Help!!! Bedbugs in our unit!!!

[Luanne]

And off the rugs or any other fabric coverings. Hard and cold surfaces the bugs don't like unless WARMED up with high watt light bulbs.

So exactly where do you suggest unpacking, and packing, in a resort or hotel room?

 

[CruiseGuy]

The suggestions I've heard are to place your luggage on tile floors (bathroom, kitchen, entry), counters, and the folding luggage rack. Not on beds, upholstered furniture, or carpeting.

And when you get home to place your luggage in the garage and unpack directly into your washing machine.

 

[vacationhopeful]

So exactly where do you suggest unpacking, and packing, in a resort or hotel room?

Bathroom sink or tub to hold your suitcase.

Use the metal luggage rack to HOLD your luggage and hang up your clothes. Or turn the plastic trashcan upside down as a luggage rack. Hang pocketbooks up.

Do not throw clothes on the beds or floor ... hang everything UP. Keep the towels off the rugs & soft furniture.

A smart guest strips the bed first, checks under the sofa & chair cushions and around the drapes's seams near heat vents or sunlight hits. If all looks fine, just keep stuff from hitting the floor. I tend to strip the bedspread totally off the bed and throw it into a fall off corner.

I tend to NOT put any of my clothes in the dresser. I hang my pocketbook off a metal/plastic hanger. I leave my clean clothes in the suitcase (held off the floor as suggested above) and the used/dirty clothing goes into a plastic (for the laundry) bag.

I personally first got attacked with bedbugs in Canada in 1976 (Quebec). A college girl friend and I had driven up for a 3 night stay. Riding back home in my car in upper NY state, I notice both of us were scratching our heads, esp around our ears. I pull the car off the highway, opened the truck, opened my suitcase, and SAW little dark round bugs crawling around inside our bags. Without any other prior knowledge, I thought BED BUGS. We continued driving to my house, brought bug spray listed as killing bed bugs, went to the laundry mat, sprayed the car, ourselves, our luggage, showered, changed into clean clothes and REPEATED all again.

I swear we had fathom itching for days ... but saw no more critters. Got no more red welts behind our ears.

 

[Luanne]

The suggestions I've heard are to place your luggage on tile floors (bathroom, kitchen, entry), counters, and the folding luggage rack. Not on beds, upholstered furniture, or carpeting.

And when you get home to place your luggage in the garage and unpack directly into your washing machine.

Well, that works if your washing machine is in the garage........mine isn't.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Well, that works if your washing machine is in the garage........mine isn't.

Laundry Mat ... get all the wash done in ONE cycle. Tag team with your spouse .. you start the wash, he goes home and changes his clothes in the garage, sprays the inside of the car down and replaces you at the laundry for you to go home. You change in your garage and bag the trip clothes ... spray down the interior of the car and back to the laundry... with YOUR bagged clothing.

 

[Luanne]

You know, in all of the years we've vacationed we've never done any of these precautionary measures. We unpack on the beds, come home, bring our suitcases in, unpack on our beds and take the stuff into the laundry room. And in all that time we have had not one problem. So, at this point I think I'll continue to take my chances. Of course all it will take is one time and then I'll probably become a fanatic too.

 

[vacationhopeful]

You know, in all of the years we've vacationed we've never done any of these precautionary measures. We unpack on the beds, come home, bring our suitcases in, unpack on our beds and take the stuff into the laundry room. <snip>

Luanne,

Just a do a few things different at each timeshare. Walk into the unit with nothing in your hands. Leave everything in the car.

Inspect first: Turn up the bedding and look at the seams each bed ... headboard and foot area. Check under the sofa cushions ... in the back edges and corners where the cushions sit.

If all is clear: Use those metal/plastic luggage holders to keep clothes in the suitcases and off the floor. Throw the bedspreads in the corner .. don't use or remake the beds with them.

 

[Luanne]

Luanne,

Just a do a few things different at each timeshare. Walk into the unit with nothing in your hands. Leave everything in the car.

Inspect first: Turn up the bedding and look at the seams each bed ... headboard and foot area. Check under the sofa cushions ... in the back edges and corners where the cushions sit.

If all is clear: Use those metal/plastic luggage holders to keep clothes in the suitcases and off the floor. Throw the bedspreads in the corner .. don't use or remake the beds with them.

Too lazy.

As I said, if something happens at some point we may start doing this.

 

[1songbird]

Thank you Linda for all these important reminders! Our daughter, the flight attendant, has been taught all the things you pointed out. We have done some but not all of them. After this experience we will certainly be more diligent. We were told we have been moved into a room they use for emergencies since they are at 99 percent occupancy. The sofa and other items look cleaner and we haven't seen any sign of bedbugs. We left our luggage in the bathtubs overnight as a precaution. Praying we don't take anything home but plan to use some of this advice when we do get home. We got a card slipped under our door today from Wyndham saying "Thinking of You" and following up to see if we are doing ok after our "incident".

