Just because a hotel is a 5 star hotel and has a big name does not mean that they are free of bed bugs. Bed bugs are not attracted to trash or anything so cleaniness rarely has anything to do with them – although it will give them more places to hide if there is a lot of trash and crap laying around. Bed bugs are attracted to carbon monoxide that we breathe and they can sense this – knowing that if they take a bite out of our skin they will get the blood that they need to survive.
There was a time before World War 1 when bed bugs were commonly found and then all of a sudden they disappeared from the United States completely. One of the theories that happened is that bed bugs made a come back and they started off in hotels. The reason some may think this is true is people from other countries brought them here in there luggage, laid some eggs, snacked on some hotel occupents and then started to spread. From the hotel they get into the luggage of the person or the group staying in the hotel, which then they can make it back to someone’s house or apartment.
That is how the bed bug cycle goes according to my knowledge so this is why you must be aware of this when you are staying at a hotel. So the more that you know about hotel bed bugs the less likely you will be to take them home with you in your luggage. What I do when I first check into my hotel room is I look for any evidence of bed bugs being in the room and I will start by looking at the mattress for red and black streaks. If they are there you will be able to find some sort of evidence in most cases. If you cant that does not mean that they are not there.
Here are some tips that you can take to ensure that the bed bugs do not travel with you back to your home and start their own little colony inside of your home. Keep the luggage as far away from the bed as possible – if you have been keeping up with this blog you know that they hide close to their dinner. There are also insect repellent gels that you could apply to your luggage also.
When you get home make sure that you wash all of your clothes that were in the luggage with hot water that is over 120 degrees F. Doing this will kill any of the stowaways that you do not want invading your home. So the best way to avoid bringing home bed bugs from a hotel is to be knowledgeable and very aware of how often bed bugs are in hotels. If you are careful about this and apply the knowledge of what you know about them then you should be alright.
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