It’s a sad truth of today’s hospitality industry: bed bug infestations. It can happen anywhere, homes and apartments alike, but bed bugs are most prevalent in motels and hotels. These infestations can be caused by improper care and maintenance on the part of the hotel ownership, or they can be caused sporadically by guests carrying bed bugs into the hotel. In many cases, bed bugs in hotel rooms are caused by a combination of these two occurrences. Hitchhiking bed bugs are often carried into hotels or other hospitality institutions by unwitting guests. Once inside, bed bugs can often elude less-than-thorough cleaning staff and begin major infestations inside hotel rooms. In this guide, we recount from hotel guests who experienced bed bugs firsthand, and provide professional tips for dealing with bed bugs in hotel rooms when traveling.
Hotel Horror Stories: Guests Recount Their Bed Bug Encounters
While the majority of travelers have probably never encountered a bedbug, that doesn’t mean that these tiny parasitic insects aren’t a serious problem in the hospitality industry. What makes bed bug infestations in hotels particularly scary is that they can lead to infestations in the homes of hotel guests. Take the case of Atlanta travel blog writer Stephanie, who unsuspectingly encountered an infestation in what she described as “a very nice Atlanta hotel.” Her brush with bed bugs at the Atlanta hotel led to a full-scale infestation in her own apartment, as she (accidentally) carried a few of the insects home with her from the hotel. It took Stephanie four months to get rid of her apartment bed bug infestation. Now, she says if she so much as sees a speck on her hotel bed, she asks to change rooms.
Bed bug infestations in hotels can even happen to the best-equipped among us. Matteo is a trained pest control professional from Panther Pest Control who ran into bed bug problems at a hotel in Manchester. The hotel — a 4-star hotel, adds Matteo — had never given him issues during several times he’d stayed there for business. The time he encountered bed bugs appeared, at first, to be no different. “The room looked tidy and clean,” Matteo recounts. “No one would have thought it might be infested with bed bugs as there were no signs of them, unless you took a very close look at specific places.”
It wasn’t until the next day that Matteo noticed a problem. “Nothing bothered me until the morning when I woke up with red itchy dots on my arms, back and chest.” As soon as he noticed the itchy red dots, he suspected bed bugs. He then checked for bed bugs in the areas that they are known to hide and found them under the mattress upon closer inspection. Matteo contacted the hotel’s front desk and noted that the hotel addressed the issue very professionally. Now, when Matteo travels, he always makes sure to thoroughly check his luggage before heading back home. He was lucky to avoid carrying bed bugs home with him in the past situation, and now takes extra measures to ensure that he stays bed bug-free during his travels.
What To Do if You Encounter Bed Bugs in Hotel Rooms – PrevSol Bed Bug Heat Doctor Tips
Bed bug infestations can happen in even the nicest hotels. No matter where you’re staying, it’s important to make sure you stay bed bug-free whenever possible. Here are a few tips from our CEO and Founder, Jeff Zimmerman, on what to do if you encounter bed bugs in hotel rooms.
- Before even checking for bed bugs, place your luggage in the bath, shower or any surface with tile. As bed bugs are virtually never found on these surfaces, your luggage will be safe.
- Start your inspection. Here at PrevSol Bed Bug Heat Doctor, we have several guides for how to check for bed bugs in hotels, motels, homes and other spaces. Head over to our Blog to learn how to perform a thorough check for bed bugs in your space.
- If you find bed bugs while checking your room, take your luggage and go to the front desk and ask to switch to another room. Make sure to request that the new room not be side by side or directly above or below your old one, as it may have bed bugs as well.
- At the end of your visit, it’s important to make sure that you don’t carry any bed bugs home with you. Perform a thorough check of all of your luggage and belongings. Even if you find no trace of bed bugs, we recommend washing and drying your clothes and suitcases before setting them down in your home. Drying is especially important, since exposing to bed bugs to temperatures of 125 degrees or higher for 9 minutes will kill them. Keep the heat going for 30 minutes to kill eggs.
Bed Bug Prevention and Extermination at PrevSol Bed Bug Heat Doctor
At PrevSol Bed Bug Heat Doctor, we design and manufacture a number of products designed to prevent bed bug infestations and quickly eliminate them should they happen on your property. Shop our inventory for industry-leading bed bug heaters and protective bed bug travel gear today!