Most holidaymakers are keen to tidy up their home after returning from their holiday and unpacking their suitcase on the bed seems to many to be the most efficient solution. However, a British mattress manufacturer is now strongly advising travellers not to do this, as “Mirror“ reported.
Travelers should definitely avoid unpacking their luggage in the bedroom after returning from vacation, as they may have brought home unwanted guests.
Luggage should be checked for vermin
As Martin Seeley, CEO and mattress expert at MattressNextDay, explained to the Mirror, unpacking in the bedroom could lead to bed bugs that have hidden in your luggage getting into your bed at home. It is best to unpack your luggage in a room other than the bedroom, ideally on a hard floor, as bed bugs are difficult to detect on a carpet.
The expert recommends inspecting the suitcase carefully and using a flashlight to look in the seams, folds and pockets of the suitcase. In addition, Seeley recommends vacuuming the luggage thoroughly before packing it to remove any possible bed bugs so that the creatures cannot move onto the bed, curtains or other soft furnishings.
“Never put your suitcase on the hotel bed”
Seeley also warns against mistakes when arriving at your accommodation: “Never put your suitcase on the hotel bed,” he stressed to the “Mirror”. It is common practice to put the suitcase on the bed straight away and unpack it without looking for bed bugs. This, however, gives the pests a free ticket home. Holidaymakers should put their suitcase as close to the hotel door as possible or leave it on the luggage rack.
According to the British NHS Health Authority (National Health Service) bed bugs hide in many places, “including on bed frames, mattresses, clothing, furniture, behind pictures and under loose wallpaper.” Signs of bed bugs include bites on the skin, usually during sleep, blood stains on the bed linen or small brown spots on bed linen or furniture.
Bed bugs are also spreading in Germany
Germany is also increasingly struggling with bed bugs. “The bed bug situation in Germany has gotten worse in the last ten years,” confirmed Kai Scheffler, Federal Chairman of the German Pest Control Association, to FOCUS online. The pests have continued to spread, especially since the increased travel activity after Corona.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the bed bugs will nest in private households: “Only one in ten cases is actually a private household,” Scheffler explains. The animals are more likely to appear in shared accommodation and overnight accommodation such as hotels. The expert considers it rather unlikely that they will spread in subways and cinemas, as was reported from Paris last summer.