If holiday travels, winter vacations or upcoming spring break plans will put you in a hotel, resort or beach rental, bed bugs need to be on your radar. Your risk of coming into contact with bed bugs goes up when you travel and sleep in rooms shared by multiple guests.

Bed bugs travel into hotel rooms in the luggage of guests. When suitcases open, blood-sucking bed bugs scurry out to hide in the room. If you’re the next guest, you’ll find yourself the featured treat of the midnight buffet.

Unlike other insects, bed bugs aren’t attracted by filth which means they’re as likely to be found in 5-star hotels as cheap highway overnighters. They don’t live on their human meal tickets but hide in crevices in and around beds. A clean room and clean sheets are no guarantee that your hotel room is bed bug-free.

To avoid bed bugs when traveling, never lay your suitcase on the bed. Use a luggage rack or table top. Pull down sheets and blankets and inspect the bed for bugs or fecal smears along mattress edges. Check behind the headboard, along carpet edges and inside drawers.

For more information on protecting yourself from bed bugs while traveling, click here to download Stern’s helpful bed bug traveler’s card. Stern also offers bed bug-killing travel products that can help keep your vacation bed bug-free.