What To Do If Your Hotel Has Bed Bugs And How Not To Bring Them Home

It is every traveler’s worse nightmare, your hotel room has bed bugs, and you have been exposed! After recently being woken up to numerous bed bug bites during our recent vacation, it is crucial to know how you can tell if you have bed bugs in your hotel room and how not to bring them back home.

Bed bugs don’t discriminate. They will find their way from the fanciest hotels to the grimiest motels. Even Airbnbs have been known to suffer from bed bug infestations. Being vigilant by thoroughly checking for the pesty critters can save you from the headache and hassle of being exposed.

Before you travel, check the Bed Bug Registry to see if your hotel has had any recently reported bed bug activity.

How To Tell If You Have Bed Bugs In Your Hotel Room

I kept asking myself how I missed spotting the bed bugs during my initial room check, but the reality is I could have done a better job of searching for the elusive pests.

Don’t be embarrassed if family or friends give you a hard time checking for bed bugs. They will thank you when they are not being eaten alive at night or dealing with bringing these terrible pests home.

Here are a few tips for checking if you have bed bugs in your hotel room.

You will want to bring a small flashlight or use the flashlight on your phone while searching for the bugs. Bed bugs are nocturnal and tend to avoid light. When caught in the light, they will freeze for a few seconds before running away to another hiding spot.

Step One: Don’t bring luggage or allow other guests into the room until it has been checked. 

If you must bring luggage into the room, place it in the bathtub or on a rack to keep it off the floor until you have checked for bed bugs. That way, you will not have to worry about picking up any bed bug eggs, bed bug nymphs, or bugs themselves on your luggage if your room is infested.

Step Two: Check The Bed

Pull back the bed sheets and blankets and check the mattress and box spring seams for bugs, especially at the head of the bed. After our initial bites, I found bugs in the box spring seams in our hotel room.

Adults, nymphs, and eggs are visible to the naked eye. Also, please keep your eyes peeled for exoskeletons (casings that the bugs leave behind when they molt) and dark, rust-colored blood spots. You can also lift the mattress and check underneath using a flashlight.

Tip: Don’t be satisfied with only the top portion of the mattress. GET IN THERE AND CHECK! Check all four corners, underneath the mattress, and all over the boxspring. They live in the tiniest of cracks and crevices.

Give the bed sheets a good look for blood stains, fecal matter, or live bugs.

Step Three: Check The Headboard and Bed Frame 

Yes, Bed Bugs can live in headboards and footboards of beds.

Remove the mattress and use your flashlight to search the crevices, corners, nooks, and crannies around your bedframe and headboard. For any cracks that are too small to see into, slide your credit card inside and use the thin, rigid edge to extract any live bed bugs or debris hidden inside.

Step Four: Check The Curtains 

After seeing a bed bug crawl up the curtains at our local BMV, I check the curtains. Bed bugs love upholstered furniture and fabrics, making curtains a perfect hiding spot.

Step Five: Check UpHostered Furniture 

Scan any couches, chairs, or loveseats in your room. Look in the seams of the cushions for any presence of bed bugs.

Hotel Tips For Not Bringing Bed Bugs Home

Even after a thorough search, there is always the possibility that you missed something. Here are a few tips to help keep bed bugs out of your luggage and belongings.

• Place luggage on a luggage rack and zip it closed when not using.
•  You can also pack large plastic trash bags and keep your luggage in them during your time in the hotel.
•  Don’t have your clothing or personal items all over the room. Keep them contained in one spot.
•  Seal dirty laundry in a separate bag. Bed bugs are attracted to dirty laundry.

A Field Guide Of Bed Bugs In A Hotel Room

There are male and female bed bugs. Adult bed bugs are the size of an apple seed. Bed Bugs have six legs and flat bodies, and after feeding on human blood, they swell and turn a reddish color. Bed bugs cannot fly and have short, golden-colored body hair that can make their bodies appear striped. Adult bed bugs are approximately 5-6mm in length.

Bed bug eggs resemble grains of rice but are much smaller. Most are pearly white-gray with an elongated oval shape that’s only about 1 millimeter long. They are sticky since the female uses a glue-like substance to hold them in place.

