To bin all of my clothes? (Bedbugs in hotel)

[SleeplessNight26]

I am currently away in London for the weekend and last night at about midnight I discovered bedbugs in my bed. I leapt out of bed, called family also staying in the hotel to come and check I wasn't mad and then went to reception. They apologised and found me a new room which I then spent about two hours checking (even had my hairdryer on the mattress to try to bring any to the surface).

Before getting into bed I had another shower and was kindly lent some pyjamas. By this point it was 2am and I didn't manage to get to sleep until about 3.30am as every little thing made me flinch and get up the check the mattress with my torch.

Some of the bugs in the first bed were tiny and clearish so I've bagged up the pyjamas and socks I was wearing for the bin. I put my bags on the fabric armchair at the bottom of the bed, so now I'm considered whether just to cut my loses and bin everything fabric of mine to avoid taking the buggers home with me. Any thoughts, tips etc would be welcome. I can't believe this and was in quite a state last night as this has been a concern of mine for a long time!

I checked the mattress seams and all layers of bedding with a UV torch as soon as I arrived (as I said this is one of my greatest anxieties when staying in the hotel) and all looked fine so it's not even as if I didn't take any precautions.

I will of course be requesting a refund but from frantic Google searches last night it looks unlikely that they would pay to replace your clothes. I thought about my home insurance which may cover it but at this point I'd be happy to take the hit on two days worth of clothes (I'd have to go out today and buy some more) and not have to fumigate my home!

Everything (shoes, bags, clothes etc) is currently sat in the bath while I figure out what to do. Thanks in advance for any advice.

YABU: No need to bin everything just bag it up and wash on 60° when home on Sunday.

YANBU: Bin the lot.

Give everything a good shake over the bath.

If you don't feel comfortable get rid of everything.

I'd bin them, you can never get rid of the feckers otherwise, I would actually ask them for a full refund and a goodwill gesture. Ditch the suitcase too if you put anything back in there.

Could you freeze everything for 48 hours? Would that kill them?

I probably would try not to get rid of everything. Leave them in the bath for now and keep inspecting for signs of life, as they cannot climb out of the bath? Apparently you can put things in the freezer to kill them too.

Please name and shame hotel!

Just bin them, it isn't worth you shuddering everytime you look at them never mind wearing them.

Please! I stay in hotels in London every week. It’s a huge fear - can you share please.

Previously I would probably get some plastic bags and bag everything and leave it in there for a couple of weeks. But we’re currently battling scabies in our house and it’s been hell so frankly I would throw away everything if I ever found myself in your position.

We had bed bugs at home at the end of the year, costs a fucking fortune to sort and there is no way stuff from hotels is coming straight back into my house again. I’d bin the stuff that you don’t mind and isn’t expensive, like underwear or T-shirts, and then bag everything else up and either wash it at 60 (maybe twice!) or put it in the freezer for the better part of a week - that’s what we were told to do by the professional company. And make sure you strip in the garage or hallway, and don’t bring the bags into the house

I'd bin everything and the suitcase too. I'd absolutely not risk taking them home with me.

I would get rid of absolutely everything. If these things get into your house it doesn’t bear thinking about. I would be fucking raging.

I would bin it all. I wouldn't want to risk it. If there is something you really love, perhaps double bag it & freeze it for a week.

Sorry that has happened to you, how stressful!

I might be inclined to bin it too for my own peace of mind. You know how when you hear theres nits on your child’s class you feel mega itchy, I think if you bring the stuff home even if there’s none in your stuff you’ll still be wary of every little itch you feel.

I've had them, and cleared them with a steamer. I don't want them again but...

I would keep your stuff, wash or freeze clothes when you get home and put everything else in the shed or bath and keep a close eye.
If you have a steamer then steam it all.

This is completely unfair. I work in a hotel and we had bedbugs brought in to two rooms a couple years ago - yes Brought in, as in we haven't always had them (decades old hotel) and they were confined to two rooms so clearly piggy backed on some hapless guests.

