They act as stowaways, clinging on to travelers and their belongings, and in this way make it into your home. Here are some travel tips to keep you safe from bed bugs while staying at a hotel, as well as ways to avoid bringing them home with you.
Spotting Bed Bugs in Your Hotel:
Bed bugs in hotels are most often found behind headboards. Upon arrival to your hotel room, check thoroughly behind your headboard and the wall behind it. Bed bugs also reside in the area where carpets meet walls, and behind loose wallpaper.Check all of these areas for bed bugs or signs of bed bugs in your hotel. If bed bugs are found, inform the hotel desk clerk and manager and move to a different hotel immediately.
Bed Bug Protection:
There are a few products that can be used, namely bed bug sprays, which can be applied to your mattress while staying in a hotel:- Kleen Free Bug Spray
This is an all natural spray manufactured by Ginesis, which contains natural enzymes that break down the high-protein outer skeletons of bed bugs upon contact. This spray is safe enough to use anywhere, including on clothing and bedding, and sales at 44.95 for a 32 oz. bottle.
- Steri-fab
This spray comes in a portable sized bottle, and can be applied to the bottom of your mattress. It consists of alcohol and pyrethoid, and runs about 15.00 for a pint sized bottle. It may be purchased online for varying prices depending on the manufacturer at websites.
Avoid Bringing Bed Bugs into Your Home:
- Immediately go to a public laundry place and wash all your cloths with hot water (higest setting). After washing, put your cloth in the dryer for 1 hour
- Don’t bring your luggage back home, because bed bugs or bed bug eggs can lay inside.
- Put your luggage outside under the sun
- Inspect your suitcases and clothing immediately upon return from a trip or hotel stay.
- Upon arrival home immediately take a shower with your cloth on. Yes, don’t take off your cloth in the room.
- If you didn’t was your cloth in the public laundry place, then you should do it now immediately. Launder and dry all clothing.
- Keep personal items and luggage off of the floor. Hang clothing at all times when not in use, and store luggage on luggage racks or on an elevated surface, such as a table or dresser top.
- If bed bugs or bed bug eggs are detected, scrub suitcases with a stiff brush immediately upon arrival home.
- Leaving luggage in a closed, hot vehicle for several days may also kill off bed bugs.
These are some ways that you can avoid bed bugs in hotels and your travels, as well as protect yourself from potential bed bug threats and keep them out of your home. Always check for bed bugs first thing upon hotel arrival, and always inform the hotel management if there is a problem.
They need to be informed of the issue so that they can attend to it and prevent any future issues, and to be sure that other hotel rooms have not been affected. Follow these tips and you can effectively stay safe from bed bugs while traveling and avoid bringing them home with you.
The information about bed bugs that I have researched, collected is to help the growing numbers of bed bug sufferers.