Key point in one sentence: Preventing bed bugs while travelling takes three steps: don’t throw your luggage on the bed before you leave, check the mattress seams before you sleep, and seal and hot-wash your clothes as soon as you get home; do all three and you won’t bring bed bugs home as a souvenir.
Bed bugs love to hitch a ride — you stay in a hotel, and they hide in your suitcase and follow you back to Hong Kong. In recent years, hotels in Japan, Korea, Europe and America have all had bed bug outbreaks. Travel without bed bug precautions and your souvenir could turn out to be bed bugs.
The three steps below are based on the Centre for Health Protection’s travel advice. Follow them and you’ll greatly reduce your chances of being caught out.
Step 1: Before You Go
- ☐ Use a hard-shell suitcase (fewer gaps than a fabric one, so bed bugs have nowhere to hide)
- ☐ Bring a few large sealed plastic bags / laundry bags: keep clean clothes and worn clothes separate
- ☐ Bring a small torch (your phone torch works too) for the room check when you arrive
- ☐ Save this article so you can follow the check when you check in
Step 2: Check the Room When You Arrive (Don’t Flop onto the Bed the Moment You Walk In)
NPMA demonstration: how to inspect a hotel room
Before you put your luggage down, spend 5 minutes on this check (the key point: bed bugs hide in gaps near where you sleep):
- ☐ Lift a corner of the sheet and check the mattress folds and seams for small black spots (faeces), blood stains or live bugs
- ☐ Look behind the headboard and at the bed frame joints
- ☐ Look in the sofa gaps and curtain folds
- ☐ Not sure what you’re looking at? Compare with our Bed Bug Photo Identification Guide
If you find anything suspicious, go to the front desk and ask for a different room straight away — ideally on a different floor, not just the room next door (bed bugs can travel through wall cracks).
Settling your luggage:
- ☐ Put your luggage on the luggage rack, not on the bed or the carpet
- ☐ No luggage rack? Put it on the hard bathroom floor, away from the bed and upholstered furniture
- ☐ Put worn clothes straight into a sealed bag — don’t throw them on the bed or the floor
Step 3: After You Get Home (The Most Important Step — Don’t Skip It)
NPMA: don’t bring bed bugs home
Many people are careful at the hotel and then relax once they’re home — undoing all their good work. Before your luggage comes into the house:
- ☐ Check the inside and outside of your suitcase at the door / corridor first: zip gaps, folds and the edges of the wheels for bugs or black spots
- ☐ Wash all clothes (worn and unworn) immediately in 60°C hot water and tumble-dry on high heat (per FEHD guidance)
- ☐ Vacuum the suitcase, focusing on the gaps; or steam it once
- ☐ If you’re still worried, seal the empty suitcase in a large rubbish bag and leave it somewhere away from the bedroom to observe for a week or two
- ☐ In the days after, watch for unusual red bumps when you wake up in the morning, or blood spots on the sheets. If you suspect anything, check straight away (see the “confirm before you act” section in our DIY Bed Bug Removal Guide)
Remember These Three Lines
Before you go: hard-shell case + sealed bags. When you check in: inspect first, relax later. When you get home: check at the door and wash your clothes straight away. Do these three things and the chance of bringing bed bugs home from a trip is very small.
Further Reading
- What Do Bed Bugs Look Like? A Photo Identification Guide — compare while you’re checking the room
- DIY Bed Bug Removal in Hong Kong: A 6-Step Guide — what to do if you really did bring them home
Sources
- Centre for Health Protection, “Bed Bugs (commonly known as bed bugs or wood lice)” (advice for travellers): https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/healthtopics/content/460/107441.html
- Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, “Guidelines on the Prevention and Control of Bed Bugs in Domestic Premises” (PDF): https://www.fehd.gov.hk/tc_chi/pestcontrol/library/pdf_pest_control/bedbugs(text).pdf