Bedbugs: World’s Best Travellers?

Bedbugs have made quite a comeback in hotels in recent years – primarily through travellers and their luggage. Because bedbugs can have serious impacts on people’s health and quality of life, knowing how to recognize them is important. That way, not only will you be able to act quickly, but to control and even prevent infestations as well.

Keep on the lookout for the “charming” bedbug

Fortunately, these small parasites are visible to the naked eye. Bedbugs do not jump or fly, but move at about the speed of an ant. They have a lifespan of five to six months, but can live for more than a year without feeding when in a dormant state. Bedbugs are most active at night and live mainly in bedrooms (all the better for giving us nightmares). They shun the light and prefer to stick to dark, hard-to-access and extremely narrow places (such as in cracks no thicker than a credit card).

Obviously, those who travel regularly are more likely to bring bedbugs home than those who do not.

Here are some tips on how to avoid bringing these unwanted critters home with you when travelling:

1) Never bring your own pillow; it only gives bedbugs another place to hide (and to follow you back home in).
2) When you arrive at your hotel room, inspect it thoroughly (ideally with a flashlight) before bringing in your luggage. Examine the mattress, box spring, back of the headboard, the wall behind the bed, pillows, bedding and the bed skirt.
3) Avoid placing your luggage on the bed; put it either on the luggage rack, on a tile floor (like in the bathroom) or even in the bathtub. The more you can keep your luggage away from soft padded surfaces, the better.
4) Avoid placing your clothes and personal belongings in the dressers, on the floor or on the bed. Again, this will only give bedbugs more places to hide in.
5) If you see signs of bedbugs in the room, on your clothes or elsewhere else in the hotel, place all of your belongings in a plastic bag and seal it tightly. Don’t take your belongings out until you can treat them for bedbugs.

During the early stages of an infestation, bedbugs tend to stick close to their feeding site (which is wherever the person they are biting at night sleeps). As the infestation grows, bedbugs may disperse and hide elsewhere in the room.

Remember that bedbugs like to hide in undisturbed places, such as around the headboards of beds, which are rarely moved. Although sheets that are changed regularly will make the mattress a less welcoming place for bedbugs to hide in, bedbugs will gladly move from one place to another at night to feed if needed. It also worth knowing that bedbugs are not fussy; they relish five-star and budget hotels with equal appetite. So be vigilant, no matter where you’re staying!