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Thankfully, there are many online resources that can help you avoid sharing a hotel or hostel with bed bugs in the first place. Here are the most popular sites that are constantly updated with information about hotels, motels, hostels, and apartments with bed bugs.
The Bedbug Registry is probably the granddaddy of all sites where people can report bed bug sightings. The free, public database was created in 2006 as a tool for travelers to report sightings of bed bugs and/or bed bug bites. The site reports that it had more than 20,000 reports as of 2010, but it continuously updated on a daily basis. However, the site hasn’t been revamped in some time, and so it seems to be a bit fiddly and… bugged… on newer web browsers. They used to offer a separate database for locations in the United Kingdom, but appears to have been taken down.
The creator of Bed Bug Reports had previously operated an unnamed hotel’s website for several years. Over time, he was occasionally contacted through the site by hotel customers who were reporting bed bug sightings. As a result of this experience, Bed Bug Reports was created. Similar to the Bedbug Registry, the BBR site allows the public to submit reports of bed bugs in hotels, motels, hostels, and apartments. Unlike many other sites, Bed Bug Reports features reports of sightings and bed bug bites in Canada, as well as the United States.
Gross-Out Warning! The Bed Bug Reports homepage features some rather up close and personal pictures of people with bed bug bites, and has an additional page with more images. Some of the images can be disturbing. People with sensitive dispositions may want to avoid visiting the site. The site also links to a Facebook page with additional photos of a similar nature. For those who want to view the site without seeing the pictures, there isn’t an easy workaround. The best method at the moment appears to be to type “www.bedbugreports.com/state/” in a browser’s address bar, and then typing in the full name of a state after the last slash (e.g. “http://www.bedbugreports.com/state/illinois“). For states with two word names, use an underscore as a space (e.g. “…/new_york“). This will take you straight to the database for that state. As long as you only look at the site’s state, city, and individual report pages, you won’t be treated to closeups of swollen bed bug bites.
BedBugs.net is a site that features a wealth of information on bed bugs. However, the heart of the site is its Bed Bug Registry. Their registry allows you to read and submit bed bug reports for every country in the world. That makes the site an especially valuable tool for international travelers. A minor gross-out warning, when you’re browsing through lists of reports, some will have small thumbnails of images that were submitted with the report. As long as you don’t click on those particular reports, you shouldn’t have an issue with seeing closeups of gross stuff. Please note, there are some links on the main site for a store that now appears to be defunct. But the registry works just fine.
What’s really cool is that you can take the BedBugs.net registry on the road with you. Their registry is available as a free Android app, which you can get here: BedBugs.net app for Android. Their site also advertises an app for iOS, but it appears that the Apple app currently isn’t available.
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