As far as I know, there isn't any evidence that "better" hotels have fewer bed bugs. Every time you read a published article on the subject, they're eager to tell you how someone who stayed in a fancy hotel got bedbugs. I dunno. I stay in whatever -- tents, hostels, dumps, fleabags...and all the way to five star suites bigger than my entire house plus garage plus yard with huge multi-player hot tubs overlooking the view. I have not encountered bed bugs. I don't know if there is a genetic component (resistance) or if I've just been lucky. Knock on Wood.

I do not know why sleeping in your clothes or carting around extra sheets would protect you against bed bugs.

I think there is a such a thing as sensitivity to the strong detergents used by some hotel laundries. I bring my own pillow case and I'm fine. If a break out was caused by bed bugs, I don't know why a pillow case would stop them.

from my experience, as reported in a different thread, I'm fairly certain I got bitten while snoozing transpac upstairs on a UA 747 flight NRT-LAX in the new config lie-flat business seats.
At least that's where I assume the bites happened since I noticed them immediately after arriving home; my travel companion was not affected.
At least one other poster contributed a similar experience, egad!
In the past we'd stayed at the same hotels as before and after this particular flight and NEVER had a problem in the past.
Never felt the bites on backs of legs mostly, no itch, no scratch, just raspberry-colored, random spots that weren't there when I started out...

Upon returning from a trip I make sure to wash all my clothes, dirty of not. In addition, my suitcase goes into Quarantine in my basement until the next trip.

Check the mattress seams, you can also turn the covers back and put your laptop (turned on) on the sheet. Turn the lights by the bed off for a few minutes, maybe while you're brushing your teeth and washing your face then turn the lights back on and check the sheets. The warmth of your laptop might make them expose themselves. Use the luggage rack, if there isn't one you can put your suitcase on the ironing board.
I've been bitten twice, both were very nice hotels. If you do get bitten do not take your suitcase into the house! Unpack it outside and carry your clothes directly into the washer and treat everything!! Trust me, you don't want them in your house!

When I return from a trip in the winter I leave my bag out overnight in the sub zero temps....that should kill them.

Apparently just subzero is not enough. Some significant amount of extended cold is required.

I know I get confused and paranoid about these critters. For example, is an itchy spot a mosquito bite, a bedbug bite, or just dry skin? Are the insides of my eyeball itching because - why? Would I really get symmetrical itching on the backs of my knees from bedbugs (I think that was dry skin in a dry climate). How do you know it's bedbugs or not with random itching?

I was creeped out several months ago when I saw a mattress leaning against the wall of my closest coffeeshop, with the sign "Caution Bedbugs!". No one has thrown away that mattress yet, although it was moved behind a dumpster. Just writing this post is making my ear canals itch (very unlikely to be bedbugs ).

I see this thread is back.

The topic has obviously gotten a lot of attention in the media over the years, probably because it seems particularly gross.

That said, Flyertalkers (including me) tend to travel a lot, and we don't seem to get that many reports of bed bug problems. So it can't be that common. Right?

I hope.

I've actually heard more reports of bedbugs from friends or friends of friends who do not travel very much. These are so upsetting that it doesn't bear thinking about (especially where they involve infested apartment buildings).

I don't know what the statistical likelihood is that a traveler will bring home bedbugs if he or she is in a room with some. I'm not sure how that would be calculated.

Yeah, some "expert" should probably do a study of flyertalkers and bed bugs. I'm sure I've slept in more than 500 beds (probably more) in the past 10 years and never had a bed bug problem (at least that I'm aware of!). I've taken normal precautions -- like I don't leave luggage/clothing on beds -- but nothing else. That seems to be the general experience of our online community. So what's the real deal with this? Beats me.

From backpackers to 5 stars had a bugs encounter only once, in the filthier hotel in Doha, Qatar.
Never brought any sheet with me, just lately got used to carry a pillowcase from home.

