When checking into a hotel room, one of the first things travel safety experts recommend is placing your luggage directly in the bathtub — not on the bed, not on the floor, and not on the folding rack provided by the hotel. The reason comes down to a single, well-documented pest: the bedbug.
In brief
- —Bedbugs hide on hotel luggage racks, not just mattresses
- —Smooth porcelain surfaces stop bedbugs from reaching your bags
- —White bathtubs make reddish-brown bedbugs easy to spot
Hotel luggage racks are among the most common bedbug hiding spots
Bedbugs are well-established hitchhikers in hotel environments. They favor dark, tight crevices close to where humans sleep — mattress seams, behind headboards, and inside upholstered chairs are classic hiding places.
