Hotel guests warned: Check for bedbugs before unpacking
Many hotel guests, right after checking into their rooms, place their suitcases on the bed and then unpack them, arranging clothes right next to them on the bedding. Experts remind us that this is not a good practice.
2:31 PM EDT, August 26, 2024
Before we start laying out our personal items, including clothes and toiletries, on the bed, it is worth checking if there are any unwanted, tiny guests, such as bedbugs. Experts share practical tips on how to protect yourself from them effectively.
Tourists need to know this
If we lay our luggage and other personal items on the bed without first checking for bedbugs, they can quickly transfer to our suitcase.
Such behavior provides bedbugs with free transport to your home. Until we ensure that the room is clean, keeping your luggage close to the hotel room door is best, advised Martin Seeley, Director of MattressNextDay, a company specializing in mattress production.
How to check for bedbugs?
So, how do you check if there are bedbugs in the hotel bed? The expert explains that you should remove the bedding to expose the mattress. Adult bedbugs have flat, brown bodies the size of apple seeds.
While inspecting the mattress, it's worth looking for red, rusty, or dark stains, eggs, or shells, which are about one millimeter in size. Although they can be difficult to notice, they usually appear in larger groups, which makes them easier to spot. Seeley also recommends looking at the underside of the mattress, the bed drawers, and the space between the headboard and the wall.
It is also worth searching the areas around the curtains with the lights off. A flashlight on your phone can be helpful. Bedbugs are nocturnal and come out only after dark, searching for their victims.
Another method to check for bedbugs is to use an iron. With it, you should thoroughly heat the mattress. If they're there, they will come out.
