The traditional summer holiday season may be over, but that hasn't stopped many people across Ireland heading away for autumn and winter trips.
With this in mind, a hotel expert has advised holidaymakers to always turn off all the lights as soon as they get to their room.
Halee, who has 16 years of experience in the hotel sector, offers tips and advice for travellers on her popular social media accounts.
In a TikTok video, @haleewithaflair explained why she always carries a torch when travelling and strongly advised turning off all the lights when arriving at a hotel room.
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She said: "Turn off lights, close any shades, and use the flashlight on your phone." The reason why is bedbugs.
When the hotelier enters a hotel room, she uses the torch on her phone to check under the bed including all of its nooks and crannies. Halee cautioned that bedbugs favour "corners and the creases" of bedding and linen.
"The reason you should check your bed with the lights off is because bedbugs are actually nocturnal so they're more likely to be out and about looking for their prey,” she continued.
Some additional checks can include looking for blood spots on fabrics, as well as inspecting the mini fridge, curtains and ironing board.
She stressed the importance of checking the room before unpacking luggage to avoid the risk of bedbugs getting into your belongings.
It comes as a plague of bedbugs has hit Paris and other French cities, as thousands of Irish sports fans travel there for the Rugby World Cup. Their next game is against Scotland in Paris’s Stade de France this Saturday.
The country's hotels, theatres and even public transport have all been invaded by the blood-sucking insects.
Ireland’s leading pest control provider Rentokil says bedbugs can be hard to identify, so people should look out for these clues:
Dark/black stains - on the mattress and surrounding area from bedbug excreta.
Sweet scent - An unpleasant, sweet, sickly scent.
Small dark spots - Small dark blood spots on bedding known as 'faecal spotting'.
Live insects - despite being small (adult are only 4-5mm long) it’s possible to spot live bedbugs and shed skins.
Giving a description of what bedbugs look like, they said: “Adult bedbugs can easily be identified by their appearance. Compared to other small biting insects, bed bugs differ in colour, shape, and anatomy. Bedbugs are:
- Size - Around 4-5mm long
- Shape - Oval and flattened in shape
- Legs - 6 thick, well-developed legs
- Wings - Vestiges of wings called wing pads
- Colour - Red to brown in colour
- Head - A beak with three segments
- Antennas - A set of antennas with four parts.”
Rentokil added: "Bedbugs are usually found in bedrooms and sleeping areas because they need easy access to a bloodmeal at night. They are also attracted to bodyheat and carbon dioxide from our breath. An inspection by Rentokil will help to confirm a problem and enable our Technicians to offer the best solution using industry leading bedbug treatments. Our Entotherm Heat Treatment solution is ideal for treating an entire room or specific items found with an infestation."
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