Saturday, May 08, 2010

Vegas 2010

I guess I did not update this thread.
I went to Vegas irrationally worried that the Super 8 or Vegas Club would have bed bugs.
The only place I would evidence was the Flamingo.  There were blood lines in the couch cushions.

They moved me twice without inspecting what I found.  I suspect they rerented my room.  Odd response I think.  I the first room I trapped a live bug under a glass, but no one wanted to look at it.

While I came with powder and 3 mil plastic bags and dis-solvable bags for laundry, I found the best defense was my flashlight.  I kept my luggage in the bathtub overnight the first couple nights until I could be sure.  When I got up to to to the bathroom, I rechecked the bed with this little two inch LED flahslight I bought at Home Depot.
Super 8 was very accomodating as I explained my fears at the desk.
Vegas Club also was sympathetic and told me they had not had any problems in the North tower.

All in all I was much more relaxed than I thought I would be, and clearly got my rational mind into the set that this could happen in any hotel and the smaller, cheaper places might even be better at accommodating my fears as expressed at the check in desk than the big places.

The cleanest hotel, behind headboards and furniture, was the Gold Coast.  Everything was vacuumed.  Now did that mean that it was easier or harder to check for bedbugs?  I don't know.  It seemed easier.  It certainly was easier to check for blood lines, but perhaps harder to check for discarded casings.

I have decided that while they can appear anywhere, they are least likely in off strip hotels that cater ot middle America and not as much to world travelers.  Other countries are the source of most infestation so avoiding the hotels that attract that tourist is probably a good bet.

4 comments:

FleaStiff said...

I had never heard of dissolvable laundry bags before. Good to know about them, though they do seem a bit pricey.

I had heard that bedbugs had become a problem and I guess in Vegas the odds would slightly favor the major hotels that cater to international travelers but imagine its rather easily spread to other hotels.

Dewey said...

I think you are right.

Unknown said...

a few questions.

how large are the blood trails?

what's your thinking on the luggage in the bathtub? Can bugs not climb in there?

Dewey said...

Various lengths of trails. The one I saw was about six inches long, a string of dots.
The bugs do not like light and generally hide in recesses around where folks sleep or sit. They don't crawl as well into tubs and leaving the lights on in the bathroom means they won't be attracted to go in there.
Of course, the safest is to wrap your luggage in a large 3 mil plastic bag and just leave the bag when you leave the hotel.