A couple years ago, our family went on a road trip and we were looking forward to a relaxing time in the beautiful British Columbia. We initially enjoyed our holiday, however, after one-night stay at a hotel, our 3 year old daughter discovered tiny bugs crawling on our beds. The following day, my wife developed very bed itchy and red swellings on her arms. It was shocking.
1. Inspect your hotel room before you move in
Carefully inspect the room where you will be staying for bed bugs. Main things to check are the mattress, springbox, headboard, bed sheets, nightstands and other furniture pieces. Also, look behind picture frames, mirrors, as well as around moldings, trim, and baseboard. If you reveal anything suspicious including bedbugs’ shed skins, eggs, blood stains, and droppings, leave the room immediately.
Also, do not put your luggage on the floor, bed or chairs but rather set it on the luggage racks which are usually available in all hotels. Keep your clothes and other personal items away from bed as far as possible.
2. Notify your hotel and document evidence
It is important to remain calm. It is unlikely, that even though you discovered bed bugs in your hotel room, you will bring them home with you if proper precautions are taken. Do not forget to take pictures for evidence such as your room with all signs of bed bugs you discovered as well as signs of your bites. Then, you need to notify your hotel and request a copy of incident report to document it.
If you have been bitten by bed bugs, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, mental and physical pain, and extermination costs. For more information, inquire your state’s government agencies such as the Health Department. You may consider contacting the bed bug lawyers in severe cases. Also, visit your doctor should you develop skin infection.
3. Handle and treat your luggage properly
This is crucial point. Upon returning home, do not bring your luggage inside but rather keep it in a garage, shed or porch. Visually inspect your luggage first and anything you had with you in the hotel room including your clothing, shoes, toiletries, etc. Check carefully belongings that were placed on the bed or near the bed as they are more likely to have bed bugs.
Take out all the clothing and other washable items and place them in garbage bags to take them to the washing machine. Wash your stuff at a high temperature for at least 30 min. Then, place your clothes in the dryer on the hot setting for 30 min. High temperature will kill bed bugs as well as their eggs. Remember to wash the suitcases, shoes, toiletry in warm water with soup as well.
Alternatively, these items can be treated with cold temperature by leaving them outside for a long period (if you have cold winters). You can also treat your stuff with cold by placing them in your freezer for 1-2 days.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, after we encountered bed bugs in our hotel room during our family holiday, we were very stressed out and afraid of bringing those pests to our home.
Luckily, the steps described above, although are quite a hassle, they helped us to avoid running into a bigger problem that is bringing bed bugs into our home.