Checking for Bed Bugs in hotels...

May 29, 2006
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I hear bedbugs can now be found in some hotels in the DR. Be sure to check the room before you unpack. They are showing up in all kinds of places. From movie theaters to lingerie shops. Maybe on planes??? They can be small, about the size of a head of a pin.


How to Check Your Hotel Rooms For BedBugs

Bedbugs (or bed bugs) are becoming an epidemic in hotel rooms throughout the United States. Larger cities, especially New York City are literally infested with them. Before staying in a hotel room for the night these days, it is best to spend five minutes and check the room for bedbugs. Some of the pictures of victims are downright gruesome. The bugs come in the night and bite along the thickest veins in your legs in the middle of the night where your slumber is at it's deepest level. Bedbugs are small black creatures, but you should be able to pick them out by following a few simple procedures. Here are some tips to and information on how to check for bed bugs around the hotel room.

1. Pick up the mattresses in the rooms and look under it. Check around the edges of the box springs.
2. Check under the box spring.
3. Look at the corners of the room. Oftentimes bedbugs are wedged in corners sleeping during the day. Also, spiders do catch them and this is where they generally have their webs.
4. This is the most important tip of all. Headboards in hotel rooms are easily removed. They are basically decorative. Lift up each headboard an lie it on the bed. Carefully inspect the hole where the headboard was lifted out of. Also, inspect all niches and corners of the headboard. Remember bedbugs are very small and dead bedbug husks sometimes can be hard to pick up. If you see any type of bug or husk of small bugs, you most likely have bedbugs in the room (or at least used to)

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TStroman3

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Sep 11, 2011
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Hopefully, those on this site are experienced enough travelers that thye would be aware of the bedbug epidemic and take proper precautions. I'm with PeteyPablo- so....disgusting!
 

imfromda305

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Dec 9, 2011
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I don't know if it's a fact, but if you the bed is made out of wood there is a bigger chance of bed bugs staying there. I'd never ever had bed bug when sleeping in an iron bed.

I had a situation I was sleeping in a wooden bed, I swear to God I killed over 50 of them in less than 4 hours. I went to sleep in an other bed. The next day the wooden bed was being replaced by an iron one. The bed was at the same spot and the next day no bed bugs at all.

Spray the hell out of the room and bed, and get rid of wooden furniture and it's a wrap.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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The "Wooden Bed" theory does not hold water!
Bedbugs often live in the mattress,and/or pillow.
They also live far away away from the bed,in walls,furniture,ANYWHERE.
They are attracted to us by the Carbon Dioxide we exhale,just like mosquitos and some other "Bugs"!
If the infestation is HUGE,you may spot them on the sheets,but many times,like all "Vampires",they only come out at night!!!!!!
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imfromda305

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Dec 9, 2011
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The "Wooden Bed" theory does not hold water!
Bedbugs often live in the mattress,and/or pillow.
They also live far away away from the bed,in walls,furniture,ANYWHERE.
They are attracted to us by the Carbon Dioxide we exhale,just like mosquitos and some other "Bugs"!
If the infestation is HUGE,you may spot them on the sheets,but many times,like all "Vampires",they only come out at night!!!!!!
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCc

Well, I can't really bother to find out who's right or wrong.. from traveling over 4 years only in London I've witnessed these things. It so happen to be that I met 50 of 'm just last week. They were ALL over me! Other than that, in cases people did have them they changed the beds and the problem was solved.

In my own house and in my momma's house I never saw them and to be honest I only knew about their existence since like a year ago.
 

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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Weird that this topic came up this morning. My building is only about 15 years old and this morning they are doing a canine search for bedbugs. My sheets are off and ready for inspection. Will let you know if they find anything. :laugh:

Wouldn't you know if you had them?
 

CaptnGlenn

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Mar 29, 2010
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I've recently had to deal with a pretty bad infestation last spring in my daughter's apartment in a large city in the eastern U.S. I did a LOT of online research and also have first hand experience doing battle with the little critters. Keep in mind that the various bed bug websites are fueled by exaggeration, some myth, and a lot of fear and panic AND... their primary reason for existing are to sell you stuff through the links. Make no mistake, they ARE tough little effers to deal with, but in the end they really are just bugs. They will spread out and infest other areas of a room, especially over a period of time, but if there is an infestation in the room, they will be on the bed first and foremost. Check the mattress, look in the creases, under the small edges of the fabric piping where it is sewed to the corners, etc. etc. You don't need to pull the headboard off the wall... LOL. Look at the fabric of the mattress... look for small spots that would look like a fine point pen touched the fabric and bled a little into the fabric ... that's the classic tell tale.. they are spots from the bugs excrement. The sheets might have been laundered, but there will still be marks on the mattress. There aren't many effective pesticides that are still available to combat them... but there are some. In the end... they ARE gross, but basically harmless since they do not transmit disease. If you found them in your room, be careful about transporting them back home... that's the biggest danger.
 

