Your chances of encountering bed bugs during any single hotel stay are low, but the risk is real and not limited to cheap motels. About 68 percent of pest control professionals report treating bed bugs in hotels or motels, making lodging the third most common site after single-family homes and apartments. That doesn’t mean 68 percent of hotels have bed bugs right now. It means the problem is widespread enough across the industry that most exterminators have dealt with it in a hotel setting. Your individual risk on a given trip depends largely on how you handle the room when you arrive.
Hotel Star Ratings Don’t Eliminate the Risk
Bed bugs don’t discriminate by price point. A survey of U.S. travelers who encountered bed bugs in the past year found that 38 percent of those encounters happened in 3-star hotels, 30 percent in 4-star hotels, and 20 percent in 5-star hotels. Budget properties aren’t necessarily worse: 1-star hotels accounted for just 9 percent of reported encounters, and motels came in at 20 percent. Vacation rentals like Airbnbs were reported at 19 percent.
The reason mid-range and upscale hotels appear so often is simple: they have more guests. Bed bugs travel on people and their belongings. A hotel with high occupancy rates and constant turnover gives bed bugs more opportunities to arrive and establish themselves. Luxury properties may respond faster with professional treatment, but they’re not immune. Legal cases involving bed bugs have come from properties at every tier.
How Bed Bugs Actually Get Into Your Luggage
Bed bugs don’t jump or fly. They crawl, and they’re drawn to warmth and the carbon dioxide you exhale while sleeping. During a hotel stay, the main risk is that bugs living in or near the bed crawl into luggage, clothing, or personal items stored close to the mattress. A single pregnant female in your suitcase is enough to start an infestation at home.
Research from the University of Minnesota has also found that bed bugs are attracted to dirty laundry specifically. Worn clothes left in an open suitcase near the bed are more appealing to them than clean ones. This matters because many travelers toss dirty clothes loosely into their bag throughout a trip, creating exactly the kind of target bed bugs seek out.
How to Check a Hotel Room in 5 Minutes
A quick inspection before you unpack dramatically reduces your risk. Leave your suitcase in the hallway or just inside the door while you check. You’re looking for live bugs (small, flat, reddish-brown, about the size of an apple seed), tiny dark spots of excrement, or small pale eggs tucked into seams and crevices.
Start by pulling back the sheets and checking the mattress seams, especially at the corners. This is where evidence shows up first. Then check behind the headboard if you can move it, since bed bugs love the gap between headboard and wall. Inspect the seams of any upholstered chairs or sofas. Use your phone’s flashlight to see into dark crevices. The whole process takes less than five minutes, and if you spot anything suspicious, request a different room, ideally not adjacent to the one you’re leaving, since bed bugs can travel through wall voids.
Smart Luggage Habits That Lower Your Risk
Where you put your suitcase matters more than most travelers realize. The safest option is the metal luggage rack, provided you inspect it first for any signs of bugs. Pull the rack away from the wall so nothing can crawl from the wall onto your belongings. The bathtub is another common recommendation because its smooth porcelain surface is difficult for bed bugs to climb.
Keep dirty clothes sealed in a plastic bag or a zippered laundry pouch inside your suitcase rather than loose. This serves double duty: it contains the scent that attracts bed bugs and creates a physical barrier. Avoid placing clothes, bags, or shoes on the bed or on upholstered furniture, even temporarily. These small habits significantly reduce the odds of bringing anything home with you.
What to Do When You Get Home
Even if you didn’t see any signs of bed bugs, a simple routine after travel can catch stowaways before they establish themselves. Unpack directly into your washing machine if possible, or unpack on a hard floor away from bedrooms and upholstered furniture. Use a flashlight to check the seams, folds, and pockets of your luggage for bugs or eggs.
Heat is the most reliable killer. A household dryer set on high will kill all life stages of bed bugs, including eggs, in 30 minutes. This works for any clothing or fabric item that can handle tumble drying. The key detail: it’s the dryer heat that matters, not the washer. Washing alone in warm water won’t reliably kill eggs. Bed bugs die within 20 minutes at 118°F, but their eggs need a full 90 minutes at that same temperature to reach complete mortality. A dryer on high easily exceeds that threshold.
For items that can’t go in the dryer, like shoes or certain bags, sealing them in a black plastic bag and leaving them in direct sunlight on a hot day can work, though results depend on reaching and sustaining high enough internal temperatures. In cooler climates, a portable bed bug heater or professional treatment may be necessary for hard-to-wash items.
If You Find Bed Bugs During Your Stay
If you discover bed bugs mid-stay, contain the situation before anything else. Place your luggage and any items that were near the bed into plastic bags and seal them. This prevents bugs from dropping out as you move your belongings. Notify hotel management immediately and request a room change, not just a different bed. Ask for a room on a different floor or in a different wing of the building.
When you get home, treat everything as potentially exposed. Run all fabrics through the dryer on high for 30 minutes. Inspect your suitcase thoroughly with a flashlight, paying attention to seams, zippers, and any interior pockets. If you develop itchy welts in a line or cluster within a few days of returning, that’s a classic pattern of bed bug bites, though not everyone reacts visibly to them. About 30 percent of people show no skin reaction at all, which means the absence of bites doesn’t guarantee you’re in the clear.