Was an absolute nightmare, the rooms were shut off for a week, isolated and fumigated, cost a fortune. We really felt for the poor guests who discovered them ( they usually come out at night when a warm body is in the bed so are extremely hard to discover at early Stage before full infestation) and obviously recompensed fully but our hotel is Not dirty, we just had bad luck!

Don’t bring the suitcase or bag in the house. Take clothing items out that you want to keep, and get straight into the washer on a high wash if they will take it or bag & freeze before washing on a lower temperature. Bin cheaper/less valuable items. Bin the case - drive it straight to the tip.

I haven’t had them, but a friend has, and that was what she did.

How far away from the infected room was you moved... the 3 rooms to each side and opposite id definitely be binning all my items. its not worth the anxiety and stress of taking them home they will most likely have got into your clothing\ suitcases

Hairdryer on a mattress will not bring them to surface level you would need a very hot iron and there not always in the mattress they like to live in the headboards the underneath of the bed frame and skirting boards .

For the cost of 2 days clothing and a suitcase it will be far far cheaper to replace than having to have your home heat treated

You could steam clean your suitcase. But if it's old or a cheap one, I wouldn't bother.

As for your clothes, hot wash and hot tumble dry or in the freezer for about 4 or 5 days. But again if they are old or cheap, I wound probably bin them.

having had a flea and tick infestation for months i would probably bin the lot or put them in the freezer in sealed bags for like many months. i kid you not. it’s not worth the risk.

i wouldn’t wash anything in my washing machine as i’ve somehow had flea eggs end up on the following wash from the first one (how can that even be happening it’s a four hour 60 degree wash??) so i’d not risk it in case it happens to you too.

I've never experienced them, thank god. But if I was in your position I would not bring anything back. Would be walking back into my home wearing a fig leaf 😃

Thank you all for your advice, really appreciate it especially as I'm running on very little sleep so not sure what the sane thing to do is at the moment.

I love my weekend bag but it cost £40 so will sacrifice it for the sake of not spreading them at home. I have one silk blouse and a nice skirt that I have bagged up to take home and freeze/hot wash. Everything else is still a maybe.

The hotel are letting me use their washing machine at 10.30. They said they're not allowed to let guests use them but in this case they are happy to let me as I have nothing to wear other than the borrowed pyjamas. My family have also bagged up the clothes they wore into my room for the wash as they sat on beds/chairs.

All family members are coming back to my house for a night as a pit stop on the way home so I'm really conscious that they also check everything really well. What a pain! We're here for a family party and two people got no sleep at after the commotion last night, seeing them crawling across a bed is enough to make you not want to go back to sleep!

As someone has pointed out this is really just bad luck and I don't want to drag the hotel. It's a major chain hotel and they said they have fumigators in every two weeks so this is just really bad luck. Don't want to shame them as it is otherwise clean and staff have been horrified and really helpful.

Won't work. Bedbugs can survive months without feeding, even up to a year.

Bin the lot. I wouldn't want the risk of bringing them home with me.

As i have had bed bugs and it was an horrendous experience, I would throw away everything. I would even take my clothes off before I entered my house and ditch those clothes as well. I would rather be seen naked in the street then have bed bugs again!

A quick google says that some household freezers may not be cold enough (minus 18C consistently for several days) to kill bedbugs. But I'm sure some are. I would double check, though.

When DS had animal fleas in his shared student house, I fumigated some of his things in the shed before bringing them into the house, and hot-washed some other things. I was worried about flea eggs as well as actual fleas. I appreciate fleas are different from bedbugs.

Any possibility you could bake your clothes etc in the oven? I ended up doing this with DS's trainers, and wish I'd thought of doing it with more stuff. Less damaging than hot-washing them. Over 60 degrees should do it. The trainers were fine with 100 degrees, no damage. If your clothes are silk then baking them would probably be less damaging than hot-washing them.

Not being unreasonable, anything you’re not attached to I would bin immediately but anything else the best way to rid them is heat. Put stuff in the Dryer to kill the eggs, Wash on high then back in the dryer. Their lifecycle can be long so treat everything as if it’s infected as if you bring them home they are a nightmare to remove