I am terrified at the idea of bed bugs infesting my home. We have to stay at a hotel over night tonight (due to an out of town funeral for my beloved Gramps) and I know that there is a serious outbreak going on right now, coming mostly out of hotels and daycares bedding. Since we have no other option to be stay over night at a hotel, I logged on to the hotel's webpage and read their reviews. Out of 21 reviews, only two were negative. Just about all of the comments made were regarding how clean the rooms were. I know that there is still no guarentee, but am wondering.....If I take our own sheets from home to put on the bed (both over the sheet on the mattress and another to cover up with) and our own blankets, then take them home in a garbage bag and launder immediately, will this help from taking any "little critters" home with us?? I'm at a loss what to do about pillows. Also, my baby will be using a pack and play to sleep in (the hotel will be providing it)...can I do the same with bringing his sheet and blanket from home?? Will our luggage be ok in the room, without the possibility of bringing any travelers home??
The idea of sleeping in a hotel is already grossing me out and I'm just trying to be as preventative as possible...any other suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Hotels are pretty nice, it's motels you want to stay away from. i love staying in hotels, we have stayed in a hotel in Tucson Az, Hollywood, Anahiem, Stockdon. LA and we have never had or seen or heard of any bed bug problems And I have never had any bed bug problems in my daycare bedding. J.
k
Before you even take your luggage into the room, pull the sheets back and check the bedding. If you see little black spots all over it, there is most likely an infestation. If not, you're pretty safe. We've stayed at several hotels in various locations and never had a problem with any of them as of yet. Please don't stress over it. You'll be fine :)
I think you are over stressing. Most of the nicer hotels are ok, my hubby travels 1-3 nights a week for the last 20 yrs and we travel often as a family and we have never seen any infestation.
It is true that any hotel can get infested but most of the time, it is the cheap locations and motels.
If it makes you feel better, check everything before you take things into the room and if you still feel uncomfortable, spray the beddind and area with some bug spray.
Relax.....you and your family will be fine.
There is a bed bug registry website you can check.
http://bedbugregistry.com/
It's not foolproof because they may not have been reported, but it's better than nothing. Check Tripadvisor as well, then check the rolled seams of the mattresses for dark specks or small blood spots...that is where they leave their mark. Do not place your luggage on the carpet...place it on a desk, table or luggage stand. Do not bring your own sheets...not worth the hassle. I do bring a can of Lysol & spray everything down (doorknobs, phones, etc), then leave the room for a while and come back after it's aired out.
You'll be fine...try not to worry too much!
It's true, you can't determine the location of a bed bug infestation by what quality of hotel/motel it is. Just like head lice, they're equal opportunity offenders.
Read the information on this post from the Harvard University School of Public Health. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/
Make sure the information you receive is from credible sources such as Departments of Entomology (like this one). A lot of people blog about bed bugs, head lice, body lice without being experts in the field and spread a lot of bad information.
Don't worry. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.
bedbugs are all over the place now. i have the same fears as you, but we travel quite often even if it is 1-2 nights in a hotel. we try to stay at 4 or 5 star hotels. i get garbage bags from my house, and whenever we are done wearing something, off it goes in garbage bags, and keep it tied. when we get home, i put all bags in our garage, and start doing laundry with hottest water allowable. i wash everything twice. even the things we didn't get to wear.
i don't bring change of sheets or pillow cases. we keep our bags on top of the desk. not touching the floors, and then i hope a lot we don't get dealt a bad bedbug card. it hasn't happened yet. i had a friend who got bedbugs in her house, and went through hell and back. a month later she thought she was done with bedbugs she expressed an interest to come for a visit. i told her not for another year because i was afraid those suckers were still inside her home, and she didn't know it. turns out iw as right, weeks later, she had another infestation.
so just hope for the best. nothing else you can do. they're so tiny, if the hotel has them, they'll be coming home with you. keep reading reviews. call the hotel prior to leaving and ask about bedbugs.
it should be alright. i know the feeling as you can see i also live in michigan and there is a bedbug epidemic in michigan! do everything that you just suggested! good luck
My hubby and I stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Whitewater, WI in June, 2009 and brought home bed bugs. We didn't know it right away, but have narrowed it down to the experience we had at that motel. We also found them on www.bedbugregistry.com with a report from August, 2009. So, checking there would not have helped us out. I should go tell my story there.
The only thing that I would change about what people are saying is to check the box spring and the mattress. They love to nest in tiny crevices where they are undisturbed. By the time the bugs start looking for crevices on the mattress, likely the entire box spring is filled up inside and out. Pick up the bedskirt, if there is one, and look at the box spring. Bring a flashlight and shine it on the woodwork around the bed because then the telltale poop marks (if any) will really stand out. The marks blend into the grain of the wood otherwise. Look behind pictures or around the frames if they are attached to the wall.
American Pest Control treated my house several times with organic spray (sterilized adults) on the floors and dusted every drawer, closet, and wall with diatomaceous earth, that kills the bugs. Most of our belongings were in space bags and stored in the garage. We each had a laundry basket of clothes that was tied up in a garbage bag and kept on the dining room table. Nothing was put away until months after our "all clear." Knock wood, we are bed bug free but still vigilant.
Finally, there is no place that is completely safe from bed bugs. There are reports on bedbugregistry.com of peoples' experiences. The difference is how the motel/hotel/apartment management responds to the problem. I believe that Super 8 really knew of their problem and let us take it home. Read about encounters at Disney properties and you'll hear a whole different story about how the staff detected the problem and took care of their every need. International travel and staying in multiple places on one trip could make it more likely to pick or or even drop off these bugs without knowing it until you get home.
Get educated, be prepared, don't panic. Good luck.
D.
When you get to the hotel, lift up the mattress at the corners and look under it. If there are no bugs, then you're good to go. Good luck!
OMG Dee.... I wish I wouldn't have seen this ! lol
Now I'm gonna be freaking out about them! I have a fear of bugs as it is and we're going on vacation saturday! UGH!
Michigan dept of community health has an entire website dedicated to bedbugs. Check it out for prevention t
Updated
Michigan dept of community health has an entire website dedicated to bedbugs. Check it out for prevention tips.
I have never seen a bedbug, I thought it was a children's song till my hubby told me a few years ago they are real. chances are you will be fine, you are aware of a possible problem so just watch out for them.
