10 Easy Travel Tips for Avoiding Bedbugs When Vacationing

We’ve all heard the horror stories, someone went to an exotic location, everything was seemingly perfect, but when they returned, they discovered they brought back bedbugs.  Furthermore, the hotel stay was a luxury hotel, not a cheap, dirty motel.  So do bedbugs only come from dirty motels?  Nope. Bedbugs can be found anywhere, in any hotel or motel or Airbnb, in any destination in the world. Bedbugs can come back with you from vacation, no matter where you travel – if you’re not careful. And to make matters worse, easy world travel has made inadvertently picking up bedbugs, well, easy.

The United States at one time had eradicated its bedbug problems, but they came back with a vengeance starting in the 1970’s, and really made themselves known in 2000’s.  For bedbugs to be reintroduced into the United States’ eco-system, they had to have been brought here. Both from people moving here (or back) from another country, and from U.S. citizens traveling to other countries on vacations.  Bedbugs like to travel in suitcases, purses, computer cases and garment bags.  Any place that has a seam, or other small, tight places, they can crawl into and hide.  And they like to hitch rides on clothes (although they won’t travel nearly as far on clothing as they don’t like the constant movement).

And if they attach themselves to your luggage, then they are just a plane or cruise ship ride from the U.S.’s shores.  But don’t despair, and don’t cancel your travels plans just yet, there are things you can do to lessen the chance that you will bring bedbugs back with you if you are unlucky enough to stay in a room with bedbugs.

And by the way, if your thought is to wait until you see a sign of a bedbug bite before you take precautions, then don’t.  Because by then, it’s probably too late.  Sometimes a bedbug bite doesn’t show up for a couple of days (or even) longer.  The symptoms of a bedbug bite are an allergic reaction, and the reaction isn’t instantaneous. (see this article on if bedbug bites are painful.)

So how do you keep from getting bedbugs when traveling?

Well, to ensure you don’t end up bringing back bedbugs, there are certain safety precautions you can take that are actually very easy.  But it will involve some diligence on your part. Here are 10 easy travel tips to avoid getting bedbugs when vacationing (or on a business trip).

Pack Smart With Bedbug Prevention in Mind

If you’re going to the beach, you bring a bathing suit. If you’re going to the woods, you bring hiking boots. If you’re going skiing, you bring a jacket. And no matter where you are going, there are a few bedbug preventive items you should bring with you: Travel bedbug spray, airtight plastic bags, and try and only bring clothes that you can wash in hot water. Sorry, wool trousers and silk blouse.  And one of our travel tips below deals with the kind of suitcase you take (think hard, not soft).

Travel bedbug spray pictured is Bed Bug Patrol and can be purchased on Amazon (easy link)

Place Your Luggage on Hard Surfaces Where Bedbugs are Less Likely To Live

One of the favorite stowaway places for a bedbug to hide is inside your luggage. Well, now that you know this, you should also know that one of the best ways to combat a bedbug entering your luggage is by never placing it on a soft surface where a bedbug might live or be hiding. Soft surfaces to never place a suitcase would include a bed, floor, or padded furniture. This means always, and we mean always, place your luggage on top of something hard like a table or the dresser.

By placing your suitcase on a dresser, end table, bathroom counter, or bathtub, will greatly reduce your chance of getting bedbugs, because in order for one to get in your luggage it will have to climb up the dresser (or other hard surface) and crawl into your suitcase. And since bedbugs are attracted to body heat, and not luggage, there is no reason for them to do this. Whereas, if you place a bedbug on a soft surface you might just disturb them enough that they search for a new home, and your suitcase just might be it. Or they may find the new home after they’ve feasted on you and are looking for a quick place to hide.

Check For Bedbugs in Hotel / Motel Room

After putting your suitcase on a hard surface, look for telltale signs of bedbug infestation. You’ll want to inspect your room for any sign of a bedbug. And this doesn’t matter if you are in the finest hotel, or in a dingy hostel, every room can have bedbugs. Especially in warmer climates.

One of the quickest places to check is the mattress. Pull back the sheets and look carefully at the seems of the mattress. Look for bedbugs, bedbug shells, small oval shaped eggs, or any dark spots that smear easily (this is bedbug excrement).

After you check the mattress, check other areas where bedbugs might be expected to live. Like the seams of furniture, cracks in the wall, and baseboards. Also, check headboards, footboards, box springs, and bed frames. You’re looking in any spot that is small, tight and would make a great hiding space for something smaller than an apple seed and thinner than a credit card.

Looking for more tips on how to spot bedbugs? See this article we wrote.

If you see any sign of bedbugs, notify the hotel or motel and get yourself another room (preferably bedbug free), or find another place to stay. If you stay in the same establishment, do not get an adjoining room. Get a room as far away as possible, as bedbugs can easily travel from one room to another via cleaning carts and hotel staff clothing.

