Bed bugs in hotel.

[Imdunfer]

I came back from a short stay in a budget hotel with bites all over me. Picture below (when it clears).

I only mention budget not because it wasn't clean, it was, but because I didn't spend much money and I'm not looking for compensation.

I've told the hotel but now I'm wondering if I should have told them I wanted some money back. I've already told them I don't, but what would you have done?

IABU. I should have asked for a hefty refund

IANBU Hotels everywhere are struggling with bed bug problems, it's not their fault.

I'm not an expert, but I had the misfortune to experience bedbugs on several occasions when I was backpacking in my 20's across asia, Oz and nz. These bites don't look anything like bedbug bites. Bedbugs bites look more like defined red spots, like someone else posted after your photo, they usually go in lines and the bug walks along biting you! I think something else has had a nibble at you.

I always lift up the sheets and check the mattress wherever I stay, I usually stay in v nice hotels with work, but you bet I am looking at the edge of that mattress before I'm sleeping on it!! Also I don't allow bags/cases when we have been anywhere, anywhere near upstairs or bedrooms. Washing done in the kitchen and then back in storage under the stairs or in the garage! I think my experience made me paranoid!

Well I’ve had bed bugs and it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. It was dreadful. The upheaval, the expense, the amount of work involved, good luck op.

The areas of clearing are unusual. Have a look at erythema multiforme and erythema migrans pictures. Would be good to see a Dr?

I don't know what pictures people are looking at but there are plenty online that look exactly like my bites do.

How defined the spots are depends on your immune system. Mine is forever in overdrive, I have multiple autoimmune health issues, and I didn't take the first photo until a good time after I first saw them and the later ones are infected.

The chemist thought they were bed bug bites and she sees quite a few.

There really isn't anything else that fits the picture.

I reacted exactly like this when I was bitten by chiggers last year. Really similar to bed bugs but insanely itchy - at the worst point I had 25 bites. They started showing up when I was still staying at the place I was, so I could rule out bed bugs pretty easily. I did end up bringing the chiggers home on my clothes - I thought I’d got rid of them by hot washing/throwing away anything I’d taken, but a couple of months later I used the same overnight bag and got bitten to death again - seems they’d stayed alive in there! When I looked it up, it seems they can stay dormant for weeks.

Anyway, hopefully your bites recover soon and your home remains bug-free, whatever kind of bug it is!

What do you think I should do?

I think you should put everything you had in that hotel room through a very hot wash/dry.

I think you should monitor your own bed and surroundings for bugs.

I thought you said you had new bites since you came home but I seem to have misread you on that.

Those of us who have had bedbugs will generally advise to do whatever it takes to make sure they don't get into/establish themselves in your home. They got into that hotel room from somewhere - they will go from that hotel room too.

I feel like I am annoying you by saying this though so won't say anymore - I've posted because I wouldn't wish them on anyone.

Nobody is annoying me. Well the DH is, but that's a different story altogether!

I think it's quite likely my immune system has created a reaction like that. Thankfully the antibiotics are doing their job and it's well in retreat today.

I had to look those up, we call them harvest mites in the UK. They have far too big an injection hole for harvest mite bites.

Their not just in budget hotels unfortunately.

Oh poor you , @Imdunferthey look really nasty.
I hope you get the medical attention you need fast.
Was the hotel in the UK ?

How can you spot if there are bedbugs in the hotel?

Look it up?

Much better today thanks.

Yes but I'm not naming it.

Well aren't you rude. I was just wondering if someone knew what to look for them in beds or the furniture. Good luck with the itching! 🤨

Apologies if your post was innocent, I thought it was a trap and that you might then pick apart my answer. But whatever, it really is easy enough to look it up. They are big bugs, everything from the eggs onward are very visible to the naked eye.

As per chemist's instructions I'm taking antihistamines, the itching has pretty much all gone.

I’m in the UK, I’ve always called them chiggers, but yes they are harvest mites. Was just offering an alternative as your bites look so similar to the ones I had. Hopefully they’re not as itchy as chigger bites, it’s what those ones are mostly known for. Hope you’re feeling a bit better today and whatever it is has started to calm a bit.

Oh I wonder if that's regional, I've never heard it before, though I've often had harvest mite bites and treated them on horses too! A problem with straw beds.

My bites are much bigger and now not itchy at all, thankfully.