What To Do If Your Hotel Has Bed Bugs?

Don’t Panic

It is a natural reaction to panic immediately the minute we find a bite or a bug in the bed. Remember that bed bugs are not known to spread disease. However, their bites are itchy, and those who are allergic can get huge welts. Now that you see the bed bugs are present, it is time for action. It is never a bad idea to snag a bed bug in a cup as a sample for the hotel to give to their exterminator. Trust me; they don’t bed bugs, either.

There are a few things you will need: 

• Garbage Bags
•  Tape
•  Rubbing Alcohol
•  Bed Bug Pesticide or a professional steamer
•  Access to a washer/dryer

Contact The Front Desk

The first thing you need to do is contact the front desk. Then you must decide whether to stay in the new room or find a new hotel. The hotel must exterminate the room and move you and any other guests to a new location.

Tip: If the hotel moves you to another room, thoroughly check the room for bed bugs before bringing in luggage. Bed bugs could be there since they tend to spread.

Spray Your Belongings With Rubbing Alcohol

If you have access to rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) or can quickly run to the store to get some, this can be a game changer to instantly kill any eggs, bugs, or nymphs lurking on the surface of your belongings. Most drug stores, grocery stores, and superstores will have Isopropyl alcohol. I recommend grabbing a few bottles and a sprayer because you will need them.

Spray your belongings before bagging them.

How Does Rubbing Alcohol Help Kill Bed Bugs?

Isopropyl alcohol works two ways to kill bedbugs. First, it acts as a solvent, which eats away the bug’s outer shell. The dissolving action might be enough to kill some bedbugs, but it also acts as a desiccant, a substance that induces drying out.

With the outer shell dissolved, the alcohol dries out the bug’s insides, finishing the job. It kills eggs similarly: dissolving and drying out the egg and preventing them from hatching.

The preferred percentage is 70% percent since it doesn’t evaporate as quickly, giving more time to kill the bug. At the same time, 100% is ideal for killing and drying out eggs since there is less moisture.

Wrap Your Luggage

Bed bugs and their eggs love to hitch a ride on suitcases, clothing, purses, or anything with soft fabric. They often retreat to dark areas and crevices to hide from the light. That is why I recommend wrapping anything that you have inside the room. 

Ask the hotel for large garbage bags and tape, as you will need to wrap your suitcases and clothing in them to prevent bringing any unwanted bugs back with you.

For example, my daughter brought dolls and plastic toys that she played with on the hotel floor. I wrapped those items as well after spraying them with rubbing alcohol.

Seal bags with tape to prevent bugs from spreading.

Bag Your Clothing

It is vital to wrap and seal your clothing in separate bags to wash. It would be best if you ventured to a laundry mat or hotel laundry facility to wash all potentially contaminated clothing as soon as possible.

• Keep dry clean clothing in a separate bag.
•  Pre-sort clothes as you normally would when washing clothes and place each sorted pile into its plastic bag.
•  Seal the bags before moving your laundry. This will prevent bed bugs from moving into other areas of your room, car, or the Laundromat.

Pro Tip: If you have a few more vacation days left, bag and seal your clothing. Then buy new clothing to last you the remainder of the trip.

How To Wash Clothes To Kill Bed Bugs

One way to remove bed bugs and their eggs is by washing and drying clothes at the hottest temperature the fabric can safely withstand. You will want to wash in hot water, but remember that washing will not kill all the bed bugs; the high heat in the dryer does the job.

Your clothing must dry at high heat for 30 minutes to ensure the extermination of bed bugs. 

Once your clothes come out of the dryer, place them immediately into a clean plastic bag or garbage bag and seal them shut. Only place clothing in a space that has been examined for bed bugs, especially if you are doing laundry at the hotel.

How Do I Clean Dry Clean Clothing To Prevent Bed Bugs?

For dry clean clothes that can be placed in a dryer, put them on a medium to high setting and run the dryer for at least 30 minutes. Anything that can’t be placed in the dryer must be taken to a professional cleaner.

Tip: If you took anything to a professional cleaner because of bed bugs at a hotel, I would ask the hotel to cover it.

How To Keep From Transfering Bed Bugs Into Home Or New Room?

