Travel Wisely, but Don’t Let Your Guard Down at Home
No one wants to spend their vacation, business trip, or any other hotel stay with bed bugs. The feeling of uncleanness, the risk of bites, and the potential to bring bed bugs back to your own home are all obvious problems. However, the simple fact is that many hotels have severe infestations.
Just take a look at how many people come through the average hotel based on STR, Smartscrapers, and Ahla figures.
| Hotel Occupancy Rates | ||||
| Number of Hotels | Number of Rooms | Occupancy Rate | Occupants Per Year | |
| United States | 166,272 | 5.29 million | 63.8% | 1.3 billion |
| Missouri | 959 | 47,950 | 57.7% | ~ 10 million |
| Average Hotel | 1 | 50 | 60% | 10,950 |
With this number of guests passing through, coming from all types of residences and locations, some are bound to carry bed bugs with them. While much of that is out of a hotel’s control, its approach to bed bug treatment is something it can control. With the proper protocols, a hotel can prevent infestations from taking hold.
But that raises the question, how can you choose a hotel that has the proper measures in place? The best way to do so is to decide based on results. You can take advantage of a wide range of free online resources to find out which hotels have historically had bed bug issues and which haven’t.
Hotel Bed Bug Resources
When you’re planning a trip, take the time to read up on your potential hotel before booking your room. Check these resources to determine whether you’re better off staying elsewhere during your trip.
Bed Bug Registry
Bed Bug Registry is one of the most comprehensive sources of information on bed bug infestations throughout North America and the United Kingdom. The database contains more than 20,000 bed bug reports dating back to 2006. This reliable and easy-to-use resource is the first place you should check.
Just follow these simple steps.
- Visit www.bedbugregistry.com
- Enter the hotel name or street address and the city and state
- Click on Check Hotel/Find Address
- Look at relevant reports of any bed bug infestations
You can also look at city maps for some of the most widely reported cities to see where bed bug infestations are clustered.
Bed Bug reports
Bed Bug Reports is another excellent resource that started operations in 2010. This platform allows users to upload detailed reports of their experience with hotels throughout the United States and Canada, including uploading pictures showing the conditions in their rooms.
To find your hotel, follow these steps.
- Visit www.bedbugreports.com
- Choose your state from the dropdown menu
- Click on Search
- Choose your city or enter a zip code
- Find your hotel and click Details
- Read the details of any listed bed bug reports
Adding images reinforces the trust you can put in reports, as you can see evidence that a bed bug infestation is present.
Google maps
Google Maps is an excellent resource for finding out all kinds of information about any hotel. You’ll find a lot of helpful insight from user reviews. Among that information may be about bed bug infestations, as disgruntled guests are likely to voice their experiences.
By following these steps, you can check for bed bug infestations through Google Maps.
- Visit www.google.com/maps
- Search for the name or address of your hotel.
- Select the hotel and click on Reviews.
- If there are many reviews, you can type “bed bug” or “bedbug” into the Search reviews bar, bringing up any reviews with those words.
- If not, you can filter all reviews by lowest rating to look at 1- and 2-star reviews that may have reported bed bugs but used alternative phrases or spellings.
Google is among the most widely used review sites for businesses of all kinds, so you’ll likely find reports of bed bugs if there are known issues at the hotel you’re considering.
Google news
Major bed bug infestations at hotels often make the local news. You can take advantage of Google News to quickly find any results related to bed bug infestations in the area you’re going to. Seedy hotels with ongoing issues rarely make lasting improvements, so even historical incidences of major infestations are a sign to stay away.
Check out Google News by following these steps.
- Visit www.news.google.com
- Search for the name of the hotel or the location and the word hotel, along with the term “bed bugs”.
- You can put the location in quotation marks (“Missouri”) to ensure that Google provides only stories including that specific location.
- Check any relevant news stories.
You’ll likely find various stories about bed bugs, such as these examples from Illinois and Missouri.
Tripadvisor
Tripadvisor is another primary hotel review website that you should check. Just follow these simple steps.
- Visit www.tripadvisor.com
- Enter the name or location of your hotel
- Select it from the list
- Click on Reviews
- Enter “bed bug” or “bedbug” into the search reviews bar
- Filter for Poor or Terrible ratings to check out other negative reviews
If you still haven’t found any reports of bed bugs after checking all these resources, then you aren’t likely to find such reports anywhere.
Travel Wisely, but Don’t Let Your Guard Down at Home
Choosing the right hotel can dramatically reduce your risk of bringing bed bugs home. However, the risk is never zero. Even if you choose a highly-rated hotel with no reports, you could be unlucky to run into their first infestation.
When you come home, look for signs of bed bugs, such as bite marks and marks from bug waste and blood on bedding and furniture. Don’t hesitate to contact Midwest Bug Services for professional bed bug inspection if you have any suspicions—we can provide effective bed bug control before it’s too late.
We offer bed bug treatment services in the following cities in Missouri and Illinois areas:
