The Bed Bugs Bite in Hotels
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)_ Are you getting ready to take a trip soon? If so, KCBS Reporter Mark Seelig has more on a website you might want to check out before checking-in to your hotel.
If you've noticed the headlines lately, bed bugs appear to be taking over hotels and motels across the nation. The parasitic insects have an appetite for human blood.
San Francisco software developer Maciej Ceglowski knows the feeling all too well.
"I got bit by bed bugs in San Francisco four years ago when I was staying at a hotel here," says Ceglowski.
It was then that he decided to launch a non-descript, but suddenly very busy website, bedbugregistry.com. There you can type in an address or the name of a hotel you would like to stay in and find out if there have been any recent reports of bed bugs. You can also post reports if you've been bitten while on vacation.
"Like all internet forums I think it's important to take this stuff with a grain of salt. A lot of these people are posting anonymously," adds Ceglowski.
He says for the most part, these reports don't seem malicious in intent, but that hasn't stopped hotel manager from contacting him with complaints. Some want to know where Ceglowski got his information.
"Other times they want me to share the fact that they've treated their infestation," says Ceglowski.
His real advice to travelers is to take the time to get to know how to check your room and how to avoid bringing the bed bugs home.
