Here is a simple but comprehensive plan that will help you avoid infested hotel rooms...Before you get into bed.
You are looking mainly for the telltale black spots that the bed bugs leave behind. These are fecal spots – their excreted poop made up of digested human blood. These fecal spots look like flecks of pepper or little dots from a felt-tip pen. But also keep an eye out for eggs and egg shells (oval shaped and whitish), cast skins from molting, blood spots, and of course, anything that moves. 1) The first step takes place before you leave your home. a) While packing your bags, make sure you always bring a little flashlight with you. (Ideally in your checked baggage. You never know what TSA will confiscate these days.) A small, bright LED penlight is ideal. You’ll need this to inspect the nooks and crannies of your hotel room. b) Pack your clothes and anything else, including electronic devices, in resealable plastic bags, then pack them inside your suitcase. Many people recommend Ziploc XL or XXL resealable bags for this purpose, (which you can get at Target or online at Amazon.com) but whatever heavy clear bags you find that are airtight will work. 2) Check in early at the hotel, so you have time to do your inspection. a) First check the metal luggage rack in the hotel room. Use your flashlight. Turn the rack upside down, check the straps, hinges, any little crevices, and check the feet. If it appears bug-free, put your luggage on it. For the duration of your stay, your luggage should not leave this rack. The reason? Bedbugs have trouble climbing smooth surfaces like metal, so it’ll be tough for them to hitch a ride home with you. Make sure the metal stand and your luggage is positioned so it is not touching any walls, furniture or most importantly, the bed.
b) If there is no metal rack, or if the luggage rack is made of wood (remember when I said that bed bugs like to live on wood?), put your bags in the bathtub. c) Don’t open your suitcase and unpack yet.
3) Check the bed sheets for telltale fecal spots and tiny little spots of dried blood. 4) Inspect the headboard. a) Bed bugs love headboards more than mattresses. The reason: every day, the maid comes in and changes the bed sheets, which messes up their normal hiding places. But the headboard is usually left untouched, which makes it an ideal hiding place. In fact, when pest inspectors check a room, the headboard is often the first place they look. Again, you are looking for those small, black fecal spots of digested blood meals, as well as eggs and the bugs themselves. If you find white powder on the headboard, it could be a pesticide. b) Pull the headboard off the bed. In most cases, the headboard just pops right off the bed (it’s often just resting on a bar). c) Use your flashlight to closely inspect the crevices, screw holes, grooves and any notches, depressions or indentations.
5) Inspect the mattress for bugs, eggs, eggshells, and fecal spotting. a) Pull the sheets off the mattress. Pile the sheets on one side of the mattress (not on the floor and not on any furniture). b) Check the sides and tufts of the mattress especially closely. Use your flashlight to illuminate any dark corners – bed bugs are small and hide in the smallest folds.
6) Check nearby furniture a) This includes the nightstand, the chair, the table, the lights, and pictures and frames hanging on the walls. b) Look in the drawers of the nightstand, check under the bedside lamp c) Check in the folds and crevices of the upholstered chair, and check behind and around the pictures hanging on the wall.
7) Take a look around the edges of the carpet, the baseboards, and the closet. a) Again, using your flashlight, look for cast skins, fecal spotting and live bugs.
8) Even if you find nothing and stay in the room, assume it has bed bugs a) Even though you looked very carefully, there’s no way you can be completely certain that a hotel room doesn’t have bed bugs. So there are a few precautions you can take to ensure that you don’t get any bugs into your suitcase or clothing. b) Keep your suitcase on the metal baggage stand or in the bathtub
1. Don’t leave your suitcase on the floor, bed or chairs. 2. Don’t leave your shoes on the floor – keep them on top of your suitcase. 3. Don’t leave your suitcase open, and don’t leave clothes on the bed or on the floor. 4. Only remove those clothes that you will be wearing.
c) Put your used clothing back into the plastic bags and reseal them immediately after wearing the clothing. d) Never put your clothing into the hotel’s dresser drawers, and if you must hang it in the closet (which I recommend you avoid), make sure it remains bagged, airtight.
