When I arrived at my hotel in Rome as an early 20-something, I was eager to march all over the city’s history. But my excitement melted to worry the second I checked in. To my dismay, the staff quickly grabbed my suitcase and started steaming it.
A bit of research later, and I realized they were hoping to kill any potential bed bugs I’d sauntered in with. Clearly, they had experience with this sort of thing before.
Fortunately, I never encountered any bedbugs during my stay, but the experience left me feeling pretty queasy and unsettled. To this day, I still do a bedbug check in hotel rooms. Yes, even the really fancy ones, because bedbugs don’t care how many stars a hotel has. They’ll catch a ride whenever the opportunity strikes.
Here’s exactly how to check your hotel for bedbugs, based on my years of experience.
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Where to Put Your Luggage
When I check into a hotel and enter my room for the first time, before anything else, I locate the luggage rack, set it up in a corner away from the bed, and place my suitcase on top.
This immediately gets it off the carpeted floor and away from the bed, which are two fabric-heavy places bedbugs love to go.
“The bed, upholstered furniture, and carpet are areas that give bedbugs more places to hide and an easier opportunity to crawl into your belongings,” explains Ralph Masferrer, exterminator and director of training at Aruza Pest Control.
If there’s no luggage rack, then I keep my suitcase in the bathroom or near the door (any hard surface area without fabric is suitable). And before unpacking anything, I conduct my thorough bedbug search.
How I Check for Bedbugs in a Hotel Room
After putting my luggage in a safe spot, the bedbug search begins.
This isn’t overly complicated, and it doesn’t take much time. It’s totally worth the 5 to 10 minutes for peace of mind and, in the worst case scenario, sidestepping bedbug disaster. (It is exceptionally challenging to get rid of them once you have them, which is part of their notoriety.)
Per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), bedbugs tend to stay within 8 feet of where people sleep. I guess they’re not named that for nothing. That said, I focus my search around the bed.
First, I pull the sheets back and check along every mattress seam. Bedbugs are tiny and like to hide in these crevices. Next, I move on and do the same with the box spring. I also look behind and around the headboard, including any seams, and check any cracks or crevices near the bed, including wallpaper seams. Lastly, I look in and around side tables.
I move slowly and carefully while doing this, taking my time to spread back seams so I can see more closely. If I find something suspicious-looking, it helps to take a picture of it on my phone and zoom in for a better look. Every time it’s just been a piece of fuzz or dirt, thank goodness.
Signs Your Hotel Has Bedbugs
I have fortunately never encountered a single bedbug in my life, but I’ve familiarized myself with their evidence, and all travelers should.
Adult bedbugs: You may catch adult live bugs, which are a brown color and super tiny, about the size of an apple seed. Adult bedbugs may appear reddish and longer if they’ve fed recently (ew, I know).
Young bedbugs: Younger bedbugs are even smaller, and they have a clear, white, or yellow hue to them. Because of this, they’re super hard to see with just your eyes alone.
Eggs: Bedbugs proliferate quickly via egg laying. To be honest, you probably aren’t going to be able to notice these unless you have a magnifying glass. They’re the size of a pinhead and white.
Excrement: Their excrement is another tell-tale sign of bedbugs in a hotel room. These are spots or streaks that are brownish-red/rusty in color. (TMI, but this is digested blood.)
Exoskeletons: Bedbugs shed their outer layer and leave it behind. This looks like dry, empty shells ranging from brown to yellow to clear.
Sweetish, musty odor: Bedbugs are anything but sweet, but Maferrer says their glands secrete a musty, sweet smell.
“The signs are not always obvious,” Maferrer warns. “Bedbugs are small and very good at hiding in cracks, seams, and other tight spaces, so a room can have activity even if you never see a live bug.”
That said, you may experience bites without seeing them. The CDC says these look similar to mosquito or flea bites, and that they may be random or appear in a straight line.
What To Do if You Discover Bedbugs at Your Hotel
The first thing to do if you think you’ve found bedbugs in your hotel room is to take photographs of the evidence. This includes any live bugs, excrement, and shedded skins. Next consult the hotel staff immediately, and take your bags with you.
Personally, I would ask for a full refund and check into a different hotel altogether. I just don’t think I’d be able to sleep in a hotel in a different room knowing that bedbugs were on property. The headache of finding a new place far outweighs that of a bedbug infestation.
If that’s not feasible, request a room change immediately. Maferrer recommends requesting a room that's not directly next to, above, or below the original room. “Bedbugs can potentially move between neighboring spaces,” he explains.
If you already unpacked, bag the clothing and other belongings that may have been exposed to prevent further spread.
It’s worth asking the hotel how they can help you safely treat these items, and they may even cover the logistics and expenses of this, since the typical course of action will be to head to a laundromat and throw your belongings into the hottest dryer setting possible. Washing alone won’t do the job; you’ll need a cycle with extreme heat (above 118 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 90 minutes), or you can stick your clothes in a freezer for at least 4 days in subzero temps, though heat is generally considered the most effective.
The Shortcut
When checking into a hotel room, don't place your luggage on the bed, carpet, or other upholstered surfaces. Hard flooring, a luggage rack, bathroom, or near the entry are your safest bets until you have an all-clear.
Bedbugs stay within about 8 feet of the bed, so start with the mattress piping, seams, and tags, then check the box spring, bed frame cracks, and behind the headboard.
The most obvious signs of bedbugs include adult bugs that are about the size of an apple seed, their shedded exoskeletons which are dry, papery shells, and rusty-colored spots and streaks caused by their excrement.
