Bedbugs

[plain_jane_246]

Ahhhhh!!! The more I read the more terrified I am about bed bugs and disgusting rooms. My DH asures me that most reasonably priced motels/hotels will be clean and bug free. Please help with some reassurance or some definate stay-away tips...

I read somewhere the HoJo is putting in new beds and linens. Anybody else read this?

 

[audrabolster]

I never sleep with the coverlet- I don't think hotels EVER wash those. But I've only stayed at one hotel and didn't have a problem.

 

[bumbershoot]

I do believe the linens are all new, and the mattresses are being changed (to the kind at Starwood hotels!) currently.

Honestly, there's nothing that anyone can say to assure a person that there will be no bedbugs. Bedbugs transcend cost of hotel, net worth of a person, class of a hotel. They don't care about borders. They can be anywhere, really. If you're a traveler at heart you know this and live with it...if traveling isn't as important to you, you can let it stop you.

I wish that there were things we could say to you, but even the Ritz Carlton has had bedbugs.


On the other hand, I've stayed in hotels all over the place and I've never encountered a bedbug (knock on Ikea laminate shelf).

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I've done quite a bit of reading on this after seeing a show on one of those news programs.

First of all, it doesn't matter how expensive or clean a hotel is. Bed bugs don't care! Changing the bedding also will not get rid of them. They are VERY difficult to get rid of. They hide in the walls, lamps, curtins, behind the head board, bed frame, and even picture frames! So just throwing away the mattress won't work either!

Second of all don't panic, just make sure you check your room out when you arrive. It only takes a few minutes! Pull back the sheets, look at the mattress. Especially the creases (they like to hide there). Not only look for the bugs. They are small but visable (brown to reddish color, flat bugs). But also look for their "droppings". Which is a reddish brown stain. Check behind the head board and around the frame.

If that all checks out, give the lamp shapes a look, and behind the curtains. As well as open the dresser drawers, and look behind the picture frames.

It sounds like a lot, but it only take me 10 minutes usually. This way I can sleep better and lessen my risk of taking them HOME with me!

 

[noryglory]

Along those lines, this is my new favorite hotel habit after throwing the bedspread into a dark corner and anti-bac wiping everything down: Don't EVER drink out of those glasses in your room. Think they're clean?!?

Just watch THIS!!! (Official undercover news report, not a joke...)

http://www.bestviral.com/video/7380/dirty_hotel_secrets_follow_up

 

[dalepool]

News flash******* Next time you walk past a housekeeping cart look to see how many bed spreads there are on it ----- NONE. this is for the reason they are not changed after every departure . Ask that yours be changed. This is also true of the extra pillows that are kept in closets and drawers. I guess extra means if they do not looked used u do not have to change . BED BUGS DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE, HOW MUCH YOU HAVE PAID, THEY ONLY KNOW YOU ARE WARM AND LOOK GOOD TO THEM. Be a smart savvy traveler and you should fare well. Happy travels.

 

[mo3bys]

Oh my, I will never drink from a hotel glass again.....yuck...here is another link from that same site and it talks about bed bugs.......yuck

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=13b_1175841446