Summer is here, and millions of Americans are planning vacations. If you’ll be staying in a hotel during the busy summer travel season, you may be concerned about encountering bed bugs. Your chance of encountering bed bugs is greatest while you’re travelling, so it’s smart to be concerned. Pro-Staff, the Des Moines bed bug removal company, has some tips to help you avoid bed bugs during your travels.
Inspect Your Hotel Room
When you arrive in your hotel room, inspect the furniture and bedding for bed bugs. The seams of the mattress and bed spring, the underside of the mattress, and the back of the headboard are prime locations for bed bugs. During your inspection, watch out for these signs of bed bug activity:
- Dark spots on the fabric (bed bug feces)
- Reddish stains on the sheets or mattress
- Shed bed bug skins
- Bed bug eggs
- Live bed bugs
If you see any of these signs, ask to change rooms — or if you prefer, change hotels. Make sure to repeat the inspection process in your new room.
Use the Luggage Rack
If the hotel provides a luggage rack, use it. Storing luggage up off of the floor and away from furniture makes it harder for bed bugs to sneak inside. If you don’t have a luggage rack, another good place to store your luggage is in the hotel bathtub. Bed bugs aren’t usually found in bathrooms, and it’s hard for them to crawl into tubs.
Treat Your Clothing
Despite taking precautions, bed bugs could slip into your luggage and hide on your clothing. As soon as you get home from your trip, treat your clothing. Simply unpack your clothing right into the washing machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Washing will kill some bed bugs, but drying the clothes in a hot dryer will take care of the rest.
Delicate clothes that can’t be washed can be treated in the freezer. To kill bugs, the clothes must be maintained at 23°F or lower for at least five days. If you don’t know how cold your freezer is, leave the clothes in the freezer for two weeks to make sure the bugs don’t survive.
Inspect Your Luggage
When you’re back home, inspect your luggage for hitchhiking bed bugs. Pay attention to the seams and the pockets. To clean the luggage, you can use hot water, soap, and a scrub brush. If you have a large enough freezer, you could freeze your luggage as well.
By taking precautions when traveling, you can reduce the chance of bringing home bed bugs. If you discover bed bugs in your home, call the Des Moines bed bug removal experts at Pro-Staff.