How to Keep Bedbugs from Hitchhiking Home With You

Bed bugs are a problem, let’s face it. But the scariest bed bug possibility involves infested hotel rooms and bringing these little buggers home with you from your travels. Before you book any hotel room, go online and check for bed bug complaints from other travelers. Sorkin’s favorite sites for this include TripAdvisor, The Bedbug Registry and Bedbugger.com. Just keep in mind that researching a property before your trip won’t guarantee you a pest-free stay since many infestations go unreported.

First, a little info about these little bed bug critters. Most bed bugs congregate around beds, but a few of them will hide in remote areas. They hate light and if disturbed, will attempt to move to more remote areas. Bed bugs can be 1/16″ to 1/4″ and can vary in color from virtually colorless (the young) to a dark brown (the adults).

When entering your hotel room. . . . . . you should do a quick inspection of the bed. Look at the corners of the mattress for the presence of bed bugs and dark stains. Pay attention to cracks, crevices, seams, and folds of material. If you find evidence of bed bugs, call hotel management and ask for a different room.

Always put your luggage on the luggage rack, not the bed or chairs in the room to reduce the chances of bed bugs hitchhiking home with you.

If, after spending a night or more in a hotel room. . . . . .you discover bed bugs, take these precautions.

• Before leaving an infested site, sort and place in plastic bags anything that can be laundered.
• Separate the laundry as you would if you were normally laundering items, specifically: light colored clothes from dark items; delicate items from items that can be laundered on wash / dry regular cycles; and finally, dry cleanable items. Separating the clothing permits easy loading of the washing machine and you can avoid escaping bed bugs as you try to sort the laundry at home.
• The smartest thing to do is to place all of your dirty laundry in a sealed plastic bag so it doesn’t contaminate your other clothing or your suitcase.
• When washing, set the washer and dryer for the hottest setting that the fabric can withstand.
• If you need to use a dry cleaning service, mention to them that the items may have bed bugs and they can keep the articles in the plastic bags until just before loading into the machines.
• Place suitcases and other luggage in the hot sun for a few days.

If you suspect that bed bugs have traveled home with you from your trip, give DA a call!