Thanks to all of you who followed up with excellent advice. TUG members are awesome!

Melody

 

[Jan M.]

Bathroom sink or tub to hold your suitcase.

Use the metal luggage rack to HOLD your luggage and hang up your clothes. Or turn the plastic trashcan upside down as a luggage rack. Hang pocketbooks up.

Do not throw clothes on the beds or floor ... hang everything UP. Keep the towels off the rugs & soft furniture.

A smart guest strips the bed first, checks under the sofa & chair cushions and around the drapes's seams near heat vents or sunlight hits. If all looks fine, just keep stuff from hitting the floor. I tend to strip the bedspread totally off the bed and throw it into a fall off corner.

I tend to NOT put any of my clothes in the dresser. I hang my pocketbook off a metal/plastic hanger. I leave my clean clothes in the suitcase (held off the floor as suggested above) and the used/dirty clothing goes into a plastic (for the laundry) bag.

I personally first got attacked with bedbugs in Canada in 1976 (Quebec). A college girl friend and I had driven up for a 3 night stay. Riding back home in my car in upper NY state, I notice both of us were scratching our heads, esp around our ears. I pull the car off the highway, opened the truck, opened my suitcase, and SAW little dark round bugs crawling around inside our bags. Without any other prior knowledge, I thought BED BUGS. We continued driving to my house, brought bug spray listed as killing bed bugs, went to the laundry mat, sprayed the car, ourselves, our luggage, showered, changed into clean clothes and REPEATED all again.

I swear we had fathom itching for days ... but saw no more critters. Got no more red welts behind our ears.

Excellent advise. Even the minimal measures you suggested in a later post are great for people wanting to start being more careful. I was reading your posts to my husband as we travel a fair amount and are going away again soon. We will be leaving our stuff on the luggage cart until we inspect all the beds and sofa. We never use the bedspreads but I usually fold them up and put them in the closet where our clothes are hanging so I will start leaving them on the floor as far away from the bed as possible. A couple of heavy duty trash bags take up next to no room so they will go in the suitcase to use for dirty clothes.

In one of my earlier posts I recounted meeting the man with the bedbug sniffing dog when we stayed a resort that employes his services. Talking with him was very interesting and quite an eye opener. I have no desire to go through the headache, work, time and expense involved with getting rid of them! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Thanks.

 

[WinniWoman]

There really isn;t anywhere to lay your suitcases- most timeshares have rugs, I guess you could put them on the kitchen or bathroom floors or the kitchen table.

We always put them on the bed to empty or get into them. We usually lock stuff in our suitcases when we leave the room so we are constantly taking them on and off the bed. Then we put them in the bedroom closets which are also carpeted.

 

[whitewater]

unpack outside

boil clothes in water.

Put shoes in back bag in sun they heat up and kill bugs - them boil in water (1 week of sun/heat/no air)

put suit cases in back trash bags - leave in sunshine so the heat up and kill bugs. (1 week of sun/heat/no air)

my parents got BB and this worked for them. Other than the head-ache it caused.


overkill maybe but do you really want them in YOUR house????

 

[Lisa P]

Walk into the unit with nothing in your hands. Leave everything in the car. ... Inspect first: Turn up the bedding and look at the seams each bed ... headboard and foot area. Check under the sofa cushions ... in the back edges and corners where the cushions sit. ... If all is clear: Use those metal/plastic luggage holders to keep clothes in the suitcases and off the floor. Throw the bedspreads in the corner

place your luggage on tile floors (bathroom, kitchen, entry), counters, and the folding luggage rack. ... And when you get home to place your luggage in the garage and unpack directly into your washing machine.

Put ... in [black] trash bags - leave in sunshine so the heat up and kill bugs. (1 week of sun/heat/no air)

Thank you... We have done some but not all of them. After this experience we will certainly be more diligent.

Our DIL's college roommates brought in bed bugs to their apartment from a vacation trip. They had to launder and high-heat dry all their clothes, throw out some furnishings and put the rest of their belongings into a van parked in the hot Carolina sun for a couple weeks (hot car!) before moving in to a new apartment, then spray down the van. It was a terrible ordeal since DIL turned out to be highly allergic to the bites, requiring a visit to the ER. So we started taking all these (above) precautions and have been now, for years. But we've gotten a bit slack recently. So I'm thankful for this reminder.

We got a card slipped under our door today from Wyndham saying "Thinking of You" and following up to see if we are doing ok after our "incident".

I'm very glad to read this. At least they are showing that they recognize the problem. Hopefully, it will be addressed. If you take the above precautions, you (and your home) should be fine. I hope you are able to enjoy the rest of your trip now.

