Don’t Let Bed Bugs Spoil Your Vacation
Everyone looks forward to vacation, but unsuspecting travelers may get more than they bargain for when checking into a hotel: bed bugs. Here are a few tips to prevent them.
- Do not set your suitcases on the bed until you’ve had a chance to inspect the room. Instead, place them on the tile floor in the bathroom, or make use of the metal luggage racks.
- Inspect the mattress and box spring, especially along seams and corners, looking for telltale rust-colored stains or spots. If you find any evidence of bed bugs, notify management and change rooms or move to a different hotel. If the room also has a couch and/or chair(s), inspect those as well.
- Covering your suitcase may make it less susceptible to infestation. Place your luggage in a plastic trash bag or protective cover while at the hotel to deter bed bugs from entering. You can take this one step further and bag the contents of your suitcase as well. Upon arriving home, discard the plastic bags before bringing your suitcases inside.
- Upon arriving home, inspect your luggage before bringing it in your house.
- Vacuum your suitcases thoroughly before storing them away. Consider using a garment steamer in and over your luggage, which will kill any bed bugs that may have hitched a ride home. Bed bugs and their eggs cannot survive temperatures over 122 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Unpack your luggage directly over the washing machine, so no bugs can drop from your clothes to the floors of your home. Dump all clothes into the machine whether worn or not, and wash them on the hot water cycle, then dry the clothes on highest heat setting. This will kill any possible bugs and/or eggs.
- If all else fails and you still find you’ve brought home some stowaways., contact a bed bug exterminator for a professional bed bug treatment.