Inspecting a room for bedbugs

The best way to handle bedbug problems is not to have bedbugs in the first place. This means taking precautions when checking into the hotel room.

When you enter a room, put your luggage on a cold surface, such as the bathroom sink. Do not put it on the bed. Then start inspecting for little brown insects (size of apple seeds) and black or brown speckling, which are their  droppings in the following area:

• The bed. Remove the bed sheets and the blankets to examine the upper and lower seams of the mattress at the two corners by the pillow area and along the seam that runs along the headboard. Pay special attention to the corners. Also lift up the mattress to see any bugs. Bedbugs like heat and carbon dioxide, so they're more likely be found in these areas.  
• In the headboard. Run a plastic card (say, your room key) along cracks behind the headboards. Fresh blood splatters means you just killed bedbugs. 
• The luggage stand. Where people put their bags is a notorious hotspot.  

When you get back home, put all your clothes straight to the laundry. Keep your luggage in a black pastic bag in the car. The heat of the sun would kill them.