Bed bugs?

[Anonymous]

I am on a business trip and staying in a hotel. I woke up this morning with several small insect bites on my wrist. My first thought was bug bites, although it could have been a spider or other insect. I complained at the front desk and they brought in a team to inspected the room. There were no bed bugs found.
That said, I am still concerned about the possibility of bringing home bed bugs. I plan to wash everything I immediately once I get home. Is there anything else I need to be concerned about?

[Anonymous]

Google bed bugs - there are tips on how to not spread them from a hotel room to home.

The fact the hotel saw no bugs doesn't mean there are none. They hide.

[Anonymous]

Check your chest. When I moved into a room (that wound up having bedbugs), the tell tale signs were bites on my chest

[Anonymous]

Bed bugs can be a $10,000 problem. If I were you, I would scrap your suitcase in a dumpster and drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners, and when you get home, throw your outfit immediately in a very, very hot and long wash cycle. Taking hitchhikers home isn't worth the risk.

Did you check tripadvisor - do a search of your hotel name and "bed bugs" to see if there are any reports on there. Also, check www.bedbugregistry.net.

At the very least, I would demand that they move you into another room tonite. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bed bugs can be a $10,000 problem. If I were you, I would scrap your suitcase in a dumpster and drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners, and when you get home, throw your outfit immediately in a very, very hot and long wash cycle. Taking hitchhikers home isn't worth the risk.

Did you check tripadvisor - do a search of your hotel name and "bed bugs" to see if there are any reports on there. Also, check www.bedbugregistry.net.

At the very least, I would demand that they move you into another room tonite. Good luck!

I would amend this advice to leave items in your car on several hot sunny days. Then do the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bed bugs can be a $10,000 problem. If I were you, I would scrap your suitcase in a dumpster and drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners, and when you get home, throw your outfit immediately in a very, very hot and long wash cycle. Taking hitchhikers home isn't worth the risk.

Did you check tripadvisor - do a search of your hotel name and "bed bugs" to see if there are any reports on there. Also, check www.bedbugregistry.net.

At the very least, I would demand that they move you into another room tonite. Good luck!

I would amend this advice to leave items in your car on several hot sunny days. Then do the above.

I don't think a car can get hot enough inside - I think it needs to be like 120+ degrees. My pest guy says ditch the suitcase or get it drycleaned (I wouldn't even attempt drycleaning it) and dryclean the clothes or throw them all in the washer in your hottest cycle immediately. I never had the problem, but my cousin experienced them in a hotel and that was my guy's advice to her.

[Anonymous]

You can get one of those giant ziploc bags to put your suitcase inside - they have them at target, usually. Keep all shoes on the bathroom floor. When you get home leave your bag in the garage, or better yet your hot car and first put every item of clothing on hot in the dryer, then wash and dry again on hot. Just because they didn't find bed bugs doesn't mean they're not there, though hopefully they are trained to see the signs (tiny black spots on the sheets/mattress, etc).

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks everyone! Everything will be in the car on Friday while I finish up my trip, so I'll park it in the sun to get it as hot as possible. Suitcase is old and can be thown away. And everything will go either to the cry cleaners or into the washer on hot.

[Anonymous]

Check bedbugregistry.com as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bed bugs can be a $10,000 problem. If I were you, I would scrap your suitcase in a dumpster and drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners, and when you get home, throw your outfit immediately in a very, very hot and long wash cycle. Taking hitchhikers home isn't worth the risk.

Did you check tripadvisor - do a search of your hotel name and "bed bugs" to see if there are any reports on there. Also, check www.bedbugregistry.net.

At the very least, I would demand that they move you into another room tonite. Good luck!

I would amend this advice to leave items in your car on several hot sunny days. Then do the above.

I don't think a car can get hot enough inside - I think it needs to be like 120+ degrees. My pest guy says ditch the suitcase or get it drycleaned (I wouldn't even attempt drycleaning it) and dryclean the clothes or throw them all in the washer in your hottest cycle immediately. I never had the problem, but my cousin experienced them in a hotel and that was my guy's advice to her.

I think everything said here is helpful in avoiding bedbugs. However, a car in the warm weather can reach temperatures far exceeding 120 fairly quickly. Kill the bedbugs, but keep the elderly, children and pets out of a closed car!

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/

[Anonymous]

Lots of good advice here. We encountered bedbugs on a trip and when we returned home, stripped naked on our deck and went into the house directly to the shower. Brought everything in gradually piece by piece. Yes, I was that paranoid. But it worked.

For clothes the DRYER is what is key, more so than the hot water wash cycle. Make sure to dry on high, and add extra time to make sure everything is thoroughly dry. Even better use a commercial laundromat.

For things like medicines that can't be left in the heat, use sealable plastic bags (ziploc makes large ones) and you can bring things inside that way, to deal with later. We filled a spray bottle with 95% rubbing alcohol and sprayed things individually in the sink.

Total pain but nothing in comparison to fighting them once they are inside your house.

Poor response on the hotel's part; bedbugs hide so the fact that they didn't find anything doesn't really say much. I don't blame hotels for the problem (it is common and it is the guests who bring them, after all) but they should be knowledgeable about how to deal with the issue, and it sounds like they are not. They should have treated the room regardless of the inspection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bed bugs can be a $10,000 problem. If I were you, I would scrap your suitcase in a dumpster and drop your clothes off at the dry cleaners, and when you get home, throw your outfit immediately in a very, very hot and long wash cycle. Taking hitchhikers home isn't worth the risk.

Did you check tripadvisor - do a search of your hotel name and "bed bugs" to see if there are any reports on there. Also, check www.bedbugregistry.net.

At the very least, I would demand that they move you into another room tonite. Good luck!

I would amend this advice to leave items in your car on several hot sunny days. Then do the above.

I don't think a car can get hot enough inside - I think it needs to be like 120+ degrees. My pest guy says ditch the suitcase or get it drycleaned (I wouldn't even attempt drycleaning it) and dryclean the clothes or throw them all in the washer in your hottest cycle immediately. I never had the problem, but my cousin experienced them in a hotel and that was my guy's advice to her.

I think everything said here is helpful in avoiding bedbugs. However, a car in the warm weather can reach temperatures far exceeding 120 fairly quickly. Kill the bedbugs, but keep the elderly, children and pets out of a closed car!

http://www.ggweather.com/heat/

You don't want to get bed bugs in your car though.