The Most Common Place to Pick Up Bed Bugs Is a Hotel Room—and Experts Say This Simple Hack Can Kill Them Fast

Bad news for travelers: according to Pest Clinic, the most common place to encounter bed bugs is a hotel room. And don’t be fooled by spotless sheets. “It is a given that a spotless hotel room can still harbor bed bugs,” the company stated. “These bugs are not drawn to dirt, after all. Instead, they are attracted to carbon dioxide, blood, and warmth—things that can be found anywhere one sleeps.”

While you can (and should) check your hotel room for signs of bed bugs before unpacking, the real nightmare is bringing them home. Luckily, one expert says there might be a surprisingly simple way to deal with them.

In August, The Spruce spoke with Diamond Exterminators owner Jerry Eason, who shared that the rubbing alcohol you likely already have in your first aid kit could help to kill the adult bed bugs harboring in your luggage and clothing almost instantly. According to Eason, rubbing alcohol dissolves the bug’s exoskeleton, dehydrating it from the inside, killing it within about 30 seconds. However, Eason added, “It doesn’t eliminate eggs or deeply hidden bugs,” meaning you’ll still have to put in some work to get every last one. 

Pest control expert Georgios Liakopoulos additionally shared that the best rubbing alcohol to try is one with a 70 percent concentration, as the higher water content helps the alcohol more deeply penetrate the bug’s shell. 

Their statements are backed up with science, too. In 2015, researcher Olimpia Ferguson submitted her final thesis on this very topic, which showed that overall, “topical application of alcohol to bed bug adults resulted in minimal mortality; however, high rates of alcohol is effective for killing bed bug nymphs when directly sprayed.” Ferguson importantly noted that “rates applied in this study represent very high application volumes and may not be practical or safe.”

Even Orkin offers this warning: “Rubbing alcohol should be used carefully and sparingly since it is highly flammable. Improper use of rubbing alcohol is likely to create an unsafe situation.” 

So, what else can you do about bed bugs? As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. As Travel + Leisure previously explained, that means learning how to check your room for bed bugs before you really settle in (including pulling off the sheets to check mattress corners, upholstered furniture, carpets, and even inside drawers), and knowing the right spot to put down your luggage: In the bathtub. 

“The bath can easily be washed down first and is likely to be one of the cleanest surfaces in the room due to its frequency of cleaning,” Daniel Clarke, travel expert and director of U.K.-based holiday home rental platform Parklink, told T+L. “The bathtub not only proves itself to be an efficient use of space if you have a small room, but I have found no unwanted bugs or insects have stowed away in my bags since storing my luggage there.” If your hotel room doesn’t have a bathtub, the shower works fine as well.

If you do, however, bring bugs home with you, Rutgers University says there are a few methods to get rid of them for good. That includes using heat or steam treatments, freezing treatments, and vacuuming everything you can. But we’ll keep our fingers crossed that you never ever need any of this advice anyway.