You can also check bedbugregistry.com. Not foolproof, though, since I'm sure a lot of bed bug incidents go unreported. Will give you a *little* piece of mind, though, if your hotel isn't on the list.

I wonder how many "bed bug" reports are actually fleas, or spiders, or some other type of bug. Not every bite is going to be a bed bug. That said, my bags stay in the garage and clothes are all (clean or not) put right into the washer.

No other way to really do it. I have been doing two hotel nights/week for the last ten years (a lot of that in NYC), and I have yet to see a bed bug or a bite (knock on wood).

Yeah, I don't even do all that (I don't usually wash the clean clothes in my suitcase). I don't do that many nights in NYC, but otherwise your travel is like mine and it would seem inevitable that we'd have had bed bugs at some point by now. And, as you can see by the limited comments on this thread, this doesn't seem to be a huge problem for flyertalkers. So the mystery of the non-existent bed bugs continues.

I racked up enough points on Southwest is 2011 to earn a Companion Pass (a free seat for my companion anytime I fly on Southwest), but my wife accompanied me on exactly ZERO trips. Now, some of those were to places like GSP and OKC, but one was to SJU. Every time I went somewhere, I let her her know when I was booking the ticket, but she never took me up on it.

I don't consider myself particularly reckless with regard to travel risks, but put me down as one more (moderately) frequent traveler who has never had an issue with bed bugs.

I had bed bugs in my NYC apartment a few years ago, most likely picked up from a share house in the hamptons or a hotel.

It was one of the worst experiences of my life (which I should probably be happy about). It was hell getting rid of them, even with professional help, and pretty expensive (bed bug insurance for a business idea?). In the grand scheme of life, bites that are exactly like mosquito bites and do not carry disease shouldn't be so traumatizing, but the mental toll of coordinating cleanup for months, along with not being able to sleep well for the entire time is quite taxing.

For a year after getting rid of them I took all precautions when traveling, including keeping my suitcase in a plastic bag at hotels, leaving the case outside when I returned home until I was completely ready to fry it and its contents in a purpose-build heating system designed to kill anything that may have tagged along. That process would take several hours, every trip. I eventually ended up purchasing four of the heaters for various houses/ apartments. The worst was when I traveled with golf clubs because there was no way to fit them into the heater, so I'd usually leave them outside for a few weeks and hope they would crawl out to find food. I was probably kidding myself though because, apparently, those things can basically hibernate for months without eating, waiting until they sense heat again.

I would also dry-clean my business suits/ sport coats after every trip, which just kills the life of them and really doesn't even guarantee any bugs would be gone - I just hoped any would crawl out before being returned to me. I also made my girlfriend take similar precautions, which she thought was totally ridiculous (and it probably was - it's bordline impossible to live that way unless one is a complete freak). The whole thing, from time with bedbugs to the time I was able to forget about them, many months later, put tremendous stress on my relationship but it worked out eventually.

I think the way to operate is to keep bags away from beds since the bugs like staying next to a source of food, and to keep bags closed as much as possible. That will reduce the likelihood of getting bed bugs, but in order to really feel safe, you have to be a crazy person and it takes over your life, especially if you travel a fair amount.

On a related note, I personally believe body chemistry has a big effect on either one's attractiveness to the bugs or the severity of skin reactions to their bites. Throughout my whole ordeal, my girlfriend was never bitten, but I was bitten perhaps a hundred times. I also was able to catch a few of the critters and show them to a professional, who confirmed they were bed bugs, so I eliminated the possibility of a weird skin disease (which I definitely spent an inordinate amount of time investigating, further evidencing the craziness of getting bed bugs).

Sorry for the downer of a story, but I guess the fact that I got through it means it's a happy ending...

Natural predators of bed bugs have been mostly eliminated from hotel bedrooms except in some very tropical locations. I favor a natural balance and allow creatures that are indigenous to the area to continue to live in my space. Spiders and lizards eat bed bugs.