Traveling for business or pleasure requires staying at hotels or motels. Imagine you have checked into your room after a long day of travel and you need rest. Now imagine you get into bed and the next 
morning you discover red itchy bites on your body. You then inspect the bed and and confirm that your room is infested with bed bugs. What can you do now? Hotel Bed bug bite injuries have become a bigger problem for travelers over the past few years. The problem does not just affect travelers, bed bugs are a potential disaster for the hotel industry as a whole.
Our office fields thousands of calls each year regarding bed bug injuries occurring at hotels nationwide. We are able to offer advice to help bed bug bite victims from the minute we receive the call. We recently received a call from a hotel guest in Florida. She stayed in a hotel in Fort Lauderdale and was attacked by bed bugs. When she woke up and saw bugs in her bed, she googled bed bugs and the pictures she found matched the bugs on the sheets. She did not know what to do next so she searched online a little more and landed on our page and called. We were able to give advice about gathering and preserving evidence, making an incident report with hotel management, reporting the incident to the local office of business and professional regulation and seeking medical treatment.
What happens when you get home after a hotel bed bug incident?
If you have encountered bed bugs while traveling, you should be legitimately concerned about bringing them home home. After reporting the infestation to hotel management, there are several things to know if you suspect you’ve stayed in a bed bug infested room:
Not everyone who stays in a bed bug infested hotel room will bring bed bugs home. However, it is a good idea to act as if you may have some hitchhiking bed bugs in your belongings. You are most likely to pick up bed bugs on your luggage. If you encountered bed bugs at a hotel, be extra careful when handling your suitcase. If you kept your suitcase near the bed on or a couch in the hotel room, your risk will be higher.
What to do with luggage and suitcases if bed bugs are suspected
If bed bugs are suspected, your luggage should be kept out of the main living areas or bedrooms of your home. Leave suitcases in the garage or outdoors when returning home. Remove washable items, place them in a plastic bag and transport them to your washing machine. Place the affected clothing in the washing machine at a high temperature for at least 30 minutes. To dry, place the same items in the dryer on the hottest setting. The hot temperatures will give the best chance at killing live bed bugs and their eggs. Immediately tie up and discard the garbage bags used to transport the clothing. Any non machine-washable clothing items should be taken to a professional laundry or dry cleaner.
Any other items like shoes, the suitcase itself or hygiene products can be kept in a plastic garbage bag and left outside in the sun for 1-2 days. The heat generated inside the bag and the reduced oxygen will likely kill any remaining bed bugs. These items can also be treated with a household pesticide if necessary. The same can be done in a deep freeze chest for 1-2 days.
Call an experienced Bed Bug Lawyer for a free case evaluation
If you have encountered bed bugs while travelling on vacation or on business travel, visit www.bedbuglaw.com/do-i-have-a-case to upload photos, videos and a summary of what happened to you. Once received, we can begin the process of evaluating and assisting you in filing a claim. Thank you for visiting Bed Bug Law and we look forward to speaking with you soon.