Pro Tip: NEVER BRING YOUR SUITCASE INTO YOUR HOME OR NEW HOTEL ROOM AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH BED BUGS!

Keep all items in sealed bags outside your home on the porch, in a shed, or garage until you can clean each item.

Step 1: Remove Your Current Clothing 

Ensure you don’t bring these pests into your house or room by keeping all bagged luggage and clothing outdoors until treated.

Upon arriving at your home, have the entire family remove their clothing in the garage. Then immediately shower to avoid bringing any bugs inside your home.

If you don’t have a garage, immediately remove your clothing and place it directly into the washer, then shower.

At a hotel:

1. Take a clean pair of clothing to change into at their public restroom and bag your old clothing immediately.
2. Go to your new room and take a shower.
3. Bag your clothing and put on another clean outfit.

Once your person is bed bug-free, it is time to move on to the luggage and clothing.

Step 2: Washing and Drying Clothes With Bed Bugs

Once home, clothing must be brought in one load at a time. Out of precaution, we would place the entire plastic bag in the dryer, dump it, then immediately throw the bag away outside.

We would dry the clothes for a half hour, then wash and redry. Did we overdo it? I am not taking any chances of a surviving bug escaping during the move from the washer to the dryer.

Step 3: How To Clean Your Suitcase To Prevent Bed Bugs

Your suitcase makes the perfect travel vehicle for bed bugs. They can quickly get in through zippers, regardless if your suitcase is a hard shell or soft fabric.

Here are a few tips for ensuring your suitcase is bed bug-free before bringing it inside your home.

• Remove all contents from the suitcase.
•  Vacuum the suitcase. This will get rid of most bed bugs. Make sure to dispose of the vacuum bag as well.
•  Kill the remaining bed bugs. Use insect pesticides or a professional steam cleaner (above 160F degrees) to kill all remaining bed bugs.
•  Vacuum again. Spray with rubbing alcohol and leave outside for a week.
•  Do one final inspection before bringing it inside.

A more natural way to kill bed bugs in luggage is with hot/cold treatments. At 0 degrees Fahrenheit, they’ll take four days to freeze to death anything degrees higher than that could take weeks. If it’s summer, and you have a greenhouse or a car that gets above 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, you could wrap your suitcase in a large plastic bag, seal it off with tape, and let it sit for a few hours in hot temperatures, which would kill them off. And if you have a large enough freezer, you could place your infested suitcase inside.

Step 4: Vaccum Your Car

Even though your luggage and clothing may be bagged and sealed, there could be the potential for bed bugs to make their way to your car from your current clothing. After treating the luggage and washing the clothing, we removed everything from the vehicle.

After thoroughly vacuuming, we sprayed the surfaces with rubbing alcohol and wiped everything down. We treated the seats and car seats with a professional portable steamer.

Step 5: Wash Any Bags

After wiping down and cleaning all the items in the luggage, it is time to wash any pursues, dot bags, backpacks, or duffel bags that can tolerate it. For bags that can’t be washed, vacuum them, then use a professional steamer to kill any remaining bed bugs, eggs, and nymphs. Finish with one final vacuum.

TIP: Remember to throw the vacuum bag into the outdoor garbage after vacuuming! 

Consider A Bed Bug Fogger Or Spray

Getting a bed bug fogger is one way to quickly exterminate bed bugs. Follow the instructions on the package and place all items into a single room. Once it has been fogged, I recommend cleaning items to remove any residue that may have been left behind.

You can leave suitcases and contaminated items in the garage or outdoors, then spray or use a fogger in a contained space as outlined on the bottle.

NOTE: Bed Bug Foggers are not 100% effective as the aerosol does not penetrate into all the crevices, nooks, and crannies where they like to hide. Many bed bugs are now developing an immunity to the poison as well.

Bottom line: Don’t bring anything into your home until you’ve had a chance to thoroughly vacuum and clean it if you have been in a hotel room with bed bugs.

If you unknowingly brought bed bugs into your home during a trip, check out this helpful Bed Bug Resource.

Check out more of our travel tips for your next adventure.

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What To Do If Your Hotel Has Bed Bugs