Leave With a Tan, Not Bed Bugs — Always Check the Mattress

It's peak travel season, and this is the time of year I start getting the calls. Somebody gets back from a week away, and a few days later they're finding bites — or worse, they're finding bugs. Bed bugs don't care if you stayed at a motel off the highway or a nice resort. They care about one thing: a ride to the next place.

And your suitcase is a very good ride.

Here's the thing though — this is one of the most preventable pest problems there is. It takes about sixty seconds when you walk into a hotel room, before you've unpacked a single thing.

Do this before you unpack anything

Put your luggage in the bathroom or on the tile first. Not on the bed. Not on the carpet. The bathroom is the least likely place in the room to have bed bugs, so that's your staging area while you check.

Then go to the bed and pull back the sheets at the corners. That's it. That's the whole move.

What you're looking for

The seams and piping of the mattress. That folded edge running around the mattress is the number one hiding spot. Run your eye along it, especially at the corners.

Small dark spots. Think tiny ink dots or pepper flecks along the seam. That's fecal staining, and it's the most common sign — usually you'll spot the evidence before you ever spot a bug.

Rusty or reddish smears. Small blood spots on the mattress, the box spring fabric, or the sheets.

Shed skins. Pale, translucent little husks. Bed bugs molt as they grow and leave the shells behind.

The bugs themselves. Adults are about the size and shape of an apple seed, flat, reddish brown. Young ones are much smaller and lighter, harder to see.

Then check the box spring edge underneath, and the headboard — especially where it meets the wall. The headboard is the spot most people never think to look, and it's a favorite. If it lifts off the wall easily, take a peek behind it.

If you find something

Don't try to tough it out or just switch to the other bed. Go to the front desk and ask for a room in a different part of the building — not the room next door, since bed bugs travel between adjoining rooms through walls and outlets. And keep your luggage off the floor and the bed in the meantime.

If everything looks clean, still use the luggage rack, and pull it away from the wall. Keep your bag closed when you're not in it. Little habits, almost no effort.

The part everyone skips: coming home

This is where people get burned. You made it through the trip fine, you're tired, and the suitcase goes straight into the bedroom closet. That's the one move I'd tell you to change.

Don't bring the suitcase into the bedroom. Unpack in the garage, the laundry room, the porch — anywhere but where you sleep.

Everything cloth goes straight into the dryer on high heat for about 30 minutes. Clean clothes too, not just the dirty ones. Heat is what kills them at every life stage, and the dryer is the easiest heat treatment you own. Washing alone doesn't do it — it's the dryer that matters.

Vacuum the suitcase out, inside and along the zipper seams, and empty the vacuum outside. Then store the bag somewhere other than your bedroom.

Why it's worth the sixty seconds

Bed bugs are one of the hardest pests to get rid of once they're established, and it usually starts with a handful of them hitching a ride in a bag. Catching it at the hotel — or stopping it at your laundry room door — is a whole lot easier than treating a bedroom later.

So enjoy the trip. Just pull the sheet back first.