There has been a great deal of media coverage in the States, on TV and in papers on an epidemic of bedbugs. Is this going to be a problem in Paris at three stars and in other cities like Lyon and Dijon at 3 or 4 stars? What does one do to protect oneself? Are hotels doing anything? Or is this just media hype? the TV show shoed pictures of victims from very upscale hotels.
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Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to eradicate once a room has become infested, and they are carried to other hotels in their victims%26#39; suitcases.
Having said that, and knock on wood (for luck), we have never encountered them. The ranking of a hotel has little to do with the potential for infestation.
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Other than once in 1988 in a hotel in the Munich train station, We%26#39;ve never encountered them in literally hundreds of European hotel rooms since 1982.
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Thanks for the answers so far. Is there anyway of checking to see if there are bedbugs BEFORE getting into the bed? I will keep all suitcases closed as a preventive but would prefer not looking like the people on the TV show who were literally covered with bites. It would certinly ruin a vacation in a great city.
I know I sound paranoid but there has been a lot of discussion about this being a major proble. I, too, have traveled widely and have not encountered the problem anywhere. But supposedly this is recent!
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Bed bug infested rooms have a very characteristic
odor. It has been described as a musty odor, a sweet
odor, and even compared to the smell of fresh red
raspberries. Other signs of infestation include black
spots that have been left on surfaces where the insects
have been, and blood stains on sheets and mattresses. The
latter is a result of the bleeding that sometimes occurs
after the bed bug is finished feeding. Swellings may
result from bed bug bites; they are small, hard and white
(not red, as with flea bites).
Hope this helps!
Pat, RN
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My cousin works for a Very high end hotel chain, won%26#39;t say which one. Bed bugs are a serious problem at all hotels. I am not saying that all hotels have them, but they all worry about them. We travel often. We have back packed, stayed in hostels, B and Bs, and 5 star hotels, and never have had a problem. There are so many things to worry about when traveling, I let the bedbug worry go.
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Funny that this %26quot;epidemic%26quot; hasn%26#39;t made it to the French news... I know there will be some conspiracy theorists around contending that this major health crisis (move away, avian flu, forget about chikungunya... ) was hidden on purpose in order not to harm the national travel industry. My guess would rather be that, as it has happened in the past, this %26quot;bedbug scoop%26quot; is just part of the European news that are very lightly researched, easily distorted and blown out of proportion on the other side of the Atlantic.
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Hi - you%26#39;re referring to the Today Show%26#39;s piece on a resort in the Catskills in New York State (I think)...wouldn%26#39;t let this %26quot;news%26quot; story worry you on your trip (but the pictures were disturbing).
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Bedbugs !! Argh I hate the little b*ggers !!
I%26#39;ve had problems with them twice. Last time was a cheap %26#39;n%26#39; cheerful place in Lisbon - last day (thank goodness) of our honeymoon; previous time was (ahem) in someone%26#39;s 1st arrondissment flat.
2 observations - I get bitten, eaten alive. My now husband was never bitten in the flate where he lived for a couple of years, I on the other hand woke a couple of times my first night there after thinking I felt something, the second time when I put my hand down to itch I found blood !!
Similarly he didn%26#39;t get a single bite in Portugal yet I had about twenty and spent the following day feeling hot, sweaty and grumpy ... only later realised it was due to all that poison running around in my blood !
Anyway here%26#39;s my view, these nasty little critters are rare. However, if you THINK you feel something crawling in the night then switch on the light ! (I thought I felt something in Portugal but didn%26#39;t react.)
They are small, larger than a flea and black, they don%26#39;t jump. If you want to ask staff or complain, the French word is %26#39;punaise%26#39; (poo-nayz).
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Hubby got bite by them last time we did a tour of France. I did not.
Check the corners of the bed sheets and mattresses for signs of bed bugs. They hide in the dark there and behind the bed boards etc. look for dark brown-black dried blood spots and also for the dead bugs themselves.
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I was wondering if there is any kind of sprays that you could spray on the sheets that may kill whatever bacteria including these bugs? If that is the case I wouldn%26#39;t mind bringing something like that along to safeguard. Or does this sound paranoid?
Bob ~%26gt; Interesting that media in other countries pick up on these issues.
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