Question by Skipper:
Bed bugs in Thailand – What do you do?
I will be visiting Thailand soon. I will be traveling on a budget, and staying at guest houses and less expensive hotels. I’ve been online and reviewing comments from other travelers. It seems that bed bugs can pose a big problem. How do you tell if a bed has bed bugs, and what can you do about it if you can’t switch rooms? Is it possible to detect them right away, before you agree to take the room?
Best answer:
Answer by geezer
i’ve been a few times. clean linen is prob the best you can hope for. can always ask at reception for fresh sheets if your unsure. i didnt encounter any probs with bugs but its good to always use mosq repellent while there. day and night. also be sure to get your jabs b4 you go. don’t worry bout it though. enjoy you’ll have a ball
What do you think? Answer below.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve never encountered bed bugs, but I never stay in places where you might find them.
What do you do if you can’t switch rooms? Walk out, and find another place to stay. Accept the loss of money, because you will not likely get a refund. Remember, you’re not going to stay in the Oriental Hotel. This is rock bottom end of the market.
I’d pack a can of insecticide and a plastic sheet to cover the matrass if I have to stay in such a place.
Lift up the sheets and look at the top of the mattress, it won’t be hard to tell.
Take a closer look at the bed and the sheet. Yes it is wise to lift it up and inspect. Generally if the place is moist and rather wet, expect small insect in the area.
You might wanna carry small insecticide, some thing to apply on your skin either to prevent bug bite or to to apply after bug bite.
Take a look at what you can do on daily basis at http://www.c-asiahotels.com . Ticket to places usually cheaper if you book online and in advance. If you walk in and buy tickets, you might get rip off.
Well Bed Bugs, It is hard to tell, based on my experience, I do not think that we can tell if your bed has bed bug or not. It is based on your luck and you cannot ask Hotel to check before you taking the room too.
So, staying at the local hotel in Thailand (2-3 Stars), I would recommend you to where cloth while you are sleeping. Don’t just wear one Boxer and sleep. Otherwise, you find many spot on your body.
Anyway, I think it is best to read review from many site before you choose your accommodation. Another way is to book hotel with 3 Stars ++.
Bring your own sleeping bag. I once serve in the government office whereby once a month I need to sleep in the office to do night duty. I brought my sleeping bag and camped out, quite fun. But a bit scary cause my office was an old palace reputed to have haunted by 200 years of ghosts. Blurrrrrrrr.
Skipper, bedbugs cna be anywhere from the best hotels to the worst.
You look for small brown stains on the mattress and the mattress pads and sheets. Even if you do nto see teh stains they may still be present.
Whether you can switch or not, you may want to bring along a spray with you and douse the room and bed just in case. When I say a spray, I mean a chemcial free one so that you are not leaving the room with some kind of harmful chemcial for the next person, let alone yourself.
We carry a spray bottle of Kleen-Free with us and a concentrate bottle of replacement liquid and use it on every bed we sleep in no matter what since getting rid of bedbugs after the fact is very costly and their bites are horribly itchy.
Kleen-Free is some type of enzyme product that control bugs by dissolving their exoskeleton when it is sprayed on them.
Also, do not put your luggage in the dressers or on the floor, keep it on top of the dresser or in the tub (unless that looks suspect.) And maybe get a hard side luggage with no cloth straps for the bugs to hold on to.
Good luck.