This Is The Very First Thing You Should Do When You Walk Into A Hotel Room

There are few things as heavenly as climbing into a warm, plush hotel bed after a long day of traveling.

However, before you order room service and dive into a “Law & Order: SVU” rerun or immediately conk out, there’s one thing you should always do. Actually, it’s the first thing you should do as soon as you walk into your room:

Check for bed bugs.

“I have two really good friends who have gotten bed bugs in New York [hotels] before,” HuffPost Senior Editor Caroline Bologna told us — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, co-hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast.

Listen to the full episode here to discover lots of tips and tricks for your next stay at a hotel.

The tiny critters, which feed on human blood while we’re sleeping, are “about the size of an apple seed” and “big enough to be easily seen, but often hide in cracks in furniture, floors, or walls,” according to a NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene guide to stopping bed bugs in hotels. The insects often hitch a ride into a hotel room in a guest’s suitcase or on their clothes and then continue to thrive there by snacking on new, unsuspecting travelers.

Paris made headlines last year when scores of hotels were reportedly infested with bed bugs, but the city of light definitely isn’t the only one facing this problem. In fact, a 2017 study found that eight out of 10 hotels had dealt with the pests during the previous year.

“It doesn’t matter how nice the hotel is ― they’re not attracted to grime,” Bologna noted. Bed bugs are attracted to “warmth, blood and carbon dioxide” — all of which are amply provided by humans, so no matter how well-rated or luxurious a hotel might be, it could still be a haven for them.

If you don’t want to end up being a bed