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This week I’m staying in a cheap hotel (eg, Motel 6) and a fancy hotel (eg, Hilton). A friend of mine commented that staying at a cheap hotel makes it more likely to encounter bed bugs. Are they correct? Are fancy hotels less likely to have bedbugs than cheap hotels in the United States?

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  • Hotels are generally unlikely to have bed bugs. Very bad for business.
    – littleadv
    Oct 15 at 20:28
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    @littleadv being noisy is also bad for business but many hotels are noisy
    – Franck Dernoncourt
    Oct 15 at 21:14
  • Hotels rarely get shut down by the authorities due to noise outbreaks (although happens sometimes), but will almost certainly get shut down for bed bugs.
    – littleadv
    Oct 15 at 21:31
  • Bedbugs are not related to cleanliness etc but dealing with them well and quickly to stop them spreading between rooms and assisting customers affected by them are related to professionalism. So while fancy hotels won't be immune to getting infected via guests' luggage they may in general be more professional, though it surely depends on their staff and their previous experience in knowing what to do when bedbugs are discovered.
    – hippietrail
    Oct 16 at 7:13
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    I don't know why this question is downvoted so much. It's a fair question.
    – gerrit
    Oct 17 at 7:19

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You can check the specific hotels on https://www.bedbugreports.com/

I checked Boston, MA and there were a total number of 9 reports spanning 8 years. Given that Boston has almost 20,000 hotel rooms it's safe to conclude that infestations are quite rare and bed bugs seems to be overhyped by the media at the moment.

FWIW the list for Boston included both high end and budget hotels but the numbers are way too small to do any meaningful statistics.

Again, this feels like hype to me. I've stayed 100s of nights in hotels all over the world in place that ranged from a health hazard to super expensive world class hotels. We've seen all types of insects, mosquitos, cockroaches (we named a rather charming one "lucky" and made it our pet), mold, a rotten wood floors, any type of dirt, grime and stains imaginable but I don't recall a single bed bug incitent.

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  • Bedbug-related BBC reports: France bedbug panic: Officials respond as Paris school infested and Bedbugs: Sadiq Khan reassures Londoners over France problems.
    – Weather Vane
    Oct 15 at 18:46
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    Gosh, ‘panic’ is a much over-used word in the media these days. Clickbait headlines.
    – Traveller
    Oct 15 at 19:20
  • @Traveller the BBC TV news yesterday somehow implied that you can catch a bedbug off a UK train seat, thus provoking fears...
    – Weather Vane
    Oct 15 at 19:29
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    @WeatherVane Yes, unfortunately it seems that our once-respected national broadcaster abandoned most of its credible journalist credentials some time ago
    – Traveller
    Oct 15 at 19:43
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    Overused words still function as words. People really do panic over some things. I've seen people panic over bedbugs. I've had them in hotels and hostels in three countries and dealt with them in hostels and motels I've worked in in a fourth country. I've seen multiple reports about the bedbug problem in Paris and it seems very believable to me. I'd definitely be concerned with them becoming widespread not only in accommodations but also in cinemas and public transport. "Clickbait" is itself probably an overused word at this point.
    – hippietrail
    Oct 16 at 7:18

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