 

[baf99]

I have been traveling a fair amount on business for the last 8 or so years. I have been fortunate that I haven't run into this problem (yet). I have worried about all the hotel stays, so I searched for prevention information online. I found a lot of useful information at this site:
http://www.bedbugs.umn.edu/
the hotel specific page is here:
http://www.bedbugs.umn.edu/travelers/inspecting-your-hotel-room-for-bed-bugs/
A lot of this information has been covered in previous posts, but just in case someone else would find the University of Minnesota site useful I thought I would share.

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

BUGS are also in Wyndham's computer system

Lots of computer bugs - according to current threads

.

 

[WinniWoman]

You know, in all of the years we've vacationed we've never done any of these precautionary measures. We unpack on the beds, come home, bring our suitcases in, unpack on our beds and take the stuff into the laundry room. And in all that time we have had not one problem. So, at this point I think I'll continue to take my chances. Of course all it will take is one time and then I'll probably become a fanatic too.

Us, too. Never even think about it. Been lucky all these years I guess. Of course, after this thread now I will be a bit paranoid.

 

[Luanne]

Us, too. Never even think about it. Been lucky all these years I guess. Of course, after this thread now I will be a bit paranoid.

Not me. I'm going to continue to live in ignorant bliss.

 

[Panina]

Whereas the risk of bringing bedbugs home is greater in a hotel/Timehare, you can bring them home from anywhere. For example, you go to a restaurant, someone prior to you had one on their clothes and now you bring it home.

Many pest control companies will sell you a bedbug Policy for a reasonable amount if you have another service contract with them.

I have one and before they would approve me they brought the bedbug dog finder to my home. I freaked out when the dog started barking and jumpin up next to my couch. What I didn't know is the serviceman placed a closed container with a bedbug under the cushion, that's how sensitive the dog was to the scent.

 

[JohnPaul]

Bed bugs are a royal pain. We have dealt with them twice. Once a tenant brought them into our rental trip-plex. Once they showed up at home. We travel a lot and probably picked them up somewhere on our travels. It takes many treatments to rid yourself of them and lots of $$. Harder to deal with but less scary than the poisonous snake that we apparently carried in our luggage from Acapulco to Mexico City.

Nevertheless I still can't be bothered to inspect everywhere I go. I guess if I really thought that would keep me from having them at home again I would but I doubt I'd be thorough enough to find them. They hide very well.

So. To each their own. Not going to let it stop my travels.

 

[Joe33426]

Just a do a few things different at each timeshare. Walk into the unit with nothing in your hands. Leave everything in the car.

Inspect first: Turn up the bedding and look at the seams each bed ... headboard and foot area. Check under the sofa cushions ... in the back edges and corners where the cushions sit.

If all is clear: Use those metal/plastic luggage holders to keep clothes in the suitcases and off the floor. Throw the bedspreads in the corner .. don't use or remake the beds with them.

I think this is great advice. Although we always throw the bedspreads into the corners and never reuse, we usually rush to bring our stuff into the unit. We do inspect the beds, use luggage racks, put luggage on hard surfaces, etc. but that's after we've moved in all our stuff.

Last week we decided no more. We're going to thoroughly inspect our units before taking occupancy.

We just came back from Ocean Ridge and the unit had a cockroach infestation. We didn't realize this until our second night. We killed a couple of cockroaches the first day and figured it was part of being in the "low country", but on the second night they all came out and it was pretty disgusting and I was up until 3:00 a.m. that night "fighting" the bugs. My main concern was that we didn't take any of the cockroaches home. We had to wash all our clothes before bringing them in the house and checked all our other supplies before putting them away in the house. I'm still on edge....

 

[pedro47]

Suggestion only...Please store your luggage in the bathroom(on the tile floor or in the shower or bathtub). Bedbugs do not tile floors and bathrooms. I do not want you to bring the bedbugs back to your home. Also, Home Deport hardware store is selling a cans of bed bug spray.

Good luck. Please report this to mgt in writing and keep a copy for your record. Next time take some photos for your document proofs.

 

[rapmarks]

We had a wasp infestation in our timeshare exchange in Wisconsin . I had a hard time relaxing with them in the same room.


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[vacationhopeful]

If my dad got stung by a wasp ... 15 minutes to ER or call the funeral pallor. None of us kids got that gene...but we always figured we should respect that flying critter, too.

 

[wjappraise]

Have you ever noticed that every unknown bug in a hotel is a "bedbug" and every unknown hair is a "pubic hair"?


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[Jan M.]

Have you ever noticed that every unknown bug in a hotel is a "bedbug" and every unknown hair is a "pubic hair"?


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Also many people call palmetto bugs GIANT ROACHES and totally flip out when they see one. I'm not unsympathetic because I knew about palmetto bugs before I saw my first one and for months afterwards I had to turn the lights on if I got up in the night to use the bathroom.