Even if you are used to thinking that bedbugs are an attribute of a long-gone era, this is not the case. The little blood-sucking parasites live on to this day, and not necessarily in cheap hotels. How to make sure that a cheeky neighbor (or rather, his whole friendly family) does not get into bed? Arm yourself with a flashlight on your smartphone and go on an exciting journey through the hotel jungle. Why: a) to avoid getting bitten, especially if you have allergies, and b) to avoid bringing home new pets.
First of all, the luggage
No, of course there are no bedbugs in your suitcase at first, but they may well get in while you are looking around the room. Human belongings have a strong and very appetizing scent for them, and a suitcase will attract them 100%. What to do: enter the room and immediately take your luggage to the bathroom. Bedbugs do not like tiles or tiles, they have nothing to eat there, so this room is the only one where you can leave your things safely.
A bed for you, a gourmet restaurant for them
Logically, the first thing to check is the mattress and bed frame. Bedbugs eat people, and we spend most of our time in a hotel room sleeping, so the bed is a banquet hall for them. (And if the bed is a double, it’s a buffet.) But before you look for bedbugs, you need to arm yourself with a portrait of the enemy.
What a bed bug looks like: it is a small insect without wings with a flat oval body, no larger than 8 mm. The color is from dark brown to dirty yellow. They do not live alone, they attack at night (from 3 to 8 am, but if they are hungry, they will come during the day). Visually, they look like apple seeds, so it is impossible to confuse or mistake a drop of dirt for a bedbug.
Have you met? Now let’s go ahead and search. Turn on the flashlight on your smartphone and carefully inspect the bed frame, headboard, and back surface. If possible, move the bed away from the wall to look from that side as well. Check the bedding, especially the seams. If there are no small brown specks (larvae and excrement), and no parasites are found, we can sleep well. But no, you should also check the closet!
Step three – play The Chronicles of Narnia
Look inside the closet (we’re not kidding). Take a flashlight and carefully examine the shelves, the bottom, the doors, and every crack and dent. The same applies to nightstands, chest of drawers and other furniture where underwear is stored. No lion, witch or bed bug? Let’s move on to the last point of our route – upholstered furniture.
Checking upholstered furniture
If the bed is the place in the room where people spend most of their time, then sofas and armchairs are in an honorable second place. Add to this list upholstered chairs and all kinds of poufs. We check not only the top and back, but also remove the cushions from the sofas, paying special attention to the seams, zippers, and the wrong side of the covers.
We wish you a good and restful sleep!
