Bedbugs are big news these days. Almost every day we see reports of bedbug infestation in hotels, dorms, hospitals – and homes! They are easily transported – you pick them up at a hotel and take them home in your luggage. And getting rid of the little critters is extremely difficult, making it even easier to spread them around.
So if you’re planning a trip and want to avoid bedbugs, you might want to check the Bedbug Registry. The Registry is a free, public database of user-submitted bed bug reports from across the United States and Canada.
So far, it has around 20,000 reports covering 12,000 locations! There’s a nice map with reported locations (the Eastern Seaboard has many reports) that you can click on, or you can search by hotel/location or address. The good news is that not all the reports are buggy. Many of the reports state that there have been no bedbug reports at that hotel. Whew!!
One word of warning about the bedbug registry… There is no “vetting” of these reports, so a disgruntled hotel guest could submit a bedbug infestation report out of spite. If you do see that a hotel you want to stay in has had bugs reported, make sure to call before you decide not to book.