Comments on: Hostel Tip #02: Try Before You Buy: Your Bed

By: Natalie

Natalie — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:06:15 +0000

Smart move! Light weight and easy to pack.

By: monkey

monkey — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:01:50 +0000

i always bring a silk sleeping bag liner to slip between the sheets. it’s compact, easy to keep spotless and offers a barrier between me & thinks that might bibble on me. (mine is from http://www.dramsacks.com and not scratchy like some “discount” sleeping bag liners.)

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:04:35 +0000

Good Thinking. I will give that a try next time I stay at a hotel.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:04:15 +0000

Headlight warranty! Nice. If I meet any places with bed bug infestations, I will pass this along. Thanks.

By: Spot Cool Travel

Spot Cool Travel — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:13:28 +0000

These are great tips. And not just for hostels. When I go into any hotel that’s not, say, The Four Seasons, I’ll ask to see the room. Even if all the rooms are fine if you ask to see one in advance the desk person is more likely to put you in a good one.

By: Ben Andrews

Ben Andrews — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:07:27 +0000

Initially, we tried one of those fogger bug bomb things. But they are useless agains bed bugs. In the end we went with a combination of things: Steamed all carpets/couches, sprayed “Bed Bug Patrol” product in cracks and baseboards where they were suspected to hide, put down fossil dust around perimeter of rooms, and put covers on mattresses. (You can find product at http://bed-bug.net/index.html) Essentially you can kill bed bugs with heat (steam) or cold. Otherwise you can use acidic products to kill them upon contact or put down “dust” that cuts their shell when they climb over it which causes them to dehydrate. We entertained the thought of hiring an exterminator. However, we were amused to find that they give no guarantees to their work against bed bugs. One guy told us he would give us a tail light warranty…as long as we could still see his tail light while he was driving away – he would warranty the work.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:28:42 +0000

Sounds like a drag. How did you eventually get rid of them? In the hostel business, if word hits the internet that you have bed bugs you are pretty much finished. I agree with you that the effects are mostly psychological. I generally like spiders as they eat other bugs that bit me. However, a couple of mornings back I woke up in the car to find that a spider had made a web all over the inside door handle – about 6 inches from my face. It bothered me a bit to know the spider was doing his think while I slept obviously near by. Ah well.

By: Ben Andrews

Ben Andrews — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:34:39 +0000

Don’t know if I ever told you this. We had bed bugs at one of our houses a year ago. (I didn’t even know bed bugs were real. I thought that was just something you said to scare kids.) They were a major pain to get rid of. It took over 6 months and a lot of time. We learned that they can live for up to a year without eating (your blood). So you can think you got rid of them but they could be in hiding and come out later. Major, major pain. However, the major concern with bed bugs is psychological. In reality they are not much different than the common mosquito.

By: Gillian

Gillian — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:17:27 +0000

Good tips – thanks guys!