If you are planning a vacation this summer, remember to be prepared for the tiny things that might affect your comfort, specifically the hotel bedbugs that you might not notice, but will ruin your trip, and may even decide to follow you home. The star rating of the hotel or the cleanliness of the location will not determine if the bedbugs have taken up a home in your hotel. You need to look for additional signs to help insure that your hotel room is bedbug free.
Recognizing The Signs Of Hotel Bedbugs
– Start with reviews. Check out what others have to say about their stays in the hotel of your choosing. If you know someone that has stayed recently, consider asking them about any bites or rashes that they may have received during the stay. Bedbug bites do not always hurt, but they will leave marks. Some websites such as bedbugsregistry.com have been set up specifically to help you do a check for hotel bedbug reports.
– Keep your luggage away from the room until you have had time to inspect the space. Bedbugs love to crawl around and get into luggage to travel home with visitors. Before you settle into the room, make sure you will be traveling home alone.
– Look for bedbug signs. The excrements of the bedbugs look similar to clotted blood. Check for brown discoloration around the headboard and along the base of the bed. Remember that bedbugs are flat and items attached to the wall can offer perfect hiding places for these insects.
– Strip the bed down to the mattress and the box springs. It may cause you a little extra work to remake the bed, but you need to see what might be hiding beneath the clean sheets. Again, you are looking for any signs that the bedbugs have been hanging out. You might see some of the bugs, but they are fast and do not like to be exposed. Looking for the signs they have been there is your best option.
– Check any locations that might offer potential cover for the bedbugs. Look at pictures attached to the walls. Inspect furniture in the room. Even look around the dressers and in drawers or closets.
– Remember that if your room shows no signs of infestation, that does not mean that there are no hotel bedbugs. Other rooms could be infested and the bedbugs will crawl from room to room. Keep your luggage up off the floor to help protect it from what might be lurking in the other rooms.
– Speak up. If you do find any issues, then take your concerns to the hotel staff immediately. You may choose to change hotels, but you could also consider changing rooms. Remember that just because one room has issues does not mean they all have issues. Do ask for a room at least several floors from the one where you saw the hotel bedbug signs.
It sounds scary that you need to take such precautions when traveling. The good news is that bedbugs are a nuisance and not a danger. They do not carry disease, although some people do have allergic reactions to the bites.
Take a little time to check out your hotel before you settle into the space. A little research can keep you from letting hotel bedbugs ruin your stay.