Use Hard Suitcases When Traveling

Another solution is to use hard luggage that does not have a seam on the outside for the bedbug to hide in. And to also always keep the luggage closed and inspect your luggage tags very carefully. Bedbugs can easily crawl into the space between the leather, paper tag and plastic window.  But, even if you have a hard suitcase, check it carefully, especially around the wheels as there is a perfect place for a bedbug to squeeze into.

Bag Your Luggage When in hotel Room

Another luggage trick is to place it in an airtight bag when you are in your room. Your goal here is to make it as difficult as possible for the bedbug to crawl into your suitcase and take residence. And if the suitcase is in a plastic bag, it makes it that much more difficult for the bloodsucker to make the travel bag its new home.

Make sure when you pack your suitcases before the trip, that you include bags that are large enough to accommodate the size of your suitcases.

If you don’t already own airtight bags, we have several on our recommendations page you can choose from.

Pack Clean Clothes and Bag Your Dirty Clothes in Airtight Bags to Prevent Bedbugs When on trip

When you’re on vacation, do not put worn clothing into the suitcase without first wrapping it an airtight plastic bag. If your clothing has a bedbug attached and you just place it in your suitcase, then the bedbug can crawl from the clothing into your suitcase and hide in one of the inside seams. And make sure the bag is airtight, because otherwise the bedbug can easily crawl out of the bag and hide. Remember, bedbugs are tiny. A full-grown adult is about the size of an apple seed. Baby and adolescent bedbugs are even smaller.

It’s not just the dirty clothes that need to go into an airtight bag, but slippers and pajamas too. These are the items that are the most likely to be carrying a bedbug if your hotel room is infested with them. Bedbugs can easily crawl onto your slippers at night while you are sleeping (or even when you are walking around in them), and since bedbugs are attracted to your body heat, them settling into your pajamas is just a given. So never place these items on top of your suitcase, or inside your suitcase without first putting them into an airtight bag.

The suitcase in the photo above has been packed using these airtight Travel Space Saver Bags which are great for traveling. They are sold on Amazon (20 piece pack). (easy link).

Use Travel Sized Bedbug Spray

One of the essentials you need to pack when you are on vacation, along with your toiletries and medication, is travel sized bedbug spray. Always spray your suitcase thoroughly when you are checking out of your room. This goes for dirty clothes, pajamas, and slippers too. And then you’ll see in our next tip, you’ll spray it again when you get home. Be sure to stock up on your bedbug spray (see our recommendations on bedbug sprays and other useful items).

Travel bedbug spray pictured is Eco-Friendly Bed Bug Spray and can be purchased on Amazon (easy link)

Use Steam Cleaner and Bedbug Spray on Suitcases First Thing When You Get Home

When you get home, take your luggage into your garage, or out onto your patio and give it a good, hot steaming with your steam cleaner. Make sure you thoroughly clean it. Heat kills bedbugs. And a steam cleaner is an effective way to kill them. Just make sure your steam cleaner does not also have an air sprayer on it, because you don’t want to blow the critter away before you have a chance to get it with the hot steam. It’s important to do this prior to bringing in your suitcase. If you don’t have time, then put your suitcases in an airtight plastic bag and leave it in your garage and then steam it the next day.

After you’ve steamed your luggage, be sure to give each piece a thorough spraying, both inside and out.  Make sure to get the spray into the seams and all the nooks and crannies that a bedbug likes to hide.  This may seem like overkill, but a few minutes of bedbug preventive maintenance when you get home is far better than months of dealing with the eradication of bedbugs from your home.

Put Suitcases in Airtight Bags for Storage

You’ve steam cleaned all your luggage, then you sprayed it all, now it’s time to place your suitcases in airtight bags and store in garage until the next time you travel. The goal here is to suffocate any bedbugs you may have picked up, and to kill off any eggs they may have laid that may have been missed with the steam and the spray. 

You can either use the airtight vacuum bags that we recommend for wrapping your suitcases and clothes when traveling, or you can just use large garbage bags.  Make sure there are no small air holes in the bag and then duct tape them shut.  Make sure everything is air tight, because you want to a) suffocate any bedbugs; and b) not give them an escape route.

Wash All Clothes When You Get Home

When you get home from vacation, everything needs to go into your washing machine. And they need to be unpacked while standing next to the washing machine. Do not give the bedbugs a chance to escape in another room. Make sure all clothing is washed in hot water, regardless of whether or not they are dirty. Wash them all.  You can use most detergents, but if you really want to make sure you kill them all, there are specific detergents that are formulated to kill bedbugs in case of infestation. (we have included one on our recommendations page).

Then make sure you tumble dry all the clothes in a hot dryer.  Bedbugs hate heat, it kills them, so make sure you kill them with heat.