It Sounds Weird, But This Luggage Trick Might Save Your Trip

You’ve just checked into your hotel room. Passport? Safe. Sunscreen? On. Suitcase… in the bathtub? Wait what? It might sound bizarre, but placing your luggage in the bathtub when you travel is actually a smart move. Why? Because no one loves hanging out in hotel rooms more than parasites and this trick helps keep them out of your bags.

If you wake up in the morning to find yourself pockmarked with the “breakfast, lunch, and dinner sign,” that’s a good indicator you’ve been nibbled by bedbugs. This sign is the result of the way bedbugs map the skin looking for the best feeding sites.

Bedbugs are one of the world’s major pests that love to dine on the blood of humans, among other animals. The most common culprits in homes and hotels are Cimex lectularius and C. hemipterus, and once they get in, it can be incredibly difficult to kick them out.

Bedbugs are famously elusive because they hide when they aren’t feeding. That means during the day there might be little sign of them, but at night they come creeping out in search of blood.

Down the sides of couches and chairs, in drawer joints, and even inside electrical outlets are all common hiding places according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Bedbugs can even hide in furniture, so if you arrive at your hotel and plonk your suitcase straight on the bed or sofa, you may go home with the wrong kind of souvenirs.

Bedbugs are the bedfellows of so many travelers because the nature of moving from one place to another, to stay in a bed that’s been slept in by so many, increases the chances of bedbugs making it into new environments. Even well-kept hotels can fall victim to an infestation as bedbugs aren’t drawn to dirt, only human blood bags. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to identify beds that you’d sooner not lie down in.

When bedbugs enjoy their bloodmeal they often leave bloodspots on the sheets, and in severe infestations can even be seen trotting along the seams of a mattress. They have round, flat, russet-brown bodies, and you may spot their shed exoskeletons, brown poops, or smell a telltale sweet musty odor.

Yes, bedbugs love beds. They love electrical outlets. Most of all they love your sweet, sweet blood, but you know what they’re not mad keen on? Bathtubs. Setting up camp in plug holes that are so frequently flooded wouldn’t be a recipe for survival for these bloodsucking parasites, so by placing your suitcase in the tub, you make it harder for them to become stowaways in your luggage.

Just remember to take it out before you have a shower.

An earlier version of this story was published in June 2024.