I saw this suitcase a while back... thought it was pretty interesting (and, since I've yet to have problems with bed bugs, ridiculous):
http://www.thermalstrike.com/product...of-luggage.asp

UP!

Is there any spray that really works to prevent bedbugs when staying in a hotel ?

If you are suspicious of bedbugs, you have to take all the bedding off the bed and look carefully in any seams and welts of the mattress and box spring where they hide. If you find any bugs or dots of blood, just move. They can hide other places but there's only so much you can check.

Bedbugs come out while you sleep because they are attracted by the the carbon dioxide you breathe out. The smell of the sprays works by making them them hide out, so they do work somewhat. Spraying rubbing alcohol will work and does no harm. Bedbugs are resistant to the usual active ingredient in home pesticides so they just hide out but are not killed if you set off bug bombs or spray stuff like Raid. You wouldn't be able to use a pesticide and then sleep there right away, anyway.

If your suitcase might be carrying bedbugs home, wrap it in a big plastic garbage bag and sit it in the sun all day before you being it in the house. The heat buildup inside will kill them. Off course, this only works on a sunny hot day. Carefully and slowly running a hot blow dryer over your suitcase supposedly will work, but I would just throw out the suitcase myself. The heat of the dryer will work on your clothes.

I leave my bags on the table/bag rack and I leave my clothes in it or on my clothesline. Standard precautions of checking beds and linens before bed but aside from that there's not a lot you can do about bed bugs.

No, so don't waste any of your money on them.

Count me among those who never considered that I might encounter a bed bug after a long traveling career involving a multitude of countries and every type of property from hostels to high end resorts. I had the same thoughts an many of the posters here - if bed bugs were that ubiquitous I would have seen one by now.

However, I was finally bitten (repeatedly) a couple of months ago and I still have the scars on my arms and chest. I can only imagine the trauma that people bitten on the face must have. I learned my lesson and now I check.

Yeah, we're not entirely sure, but it seems that my wife was bitten on her ankle by bed bugs during our summer visit to an Amazon camp in Peru (since it was the Amazon, we're not 100% sure). After several weeks, the bites are not entirely healed.

Mercifully, it does not appear that we brought any bugs home with us. I could see how that would be a huge PITA. It's one thing to be bitten once, but an entirely different problem to have recurring bites.

EDIT: BTW, if her bites are from bed bugs, the odds would still seem extremely long that anyone would encounter them. My wife and I have undoubtedly slept in more than 300 different beds in the past 5 years, and 600 beds in 10 years. We don't leave clothing and suitcases on the beds, and we try to keep our suitcases closed in hotels. Other than perhaps glancing at the sheets before climbing in bed, that's all we do.

Yeah, I did the mental math also and you are correct about this. I spent a number of nearly entire years on the road and never had a problem. The odds are indeed slim, but travel enough and eventually you'll tempt fate.

It is likely that bites on the ankle are not from bedbugs. Since bedbugs are drawn to the carbon dioxide you breathe out, their bites are typically on the upper body. Bites around the lower legs, feet and backs of knees are more likely to be chiggers, fleas, sand fleas (which are really crustaceans), spiders, etc.

Interesting. We've considered whether they might be fleas, but didn't think of chiggers. Her bites are slooowly going away, so we didn't think it was worth getting a professional medical opinion on it. Our medical insurance has a high deductible, so we're probably looking at about $150 to see a dermatologist -- hard to justify when she doesn't seem to need any "care" and a possible better diagnosis of the bite won't really help (we're not heading back to the Amazon soon!).

EDIT: From this long thread on tripadvisor, it appears that my wife was bit by sandflies in Machu Picchu, which we visited before the Amazon.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...co_Region.html

I got bitten in a hotel that I stayed at in Buffalo late last year. Later, I was watching what I think was a rerun of "Shark Tank" where these women developed bed bug traps, which are placed in the corners between your mattress and box springs. This will likely tell you if you have bed bugs, but it's just a detection - no a solution. I purchased the traps at Home Depot. http://www.buggybeds.com/ Plan on taking them traveling.

To get rid of bed bugs the area has to be heated to above 120f for more than 2 hours.

Has anyone tried steam/vapour cleaners to treat these bugs? Some claim to kill them .e.g. Ladybug Tekno 2350, Vapamore MR100 Primo. If it takes 2 hours, may be impossible. They're fairly expensive but probably cheaper than refurnishing and the cost of pest control.

My FTer travel companion and I had our very first bed bugs experience this week.

Long story short. We were in a small town, in an independent hotel (rated #2 out of 12 on Tripadvisor). The night auditor came to our room as soon as we called, looked at the bugs (one I had bagged, the other still on the pillow), profusely apologized, and after we packed up, escorted us to another room, and said we would be issued a refund.

None of us had ever seen bed bugs before, but after comparing them to online photos, we're pretty positive.

The hotel/address isn't listed on bedbugregistry.com. And we thought they handled the situation well - immediately moved/assisted us, issued a refund, and said both rooms would be quarantined until a pest control company inspected/treated.

My dilemma is whether or not to report it. I'm torn between my public service duty to fellow travelers, and hoping this is an isolated incident and not wanting to ruin a small business in a small town.

Consider this. Bedbugs are hiders that you usually don't find unless you are looking in seams of the mattress. Because you found them out on the pillow soon after getting the room, I think it must have been a pretty heavy infestation. If so, you wouldn't have been the first to encounter and report the bedbugs.