What Hotel Employees Know About Bed Bugs That You Don't (Until Now)

When it comes to staying at a hotel, no one wants to think about the possibility of bed bugs, but the reality is, encountering these critters is always possible. In fact, in a 2024 Sleep Doctor survey of over 1,500 Americans who had paid for accommodations over the past year, 14% of them encountered bed bugs on their travels. Scarily, those encounters took place in every type of lodging, from a 5-star hotel all the way down to a budget hostel. The worst part? According to the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), 73% of Americans have no idea how to look for bed bugs, leaving them vulnerable to unknowingly sleeping in an infested bed. 

To understand how big the bed bug problem in hotels really is, and what is being done to combat it, we turned to hotel professionals themselves to see what goes on with bed bugs behind the scenes. By surveying subreddits like r/askhotels, r/askreddit, and r/bedbugs, we found out the unexpected places to look for bed bugs in your room, how not to bring them home if you do find them, and what measures hotels do (or don't take) when bedbugs are found.

It's a commonly held belief that poor sanitary conditions lead to bed bugs, but that's not always the case. Since bed bugs feed on people, they are simply attracted by humans, no matter how clean or dirty the environment is. If bed bugs can make an appearance even in a seemingly clean environment, hotels should be regularly inspecting rooms to ensure they are free of these pests, right? Well, think again. Hospitality workers on the r/hotels subreddit shared that some, but not all hotels are actively doing inspections. Instead, they often wait for guests to bring forth a complaint or rely on the watchful eyes of the housekeeping staff to flag any issues.  

Once the issue is flagged, if the staff doesn't seem terribly concerned, it's likely because identifying bed bugs also causes confusion. In a 2025 survey by the National Pest Management Association of pest control professionals, 90% said they had received calls that turned out to be false alarms. This was echoed by one front desk worker on Reddit, who remarked, "95% of the time, when a guest reports bed bugs, it turns out to be ants."

Once a room is flagged as potentially having bed bugs, what's the protocol? Bed bugs can spread quite easily, and are, in fact, one of the hardest pests to get rid of. But you don't have to worry about these critters coming in from next door, as standard protocol is to shut down all the surrounding rooms when one is possibly infested with bed bugs. "If they are found at ours," said one employee on the r/hotels subreddit, "they are professionally treated, and rooms next to on either side, above, and below are all shut down."

There's a few other things that hotel staff are well-equipped to deal with when it comes to bed bugs. Since occasional outbreaks will occur at the workplace, they know just how to ensure that these insects don't travel home with them. How do they do it? First, bed bugs can't withstand high temperatures. So, they change clothes and bag the old ones before washing and drying them on high heat. Other techniques include using rubbing alcohol to wipe down shoes, which can kill some adult bed bugs and their eggs. Finally, since bed bugs can be killed by temperatures over 140 degrees Fahrenheit, using a clothes steamer on items that can't go in the dryer can work.

Hospitality workers are also savvy enough to understand that bed bugs can be found in a lot more places than just your bed, including luggage racks, which is part of what makes them so difficult to eliminate. This means that you'll want to not only inspect under the mattress, but also along the seams of furniture and the headboard.

Lastly, hotel employees know that these outbreaks are inevitable and, as such, require being calm and collected while taking swift action. If you are a guest who finds signs of bed bugs in your room, hotel workers suggest discreetly telling the front desk as soon as you can. This will allow them to take swift action and avoid causing panic while the case is still unconfirmed.