Summary: Bed bugs are an elusive pest, thanks to their incredible hiding abilities and high rate of reproduction. This blog discusses the habits and habitats of bed bugs. It also answers the question of why bed bugs are so common in hotels. Pointe Pest Control provides thorough pest control for PNW pest problems in every season.
Where do bed bugs come from?
We’re not talking about the actual origins of bed bugs, though they were first recorded in ancient Greece and Egypt. We’re referring to the seemingly-impossible rate at which the bugs appear in homes and businesses. These bloodsuckers thrive when they have a regular food source. All it takes is a little sneaking around until they find a safe host — aka a sleeping mammal — that they can continuously feed from.
Let’s dive into the ingenuity that bed bugs show in their pursuit of a host, as well as our #1 tip for bed bug prevention.
Finding The Hosts
Bed bugs can’t fly, so they need to crawl everywhere they go. This makes finding a host much more time-consuming, especially if they’re not in a populated place like a hotel (more on this later). The bugs prefer to live near their food source at all times since females need blood meals in order to lay eggs. They can lay 200 eggs in their lifetimes!
There are two main ways that bed bugs find hosts. One is by detecting our carbon dioxide output. Since we breathe more steadily in our sleep, carbon dioxide is exhaled at a constant rate for bed bugs to find. The second way is sensing our body heat. Warm-blooded creatures have the body heat that cold-blood critters don’t, which makes it easy to tell the difference.
You probably won’t feel one bed bug quietly feeding on your blood in the night. But a whole infestation? That’s much more difficult to ignore. Bed bug bites are itchy and irritated, and are usually in clusters or lines. If you wake up with these bites on your body — or small blood spots on the mattress — you likely have a bed bug issue.
Bugs Who Hitchhike
Before they can crawl, bed bugs must hitchhike. That’s right: bed bugs travel the fastest by hitching a ride on anything they find that’s in close proximity to humans. This leads them to seek out places with a constant slew of hosts, like public transit. International travel can be a major contributor to surges in bed bug populations.
The items that bed bugs frequently infest are:
- Clothing
- Luggage
- Coats
- Shoes
- Purses
- Backpacks
When infested items are brought near other people — like a backpack on a public bus — the infestation can spread at a rapid rate. These bugs are only 6 millimeters long and tough to see when they’re alone. Infested treatments should never be brought inside until they are thoroughly heat-treated and inspected for remaining bed bugs.
Why Are Bed Bugs So Common In Hotels?
You may have asked this very question yourself. It is interesting how much more we hear about bed bugs infesting hotels than about bed bugs invading homes. Both are common occurrences, but a bed bug-infested hotel is much more newsworthy, we suppose. Remember the surge of bed bugs during Paris Fashion Week in 2023?
As we see it, there are two main reasons why bed bugs are so common in hotels. The first is because there’s a revolving door of guests for the the bugs to feed from before going back into hiding while they digest. Whether a guest unknowingly brings bed bugs into the hotel or carries them out of the hotel, these bugs will get their meals one way or another.
The second reason is that there’s a huge number of hiding spots for a bug in hotel rooms. They compress their bodies to fit within couches, into outlets, under rugs, in drawers, and behind wallpaper. Bed bugs also squeeze through cracks under doors and in walls to access other rooms, so they’re not confined to one room.
Our advice is to inspect your hotel room when you arrive. You don’t have to tear everything apart in search of bed bugs, but it’s a good idea to check the beds. If you happen to find any bugs, report the problem to hotel management immediately.
Remember: where there’s one bed bug, many more are sure to be near!
Awareness Is Key
We’ve arrived at our top prevention tip for bed bugs: awareness. As simple as it sounds, awareness is essential when it comes to controlling these bugs. They’re so sneaky and noiseless that it’s almost impossible to stop bed bugs from feeding if you don’t keep a sharp eye out for them.
Our best tips for keeping a healthy awareness of bed bugs are:
- Wash bedsheets often — As you wash and change your bedsheets, give your mattress a quick scan for any signs of bed bugs. Changing the sheets on a regular basis is an easy way to be aware of new pest activity.
- Inspect your luggage after traveling — Once you’re home, inspect your luggage for bed bugs before bringing them indoors. Wipe down hard suitcases with an antibacterial wipe, and throw machine-washable bags in the washer to make sure it gets clean.
- Don’t set your bags and coats on the ground — When you’re in shared spaces (theaters, hotel rooms, public transit, etc.), refrain from setting your bags and coats on the ground. You don’t want to go home with a buggy souvenir!
- Inspect secondhand furniture — Before you buy any secondhand furniture, fully inspect it for bed bugs and their eggs. They can go a year without food, so they could be hidden without anyone noticing at first glance.
- Keep an eye on all furniture — The bed might be a bed bug’s favorite place, but they’re known to hide in other places too. Look out for any reddish-brown bugs in the folds and corners of couches, drawers, rugs, cabinets, and chairs.
Love Is In The Air With Pointe
February is all about love, and nothing screams the opposite of love like a pest infestation! The experienced technicians of Pointe Pest Control provide targeted treatments for PNW’s toughest pests. We create customized treatment plans for every customer because pest control isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” experience.
Pests don’t go on break for the winter, so we don’t either. Our general services operate on a quarterly basis in order to provide pest protection for every season. For a free quote on our dependable services, contact us today!
Citations
Anas, B. (2024, May 16). How common are bed bugs in hotels?. Forbes. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanyanas/2024/05/16/how-common-are-bed-bugs-in-hotels/ (Accessed on January 29, 2025).
Bed bug IPM: Technical resources for educators. (n.d.). Purdue University. Retrieved January 29, 2025, from https://www.extension.entm.purdue.edu/bedbugs/prevention.php
