Raleigh Woman Brings Home Bedbugs From Charlotte Hotel

eaten alive (Photo credit: The Guncle)

Imagine being on vacation with a good friend. You’re in your hotel room when you start to notice tiny reddish-brown bugs crawling next to you on the hotel couch. Before long, you notice red welts appearing on your legs. Well, that’s exactly what happened to a Raleigh, NC woman recently.

Stephanie Eason of Raleigh, NC reached out to Channel 9 News about being attacked by bloodsucking bedbugs while staying at Homewood Suites Hotel in Charlotte. Eason, who was in town for CIAA weekend, reportedly brought the bedbugs back to her Raleigh home as well.

After noticing the bedbugs crawling on the hotel room furniture, Eason reached out to hotel management about the possible infestation. Management sprayed the room for bedbugs, but it was too late… Eason had bedbug bites on her legs.

After the experience, Eason called the Mecklenburg County Health Department. Before the Country Health Department arrived, the Homewood Suites Hotel had treated the bedbug infestation. The room had been closed down, along with three other adjacent rooms; they all were treated by pest control professionals.

In order to eliminate the bedbugs from her Raleigh, NC home, Eason also sought the services of a Raleigh pest control professional. She is seeking compensation for the unfortunate bedbug incident, and working with the hotel’s insurance company to take care of the bill.

Bed Bug, motel in Mississippi (USA) (Photo credit: TomSpinker)

Bedbug Identification

Bedbugs are malicious pests that feed on your blood while you sleep. They are a copper color, about 3/8 of an inch long, and are wingless. They are a flat oval shape, kind of like an apple seed. The presence of bedbugs in your hotel room may be accompanied by a sweet odor in the room.

Bedbug Detection While On Vacation

So you’re going on vacation, but worried about bloodsucking bedbugs hiding in your hotel room. Detecting these bedbugs before getting bit is no easy task because of the bedbug’s secretive and cryptic nature. They have a propensity to hide in very narrow areas that are not visually readily accessible.

Before you bring your luggage inside your hotel room, check it over thoroughly. Look inside the furniture, along baseboards, and in the carpet. Pull back the bedding on your bet. Inspect the seams of the mattress. Do the same to the box spring.

If you feel like your hotel room is bedbug free, store your luggage above the ground on the luggage racks provided. Doing so will help prevent the bedbugs from getting in your clothes; and help prevent them from being brought home.

If you suspect your room may have bedbugs, asked to be moved to a room far away from the original. Repeat the process.