We're Begging You To Do This Simple Task The Second You Walk Into Your Hotel Room
There are few things as heavenly as climbing into a warm, plush hotel bed after a long day of traveling.
However, before you order room service and dive into a âLaw & Order: SVUâ rerun or immediately conk out, thereâs one thing you should always do. Actually, itâs the first thing you should do as soon as you walk into your room:
Check for bed bugs.
âI have two really good friends who have gotten bed bugs in New York [hotels] before,â HuffPost Senior Editor Caroline Bologna told us â Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, co-hosts of HuffPostâs âAm I Doing It Wrong?â podcast.
The tiny critters, which feed on human blood while weâre sleeping, are âabout the size of an apple seedâ and âbig enough to be easily seen, but often hide in cracks in furniture, floors, or walls,â according to a NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene guide to stopping bed bugs in hotels. The insects often hitch a ride into a hotel room in a guestâs suitcase or on their clothes and then continue to thrive there by snacking on new, unsuspecting travelers.
Paris made headlines last year when scores of hotels were reportedly infested with bed bugs, but the city of light definitely isnât the only one facing this problem. In fact, a 2017 study found that eight out of 10 hotels had dealt with the pests during the previous year.
âIt doesnât matter how nice the hotel is â theyâre not attracted to grime,â Bologna noted. Bed bugs are attracted to âwarmth, blood and carbon dioxideâ â all of which are amply provided by humans, so no matter how well-rated or luxurious a hotel might be, it could still be a haven for them.
If you donât want to end up being a bed bugâs next meal â or potentially bringing them home with you in your luggage â spend your first 30 seconds in your room doing a sweep of any area where they might be lurking.
âThey like upholstery â just look at the sheets,â Bologna explained. âJust peel back one of the corners of the bed, look at the seams of the mattress... just check. Check anything upholstered. Look at the headboard. Look at the chairs. If you donât see anything, youâre probably totally fine.â
However, if youâre still worried, there are a few more steps you can take.
âPeople who are really cautious â like my friends who have had bed bugs â put their suitcase in the bathtub... just not on upholstery,â she said, so if there are any bed bugs in the room, they wonât get into it. âMost hotel rooms are carpeted, so just donât have your bag on carpeting.â
You can also attempt to bed-bug proof the fabric luggage stand in the room.
âSome people travel with plastic trash bags,â Bologna said. âYou put the plastic around it and then put your suitcase on it, because bed bugs donât really hang out on plastic.â
If you do find bed bugs in the room, alert the hotel management immediately.
âIf you decide you donât want to leave the hotel but you want to switch rooms, donât move to an adjacent room because that would be likely to have the same problem,â Bologna warned.
We also chatted about the best way to score an upgrade, the dirtiest parts of hotel rooms and hacks for cleaning them, and many more hotel secrets.
Need some help with something youâve been doing wrong? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.This article originally appeared on HuffPost.