CaptnGlenn

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Mar 29, 2010
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Weird that this topic came up this morning. My building is only about 15 years old and this morning they are doing a canine search for bedbugs. My sheets are off and ready for inspection. Will let you know if they find anything. :laugh:

Wouldn't you know if you had them?

The dogs are great... but only as good as their handlers.
 

waytogo

Moderator - North Coast Forum
Apr 3, 2009
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Purchased a 500 dollar professional steamer and had it shipped here. I use it every month on the mattresses in my house even though I have never seen the little buggers........If they are there, I cook their little a$$'s....I only sleep with something that pleases me.....

B in Santiago
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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"Harmless"?
Some people are left with red welts that itch a lot.
Bloody sheets,and the "HORROR" of knowing they a watching you in the DARK,WAITING to STRIKE!
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PeteyPablo

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Apr 30, 2011
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Purchased a 500 dollar professional steamer and had it shipped here. I use it every month on the mattresses in my house even though I have never seen the little buggers........If they are there, I cook their little a$$'s
B in Santiago

Would of never thought of that...does it really work?


....I only sleep with something that pleases me.....
B in Santiago

Classic! :laugh:
 

Acira

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Sep 20, 2009
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We are considering to buy a steam machine also since our cleaning lady is nagging our ears off for a vacuum cleaner (cannot blame her with all our dogs :)). We prefer the double system where you can also with the same machine, steam clean matrasses, cushions and even floors for that matter. Nothing better then a steam cleaner to get rid of bed mites and like it or not, bed mites are present in every matrass, how clean your house may be, those little creatures are there and can cause quite some allergic reactions. If I can get rid of the bedbugs you talk of here in this thread (haven't spotted them yet) in the same time, gooood!
 

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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Well inspection is over and no bugs were found. Had to wait out in the hall while the female trainer and this cute little dogie went in. I expected a German Sheppard but they said they were looking for bugs not drugs :laugh:

I did a lot of research before this day and now I know what to look for especially when travelling.
 

CaptnGlenn

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Mar 29, 2010
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BIG sigh of relief AC... good for you that you dodged the bullet. The critters are one big pain in the you-know-where once you have them. Stay alert though. I imagine that since your building was being sniffed over by the pooch, (not a cheap service), that there was some reason to suspect an infestation. They WILL move from apt. to apt. within a building... or even from building to building in adjacent structures.

Well inspection is over and no bugs were found. Had to wait out in the hall while the female trainer and this cute little dogie went in. I expected a German Sheppard but they said they were looking for bugs not drugs :laugh:

I did a lot of research before this day and now I know what to look for especially when travelling.
 

AnnaC

Gold
Jan 2, 2002
16,050
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BIG sigh of relief AC... good for you that you dodged the bullet. The critters are one big pain in the you-know-where once you have them. Stay alert though. I imagine that since your building was being sniffed over by the pooch, (not a cheap service), that there was some reason to suspect an infestation. They WILL move from apt. to apt. within a building... or even from building to building in adjacent structures.


Yeah scary stuff. When I asked the securty person that accompanied the inspectors I was told that they can't say if they have found any in other apartments.

Once all was clear the itchiness I felt this morning went away. Amazing what the brain can do. :surprised
 
May 29, 2006
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I stayed at a place about five years ago that had them, then found out they were on a major comeback. They are not obvious during the daytime. The main indication you have them is if you can spot the droppings, and by that point, it's a big infestation. When I read the link, what amazed me was that many if not most hotels do not consider bedbugs to be a cause to get a FULL refund on the room in the US. If you stay overnight in a room with them, there is a good chance your luggage will be infested with them and you will bring them back home with you. I hear they are esp bad in NYC and that is where many of the DR infestations are coming from. Exposing any materials to direct sunlight is suppose to help and using vacs to suck up any bugs is suppose to help. Now I worry about getting them from planes and other places where luggage are shipped together.