Why You Should Put Your Luggage in the Bathtub of Your Hotel Room?
Pest infestations in hotel rooms are inevitable. While proper hygiene and maintenance go a long way, it is a good practice for visitors to be cautious and do thorough checks of the hotel room for assurance. Bedbugs are a common occurrence in such scenarios and are always ready to take up a new host and environment. In that case, these pesty insects would crawl into the exposed luggage quickly and might even travel back to people’s homes causing a parasitic nuisance. But where do they keep the luggage when running room checks?
Experts advised that the bathtub is the safest place to store your luggage temporarily to ensure none of the bedbugs crawl into the open luggage or inside clothes, per a report by Reader’s Digest. Entomologist Katelyn Kesheimer, PhD, revealed that she swears by this practice and immediately lodges her luggage in the bathroom when checking into a hotel room to prevent bedbug infestations. The bathroom is said to be safe from bedbugs generally because humans– the parasitic hosts, spend less time there in comparison to the bedroom. There is also the added benefit of the smell and effect of disinfectants used in the bathroom that keep it safe from pests, according to Keshiemer.
“Once I know it is clear, I bring my luggage out into the main room,” she revealed, adding, “but I never put it on the bed, just in case.” The report pointed out that the first thing people tend to do is set their suitcases on the hotel bed or in luggage racks while checking in. Travel writer and consultant Marla Cimini chimed in on the issue sharing wisdom from her experiences in the hospitality industry. “When I worked in the hospitality industry, I learned that more hotels have bedbug problems than you might think,” she said. Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia are some of the most bedbug-infested cities in the U.S., per a 2024 study by a pest control company, Orkin.
Ideally, a bathroom is the most maintained room in a hotel and offers fewer hiding spots for bedbugs than other rooms. It is also worth noting that bathroom items like towels and mats are replaced for every new guest further decreasing the chances of an infestation. Expert Kesheimer added, “Bedbugs also prefer more natural surfaces,” Kesheimer adds, “and tubs and tiles do not provide this.” However, not all hotel bathrooms have the privilege of an installed bathtub. In such a situation, people can utilize the shower stall to store their luggage as an alternative to bathtubs.
The expert described that bedbugs prefer dark and flat hiding places and only come out to feed after midnight, typically around 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. “Bedbugs hang out near beds or other areas where humans spend a lot of time,” she noted. Bedbugs take up asylum in mattress folds and creases, behind the headboard, and in other spots where humans are “sedentary for long periods.” It allows the blood-sucking insects to take advantage of the nearby hiding spot and quickly retort in times of crisis. Hence, it is advised that people refrain from unpacking the luggage on the bed or clothes before a quick scan for bedbugs.
A study conducted by Rutgers University revealed that bedbugs exhibit high mobility expanding into new regions within a short span. Researchers released marked bedbugs in six original units and then recaptured them in a month, per the study published in the journal PLOS One. It was found that the marked bugs were collected from five of six neighboring apartments to the original unit.