9) When you go home, assume you may have picked up bed bugs at the hotel. a) Before you check out of your room, check for bed bugs in your luggage and in your shoes. b) If you find bed bugs in your luggage, or if you have experienced bites of any kind while staying in that room, your best bet is to just leave all of your bags and the clothing in the hotel room.
1. That’s right, just throw it away, even if you find just one bug or one bite on your body. 2. It’s far cheaper to buy a new suitcase and clothing than pay a pest control professional thousands to clear your home of bed bugs.
c) When you arrive at home, treat your clothing and luggage as though you just stayed in a bed bug infested hotel room. Remember when I told you that bites can take days to appear? And when I said that some 20% of the population doesn’t experience any reaction? That could be you. So assume the worst, and do these things when you get home. d) Unpack your bags outdoors, away from the house. Do NOT unpack the bag in the house, especially not on a bed or sofa. e) Remove the plastic bags that have your clothing in them (don’t open the bags yet), and vacuum it inside and out, using the crevice tool to get into the corners. Can’t do this outside? Do it carefully in your bathtub. Immediately remove that vacuum bag from the vacuum, seal it in a plastic bag, and throw it away (do NOT bring that vacuum bag back into the house!). f) Bring your plastic clothing bags into the house and dump them directly into the washer. Wash them in 140 F degree water, then dry them at 140 F. And then dry them again on the high setting. Hot water and the heat of the dryer will kill the bastards. If your clothing cannot be washed at such a high temp, it has to be dry-cleaned. Alternatively, you can run unwashed clothing through the dryer at high heat for at least one cycle. The heat should be enough to kill them. g) If possible, put your luggage in the dryer and run it through a cycle on high heat. If that doesn’t work for you, wrap the luggage in plastic and leave it outside in the sun for a couple of days, until that 140 degree F temp is reached. Or, if you live in a cold climate, bed bugs can’t tolerate temps below 32 degrees F, so if it’s below freezing outside, leave the bags outside. But you have to leave them outside for at least two weeks to be sure the bugs are dead. h) Another option, if you have some contact bed bug killer, like rubbing alcohol or Steri-Fab, spray the bag, both inside and out, as well as any pockets. Once you have cleaned the luggage, seal it in a clear plastic bag, and store it in the garage or your apartment storage locker until you need it again.
A note about washing and drying clothing: Heat kills bed bugs, but there seems to be some dispute among experts as to the proper temperature. Some say 120 degrees Fahrenheit will do it, others say 140 degrees. I say, better to err on the side of caution, and go for 140 degrees.
What if you find indications of bed bugs in your hotel room? You have two options: tell management and ask for another room, or try another hotel. Why another room? Because it is possible for one room in a hotel to be infested with bed bugs, but other rooms can be clear. Ask for a room that is not adjacent to the one you just checked, or above or below it; bed bugs can crawl through gaps in walls.
But whether you go to another hotel or another room, you will need to start the entire search over again. Insider tip: Bed Bugs and Warm Climates
Bed bugs go through their life cycle faster in places with warm weather and more than 70% humidity. So if you are traveling to a hot, humid climate, the chances of encountering an infestation may be greater
Insider tip: Check the Hotel Before You Arrive
Check the reputation of your hotel before you leave (or better, before you book). There are many websites where guests post their experiences in hotels. Search for your hotel at these sites
http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Bed Bugs
http://www.tripadvisor.com/
http://www.google.com/ (search on your hotel’s name and “bed bugs”)
http://www.bedbugregistry.com/
http://www.mappost.org/bedbugcity.php
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
But even if your do not find any reports of bed bugs for your hotel, you should still run through my 9 point checklist. Just because they have not been reported doesn’t mean they are not there.
Insider tip: Bed Bugs and Warm Climates
Bedbugger.com members recommend the following trick: When checking in at the hotel, tell the clerk that you have severe allergies to insect bites of any kind, and experience a very strong reaction if bitten. Ask the clerk for a room where this will not be an issue. Don’t mention bed bugs – the implication will be clear. Hotel employees know which rooms are infested, and will not put you in one if you use this technique. I personally have never tried it, but it makes sense to me. Afraid it requires too much chutzpah? Just motivate yourself by thinking about what it will be like if you bring bed bugs home with you.
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