How to Avoid Bed Bugs in a Hotel
The fear of bed bugs in your hotel room is enough to make you stay home! But what if you have to (or choose to) travel? There are several steps you can take to avoid bed bugs in a hotel.
TREAT YOUR BELONGINGS IN ADVANCE
If a hotel room has bed bugs that are excellent hiders and not visible, you still want to be sure. Spray the outside of your luggage, backpacks, duffle bags, or whatever you bring in with you with Greenbug for People/Pets. You just need a light spry that can convey the aroma of cedar - which all bed bugs will absolutely avoid. Spray yourself too if you want until you have confidence in the room.
INSPECT
Inspect your hotel room as soon as you arrive. Even though the hotel room is neat as a pin, smells wonderful, and seems immaculately clean, bed bugs are equal opportunity feasters on Man in nice places down to dumps. Inspections are paramount as soon as you walk in the door!
Set your luggage in the bathtub initially and go to the bed(s). Peel the linen layers back one at a time - the cover sheet, the fitted sheet, the mattress pad and down to the mattress. You are looking for signs of bed bugs. Not just actual bed bugs, but SIGNS. This includes tiny black dots and/or very tiny streaks of darkness that are the poop trails of bed bugs. Any casings or discarded skins. They can be bunched together or individual. If you see any of these signs and definitely if you see a bed bug, then skedaddle out of there as soon as possible! If you see one bed bug, there are many others!
Once you are reasonably confident, also inspect the luggage rack and then bring your luggage to rest there.
SCAN
The rest of the hotel room can easily harbor bed bugs - not just the bed. A favorite place is behind the headboard and along base boards. Typically, these are darker objects and it is almost impossible to see bed bug evidence but scan anyway to look for obvious signs of covering up bed bugs. Are the baseboards intact? Has the artwork obviously been changed as evidenced by shadows of former artwork outlining new artwork? If the hotel is old and everything in your room is brand spanking new, it can indicate a cover up or at least good intentions of getting rid of them.
AVOID USING THE DRESSERS
Bed bugs are expert hiders and what better place to hide than a hotel dresser where there is a constant turnaround of clothing and items in which to hide. If you must use the dresser, spray liberally with Greenbug for People/Pets and let dry before putting your things in the drawers. Urban legend states to put luggage in the bathtub but that is a myth - bed bugs live in bathrooms too.
TREAT THE BED BEFORE YOU SLEEP
You have inspected, scanned and done the necessary research and are reasonably confident there are no bed bugs. But now it is time to go to sleep and you may still be understandably nervous. Once again, peel back the layers of linens to the fitted sheet and spray Greenbug for People/Pets along the edges. Pay close attention to the edges that abut furniture, a head board, and any wooden sides because they offer glorious hiding spots for these monsters. Once you have applied the Greenbug for People/Pets to the sheet, you can rest assured that no bed bug will cross over that Greenbug to get to you while you sleep.
Repeat these steps each night you are there to make sure you are safe from bed bugs.
TREAT YOUR BELONGINGS BEFORE YOU TRAVEL HOME
Greenbug for People/Pets controls bed bugs via contact control (direct spray) as well as future control by repelling. Although you are confident you did not get bed bugs, it would not hurt to spray your things before you go to control any that may have hitched a ride. But the real reason you spray all your luggage for the ride home is this:
THE BEST PLACE TO GET BED BUGS IN IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The luggage compartment of a plane. On the shuttle to the terminal. In the trunk of an Uber. The more other people's things are where your stuff is, the higher the chances of getting bed bugs. But if you treat your things ahead of time, bed bugs are so repulsed by the cedar in Greenbug that they will NOT get on your luggage.
A fear of getting bed bugs is understandable so take control. Know what to look for and treat your belongings, your bed and yourself with Greenbug for People/Pets to make sure that no bed bug hitches a ride with you!