This summer the media in North America has been crawling with stories about bedbug infestations. The creepy little buggers have been making the news for turning up every where from the New York Times headquarters in Manhattan to tangerine Mussolini’s Doral Resort in Miami. It can give one the heebie-geebies just thinking out it. Last week I made the mistake of checking into a New York City hotel without doing due diligence on the potential for bedbug infestation. This time I lucked out, but it’s always safer to check online for reported problems prior to booking accommodations in the United States.

There are some quick and generally effective ways to find out if your hotel has had reports of bedbugs. Along with a simple Google search for any hotel that you are considering, there are some helpful websites that track infestations reported by actual travelers. Two reliable options are The Bedbug Registry and Bedbug Reports:

The Bedbug Registry

Launched in 2006, The Bedbug Registry is the go-to bedbug database, with 20,000 reports covering 12,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The up-to-date reports are listed on their homepage, but you can search for reported sightings based on hotel name and address.

They site also has city maps of New York, San Francisco, Chicago, LA, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver that show where bedbugs have been found by visitors.

BedbugReports.com

BedbugReports.com began posting reports back in 2010. It has a good database of hotels in the U.S., and a smaller database for Canadian reports. Searching is straightforward – chose a state, then a city, and you’ll be offered a list of hotels that have had bedbug sightings.They also provide helpful information about bedbugs, including how to examine your hotel room for the critters and how to de-bug yourself if you bring them home with you.