The hotel bed bug check every traveler should do before unpacking

The very thought of bed bugs is enough to make any traveler's skin crawl.

Orkin pest control recently released its annual ranking of the worst U.S. cities for bed bugs, with popular destinations like Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC, among the top 10, but that doesn't mean you should avoid visiting.

Orkin entomologist Benjamin Hottel tells USA TODAY wherever he goes, "I just assume when I'm going that there could be bed bugs there, and I take precautions."

Here's how to protect yourself from bed bugs when you travel.

How do you check for bed bugs?

You can look for bed bugs around headboards and mattresses.

However, if the mattress has a bed bug-proof encasement, Hottel suggests leaving that alone. Some hotels use the encasements as proactive measures, but others may have had prior infestations.

"Bed bugs can last over a year without feeding. And so, per chance that there was an infestation within the last year there and they put an encasement on, you wouldn't want to open that up," he said.

He doesn't suggest messing too much with headboards either if they're fixed to the wall.

"You could bang on it if you wanted to," he said. "If there were bed bugs behind it, they may scatter out of it. That's something that you could try. You could try to take your phone light and peek behind it."

Orkin has an acronym, SLEEP, to help travelers protect themselves from bed bugs:

• Survey your hotel room for signs of a bed bug infestation
• Lift and look for all bed bug hiding spots
• Elevate your luggage and other items
• Examine your luggage while repacking and once you return home
• Place all your clothing from your luggage immediately in the dryer for at least 15 minutes at the highest setting upon returning home from travel

But travelers should not be the only ones checking for bed bugs.

"A lot of hotels, they have procedures for their staff to be on the lookout. Some will have the cleaning staff checking and then have managers check as well," Hottel said. "A lot of the companies have protocols in place that those would be caught."

How do you tell if a bug is a bed bug?

The Environmental Protection Agency describes bed bugs as "long and brown, with a flat, oval-shaped body (if not fed recently)" and "balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated (if fed recently)."

Adults are about the size of an apple seed and may smell musty.

"Younger, they can be a little bit more difficult to see. The ones that recently hatched from eggs could be like the size of like a freckle," Hottel said, noting that younger bed bugs are also lighter in color.

How to tell if a hotel has bed bugs

The best sign is actually seeing one crawling, because other signs can be misleading.

"Sometimes we talk about black spots on the sheets. I've done inspections before where someone thought they had bed bugs, and it ended up being that it was like coffee had splashed and made spots on the sheet and it wasn't actually bed bug spots," Hottel said.

Cast skins can also be misleading because they can be a sign of a past infestation, not an active one. He said bites aren't always reliable either because some people have no reactions to bed bugs, while others have delayed reactions.

"So it could be that you got bit three days ago and then it just started to make a little itchy spot on you skin," Hottel said. Alternately, they could be bites from another type of bug or not a bite at all. "It could be medication they were taking, or it could be some type of other medical problem they had...all sorts of things."

What do hotels do when they have bed bugs?

If you see a bed bug, you should immediately contact the hotel's front desk staff.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association, whose membership includes many major brands, recommends hotels follow National Pest Management Association guidelines including offering guests a new room and taking the suspected room out of service until it can be inspected by a pest control professional, as soon as possible. Some hotels may also offer to launder guests' clothing, but that's not guaranteed.

The EPA notes that 21 states have laws or regulations related to bed bugs, and the Bed Bug Legal Group recommends documenting your experience with photos in case you are eligible for additional compensation.

What to do if you slept in a bed with bed bugs

"When you get home, you can put all your clothes into the dryer on high heat, and it'll kill everything," Hottel said. "Anything that can't be put in the dryer, you could freeze it too, but it's going to take a lot longer, maybe two weeks or more for freezing. So, drying usually is the quickest, on high heat."

He also recommends checking your shoes and luggage for bed bugs. If you want to be extra cautious, he suggests storing luggage somewhere like in the garage, attic or even a car trunk.

"If you leave the luggage in your attic right now in July, they're not going to do well. They're going to get cooked pretty quickly," he said.

How long does it take for bed bugs to infest your house?

"They're not quick, so it's not like fruit flies," Hottel said. "They're producing around maybe 30 eggs over the course of a month, so usually it's a slow build. When you see these like very heavily infested areas, it has been allowed to get to that point over six or more months probably."

Hottel said hopefully, they're noticed before then.

"It's easier to control them than when they get really embedded into the household area," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The hotel bed bug check every traveler should do before unpacking

Reporting by Eve Chen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect

This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 1:51 PM.