To be furious with hotel and also really paranoid? BEDBUGS!!!

[BittenThrice]

I was away with work for two nights last week and stayed in a new chain hotel recommended by a colleague.

On Saturday I noticed some small itchy bites on my elbows/forearms. Didn’t think much of it til I mentioned them to a friend who does a lot of backpacking, and she’s said they’re bed bug bites

So annoyed! I put everything in the wash when I got home but my bag’s been on the sofa and my bed, coat’s been on the coat rack etc...

Do I need to boil and freeze everything I own?

Should I inform my team (new colleagues who I barely know)?

Should I call the hotel to complain?

I feel paranoid. And itchy.

There’s three on one arm and four on the other. How likely are they to have hitched a ride in my luggage?

If you are complaining, write/email, don't hone. Keep a written record.

Did you travel on public transport? It actually seems v few bites for two nights sleep.

Do you have a photo of the bites?

^ should read don't phone.

You should inform the hotel so they can take some action.

Definitely inform them but there isn't much they can do. How could they possible pay to have every bed sprayed after each guest? Would you like the cost of that added into the price of the room? Unfortunately it is a risk of staying anywhere. They live in the mattress not on the bedding so it isn't a hygiene issue.

Yes I did, but on the trains my arms were covered by clothing. They’re small, red bumps which are very itchy.

The hotel’s only been open for a couple of months so maybe that’d explain why there’s not more?

I don’t know what I expect them to do but I am worried they’ve got into my soft furnishings and I’ll have to spent hundreds disinfecting and replacing!!

Are they likely to have come home with me...?

They don't sound like bedbug bites to me.

They can do to be honest, you need to boil wash clothing and bedding. Google for how to check your mattress for them. You won't need to replace anything.

Also double check it is definitely bed bugs and not scabies or something else.

NHS advice:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedbugs/

Photograph the bites
Tell the hotel.
TAKE EVERYTING AWAY FROM YOR BEDROOM (eg garage or shed).
If you want to be extra safe, put all affected items in triple cling film and send them to be disinfected (bedbugs.co.uk offer a London service, not sure who else do). Wash as much as you can at 60 degrees but make sure you get everything to your washing machine carefully (eg in a black bag that you put in your outside bins immediately.

It isn’t recommended but I used a steam iron to go over every bit of the suitcase inside and outside (they like seams).

A few bites on each arm means not many bugs. And they don’t ‘explore’, they usually retreat to their home after feeding. So it’s possible that you didn’t bring any home at all.

If you are worried, you can buy a passive monitor from amazon (also invented and supplied by bedbugs.co.uk).

Do not, under any circumstances, use a spray.

Why not a spray DustOff?

They’re definitely not flea or mosquito bites. Three on one arm are in a line.

They’re quite hard to photograph as I’ve scratched them but they look like the images on Google, albeit small ones.

I’ve been back since Thursday

Don’t think it’s scabies as the welts are distinct with no burrows between and they’re not in a skin fold apart from one.

Contact the local environmental health department. If it's a new hotel I'd doubt it was bedbugs but 🤷🏻‍♀️

I had a pest controller round for mice, I know him through various people so we had a good chat and got onto bed bugs. So now I'm fairly knowledgeable but deeply paranoid. A hotel will have an ongoing contract but basically can't eradicate the swines 100%. He says he asks to see any bites so he can identify it's definitely bed bugs, then it's not just the bed and bedding, it's the fabric of the house/hotel, they can retreat into walls even. So if the bites continue there's a small chance you've brought them in with your luggage, but as someone else said they do retreat after feeding so you'd be unlucky.
I'd personally ring a pest controller and get their advice...As for the hotel, they need to know, they should have a monthly visit arranged if they know they have a problem.
Feel itchy now.

I’d check the mattress if backpacking somewhere grotty but not in a new chain hotel...

Have emailed the hotel. I didn’t really know what to say: I can’t prove it’s bedbugs or from them but I don’t see what/where else it could be.

Thanks thecats

I’m hoping as there’s not many, I haven’t brought them home. I feel very itchy!

Definitely don't spray or use bug bombs. These only serve to mildly repel the bugs, pushing them deep into the fabric of your walls where they are infinitely more difficult to treat.

Bedbugs are obligate blood eaters. You want them coming out for you, but putting fatal defences in their way, so poison, insecticide dust, steam etc.

Don't get rid of things (yet), you'll probably replace things, then get reinfested. Best to leave things in situ and treat from there. Also, don't move stuff around or go and sleep in another room. They'll just follow you around, infesting more areas. Do however (carefully) declutter your junk, don't give them more potential habitat.

Wash everything you can at 60+ and/or hot and long tumble dry. Iron or use a hand held steamer on other stuff. Vacuum the room, the furniture, all the seams of the bed/sofa and nooks & crannies. Immediately empty dust container outside and clean with scalding water.

Ideally get the professionals in. If you can't, invest in a passive monitor as above, google "treatment by passive monitor replacement". Get a dry vapour steamer and a pack of Cimexa (insecticidal dust that works in a mechanical, not chemical way drying them out). Follow safety instructions and look on youtube how to use it.

Spraying makes the bedbugs leave the bed area for a short amount of time, but doesn’t eradicate the problem. You disperse them around your house, have the problem later or even push the problem onto someone else. What you want to do - if you are unlucky enough to be affected - is to establish a normal routine and draw them into one place (they congregate to where you spend the most time sleeping) and then deal with them.

Hi OP

I have had a similar problem - hence the username

I disagree with a PP who said the infestation was mild, a few bites on each arm could be a significant infestation rather than just one or two bugs as they don't need to eat daily

I wouldn't fuck about, just call a good pest control company

I am not sure whether its been said about why they are such good travellers but the females once they are impregnated leave the bug "nest" to lay their eggs. Their ideal means of transport is a nice dark suitcase or bag. So there is a good chance that if you have brought one home it is a pregnant female

Oh no pleasebe is that expensive?

Definitely don't use any sprays or bug bombs, they really dont work on bed bugs. We had an infestation in our bedroom a few years ago. They were in our mattress, under the leather of the bed, on all the wood furnishings, under the carpet, in plug sockets, everywhere basically. We only ever saw them at night. Look for signs of the bugs. You might have small stains on your sheets if they're in your bed and you have rolled over and crushed any of them, dark/rusty coloured spots on walls and in corners or on your bed frame if wooden. The biggest sign for me was the smell. They give off a horrible musty, almondy smell. We paid for a professional to come and sort them out 3 times and quite frankly it was a waste of money. We ended up getting rid of all our wooden furniture and ripping the carpet up. We bought bed bug traps on Amazon, little round discs you pop under the feet of your bed or around the floor and the bed bugs can climb in but aren't able to climb out. They worked a treat, we caught hundreds over a few weeks until the witted down to nothing. Hopefully you have got lucky OP and none have come home with you but I would fully recommend some traps under the feet of your bed if you're unsure if you have any so that if they try to climb up you will catch them instead and can proceed from there on getting rid of them.

They will have a look and advise you if they need to treat. My DD has been dealing with an infestation for a while and each visit is about £120

I second the traps they work