest your home. Rest Easy Bed bug Spray can help you avoid the bedbug infestation nightmare.
Where do you keep your dirty clothes in your hotel room?
It is well known that many times bed bugs hitch a ride home in your dirty clothes that were placed in hotel dresser drawers or other places in your hotel room. To reduce the chance of hitchhiking bed bugs, some travelers use bed bug laundry bags such as this one in an effort to keep bed bugs from getting into your dirty clothes.
If You Suspect an Outbreak
Don't take things into your own hands. If you squash one pest, it doesn't mean that there aren't others lurking in the crevices. Work with hotel management to find the best solution. When switching rooms, don't accept one directly adjacent, above, or below the infested room, as bedbugs can easily hitch a ride to neighboring spaces via housekeeping carts, wall sockets, and luggage. Each property and brand has a different protocol regarding pest control. Many hotels will distribute bedbug fact sheets, assure proper treatment of affected areas, offer alternative accommodations, and launder your clothes for free. Unfortunately, sleep sacks can't protect you from getting bitten; bedbugs can feed through the fabric or crawl through the opening of the sack as you snooze.
When You Get Home
Even just a few of these critters can start a full-blown infestation, should you inadvertently carry them back to your abode. Conduct a thorough inspection of your suitcase outdoors or in the garage, away from furniture and sleeping areas. If you live in an apartment, use your balcony, bathtub, or shower (bedbugs have a harder time crawling up smooth surfaces and are easier to spot against light colors). In the worst-case scenario, keep the suitcase out in the hallway. Pay special attention to pockets, linings, and seams. Then thoroughly vacuum or steam clean the bag before stowing it away. Wash all of your clothes -- even those unworn -- on a high-heat setting, and dry for at least 30 minutes. This will kill any previously undetected bugs.
Our site contains over 100 pages of travel safety tips and security tips that are useful for any traveler. You will find tips involving luggage theft, avoiding pickpockets, laptop theft, hotel burglary, and airplane, train, automobile, and boat travel crimes.
