Five-star luxury hotels are just as likely to suffer from horrific bed bug infestations as the cheapest roadside motels because these resilient parasites travel exclusively by hitchhiking on human luggage.

A closer look

Five-star luxury hotels are just as likely to suffer from horrific bed bug infestations as the cheapest roadside motels because these resilient parasites travel exclusively by hitchhiking on human luggage. These tiny, blood-sucking vampires do not care about the thread count of the Egyptian cotton sheets or the fact that you paid eight hundred dollars a night for a panoramic ocean view. They effortlessly migrate from the filthy cargo holds of airplanes directly into the plush, pristine carpeting of exclusive penthouses via the expensive suitcases of wealthy international jet-setters. Housekeeping staff can spray all the lavender linen mist they want, but it will not stop a pregnant female bed bug from quietly establishing a massive, skin-crawling dynasty inside the artisanal wooden headboard. So when you wake up covered in intensely itchy red welts, at least you can comfort yourself with the knowledge that your parasites have incredibly refined, upper-class tastes