How to Avoid Bringing Bed Bugs Home From Your Travels

Almost every bed bug infestation we treat in Ontario homes started somewhere else. These insects do not fly, they do not jump, and they do not live on people the way lice do — they move by being carried, and luggage is the vehicle. That is inconvenient news, but it is also useful, because it means a handful of deliberate habits at either end of a trip removes most of the risk.

The Five-Minute Room Check

Do this before anything comes off the floor, and before you sit on the bed. All you need is a phone light.

• Park your luggage in the bathroom to begin with. Hard tile with few seams is the least hospitable surface in any hotel room.
• Pull back the bedding and check the mattress seams, piping and tags, particularly at the corners nearest the headboard.
• Check the box spring along its fabric edge and underneath the gauze on the underside if it is accessible.
• Look behind the headboard. This is the single most likely harborage in a hotel room. Many lift off their wall brackets easily.
• Inspect the nightstand, including drawer joints and the underside, plus any upholstered chair seams within a couple of metres of the bed.

You are looking for four things: live insects the size and shape of an apple seed, reddish-brown; pale translucent shed skins; small dark ink-dot staining along seams; and tiny pale eggs clustered in crevices. Any of these means request a different room — and not the one next door, since bed bugs spread laterally between adjoining rooms.

Habits While You Are There

Even a clean room benefits from a few precautions, because the previous guest may have left something behind that has not established yet.

• Keep luggage on the metal rack, pulled away from the wall — not on the bed, the floor, or an upholstered bench
• Leave the suitcase zipped when you are not actively using it
• Keep worn clothing in a sealed plastic bag inside the case rather than loose or in the closet
• Avoid unpacking into dresser drawers for short stays; live out of the case instead
• Do not put clothing or bags on the bed while packing, even briefly

None of this is about cleanliness. Bed bugs have nothing to do with hygiene, and turn up in high-end hotels as readily as budget ones. They go where people sleep.

The Part That Actually Matters: Coming Home

The arrival routine does more to protect your home than everything else combined, and it is where most people get casual after a long trip.

Unpack somewhere that is not a bedroom — a garage, a mudroom, a laundry room, or a bathroom. Take every washable item directly to the dryer and run it on high heat for at least 30 minutes before it goes anywhere else. Heat is what kills bed bugs and their eggs; washing alone is much less reliable, and items do not need to be dirty to need the dryer.

Then inspect the luggage itself over a hard floor or a light-coloured sheet: seams, zipper tracks, interior pockets, wheel housings and the handle recess. Vacuum it thoroughly, empty the vacuum outside immediately, and wipe hard surfaces. Store suitcases somewhere other than a bedroom closet — a basement shelf or garage is much better than under the bed, which is the worst possible location.

If You Think Something Came Home

Early bed bug problems are dramatically easier and cheaper to resolve than established ones, so speed matters more than certainty. Watch for bites appearing overnight in loose lines or clusters on exposed skin, small dark spots along mattress seams or the bed frame, and shed skins near the headboard.

Resist the urge to treat it yourself. Store-bought sprays are repellent, which scatters the population deeper into the room and, in an apartment or condo, into neighbouring units — turning a one-room problem into a building one. Do not throw out the mattress either; that spreads insects through the hallway and is rarely necessary. Professional treatment combines targeted application, follow-up visits timed to the hatch cycle, and in many cases heat. In Ontario, commercial application of many control products requires a licensed technician under O. Reg. 63/09.

Related Husky services: Bed Bug Control for full treatment and follow-up, our Pest Protection Plan for ongoing monitoring, and Property Management Pest Control for multi-unit buildings where bed bugs move between suites. See also: bed bug bites vs flea bites.

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