What to Do If You Find Bedbugs in Hotel
A supposed to be a dream vacation can quickly turn into a nightmare if you wake up with red and itchy bed bug bites after spending just one night in your hotel room. While the majority of hotels adhere to high standards of cleanliness, others cut corners, to the dismay of their hotel guests. If you checked your room for bed bugs and you find bed bugs, there are several essential things you should do.
Keep Calm and Don’t Panic
Not all people who stayed in a hotel infested with bed bugs will bring them home. But still, it is best to believe that you could pick up one or a couple of stray bed bugs. The place where your luggage will most probably pick up these bugs is on the bed. Lower your risks by keeping your luggage away from your hotel bed.
Separate All Your Belongings
Possibly the most essential step to do once you discover that the room is bed bug-infested is to separate your belongings. Bringing bed bugs home is the last thing you want to happen. Put all items and clothes that come into close contact with the bed in a plastic bag then keep it sealed. Make sure your bag is also closed to seal off the non-contaminated stuff safely. As a good preventative measure, avoid leaving your clothes on the bed. Any article of clothing that has come into contact with the bed should be in a sealed bag.
Secure Evidence in the Form of Photos
Make sure that you take a photo of your room. Use your camera to take pictures of bites if you have any. You can also take photos of the reddish-brown insects you find or those blood smears often seen on the linens, mattress, pillows, couches, box springs, or baseboards. If you actually spot bed bugs, try capturing it and containing it for future evidence.
Inform Your Host
There is a chance that the hotel staff or the entire hotel management team is not aware of the bed bug on the premises. They can offer you a different room or contact a pest control company to contain the issue right away.
Stay calm in how you approach the hotel administration to avoid forfeiting your chance of receiving a refund. Show them the photos you took as evidence, the stained sheets, or actual bugs to prove that what you are claiming is real. Define the clear outcome you want. Inform them if you want a refund for your stay or if you want the hotel to cover the expenses of replacing or cleaning your belongings.
Leave the Room
Forget about the price, the nice room, and the ideal location of the hotel. These things don’t matter because bed bugs can wreak serious havoc on fun, and it's never worth that risk. You also don't need to worry about the payment you made because most hotels will provide a refund if you inform them of the problem (even if you've stayed the night). But if they don't, make sure you complain and persist. It is unacceptable that they do not refund you.
Sadly, there are times when the discovery of bed bugs happen at midnight and returning home or moving to a different accommodation is impossible and impractical. In such instances, request to change rooms, look for a hammock, or other alternative places for sleeping and leave the next day at the soonest time possible. Again, make sure to separate your sleeping clothes and the clothes that have not come into contact with the bed, if you mix both, then your whole suitcase could be infected.
Avoid Scratching the Bites
If you were unlucky to get bug bites, don’t scratch them as it can cause an infection. Use water and soap to wash the area and apply a topical antihistamine or corticosteroid cream while avoiding the itchy regions as it will make you prone to infection.
What to Do Once You Arrive Home
Take out the washables (the ones that have come into contact with bed bugs) and put them directly in the washing machine. Put the clothes in the washer on high heat for a minimum of 30 minutes. Putting the clothes in the drier on a hot setting for 30 minutes will also kill bed bugs and the eggs. Make sure you also tie up and dispose of the empty bag right away after you unload the clothes in the washer. Send the sweaters and suits that are not washable in hot water to the dry cleaners.
Are There Products You Can Use to Protect Yourself from Bed Bugs When Travelling?
Fortunately, there are products that you can bring along whenever you travel and use it to protect yourself from bed bugs as you stay in hotels. There are also those that you can use to treat your used clothes and belongings as you come home. Some of the products we recommend are:
You can bring Blaze Bed Bug Killer anywhere with you and make sure you can repel bed bugs, if there are any, in your hotel room. Since it comes in a small size, it can easily fit in your bag and even pass airports without issues. Spray this around your bed mattress and any possible hiding spots to keep them away. You can also use this bed bug spray to force out bed bugs from any crack or crevice you find hard to inspect.
Given that heat treatment is the most effective method in killing bed bugs, you can choose to get any bed bug steamers that you can use for sanitizing and getting rid of bed bugs. There are portable options like Polti Cimex Eradicator, that you can use for treating all your belongings effectively and conveniently.
By using a bed bug heater, you assure yourself of killing bed bugs in all stages of life. There are various heaters that you can use for heating the belongings you brought home. In this case, your suitcase is an ideal candidate for a ZappBug Heater, Oven 2, and for the worst cases, the ZappBug Room. You can use the ZappBug Heater or even check out our Tri-Flo products to have your entire home treated.
With these products in mind, you can consider getting one and be able to protect yourself, your family, and your home from a bedbug infestation.
