How to Check Your Hotel for Bed bugs

One of the pest nightmares that you should never have to deal with is a bedbug infestation. Bed bugs are very hard to get rid of once they enter your home. If this does happen, your best bet is hiring pest control professionals to treat your home repeatedly. It is therefore important that you take every step necessary to avoid bringing these pests into your home when you travel. Here is a guide on how to check your hotel for bed bugs when you travel.

Check the Entire Room

AAI Pest Control, a pest control company in Modesto, recommends that you check the entire hotel room for bed bugs. These pests can be present in upholstery, luggage racks, mattress seams, at the back of the headboard and in the bed frame. Check for adult bed bugs, young ones (nymphs) and eggs.

The adults are oval, flat and brown in color. The nymphs are smaller and are generally translucent with a hint of brown or yellow. The eggs are white and are tiny (like pinpoints). Also, be on the lookout for black spots in the places where you are checking for bed bugs. Those spots are bed bug droppings. You may also see blood stains, an indicator that bed bugs are active in that room. Bed bugs also shed their skin, so watch for these as well.

Use a magnifying glass or flashlight if you find any bed bugs in your hotel. However, you should be able to see the bed bugs with your eye alone.

Observe Your Body

Another key step on how to check your hotel for bed bugs involves observing your body the next morning after sleeping in a hotel room. Bed bug bites usually trigger an itchy rash that makes your skin look red. However, this may not be a reliable test since it takes varying intervals for the rash to develop on different people after staying in a bed bug-infested hotel room. Nonetheless, perform this check just in case you are one of those who exhibit the signs.

Keep Your Luggage Properly

Don’t be lulled into thinking that a hotel room is free from bed bugs just because that room is clean. These bugs are drawn to warmth, carbon dioxide, and blood. Consequently, you should refrain from placing your luggage on the bed or floor as you unpack.

Instead, AAI Pest Control recommends that you keep the luggage on the luggage rack as long as you inspect that rack thoroughly and confirmed that it is bug-free. Also, an added precaution that you should take is to zip or close your suitcase as soon as you have removed anything that you want to take out. This precaution will prevent any bed bug from getting into your suitcase.

Wash Your Clothes Upon Returning Home

Don’t take any chances and assume that you didn’t carry any bed bug home after staying at a hotel. Instead, unpack your clothes and place them in a washer as soon as you get home. Everything should go in, including any clothes that you didn’t use while at the hotel. Dry the clothes on high heat so that any bed bugs hiding there can be killed. This may sound a little extreme, but you could also place those clothes in an airtight plastic bag and leave them there for several days or a week before taking them out. This additional step will kill any surviving bed bugs.

Go all out during this step because Modesto pest control experts warn that bed bugs can spend months without feeding, but heat and lack of oxygen will quickly kill them.

Unfortunately, the measures above may not guarantee that no bed bugs will hitch a ride into your home. Call our professionals at AAI Pest Control as soon as you realize that you have bed bugs in your bedroom or anywhere in your home. We will take every step necessary to treat your home against these pests so that they are eradicated for good. Don’t even try DIY methods because the problem will linger or worsen. Let the professionals handle this matter so you can be at ease.