I will admit that I am old enough to remember a time when you couldn’t just google the answer to any question that popped into your head. There was a time, not that long ago, when to find out some info, you had to open a book or actually talk to another human being who might have some valuable expertise for help.
It seems like a bygone time thanks to Google’s effectiveness but the fact is, not all questions are well suited to Google’s algorithms. Sometimes you just need other humans to help out.
Traveling often brings up these sorts of questions
You know, local culture and customs can occasionally cause confusion (and apparently some alliteration) and often just asking a local can get you the info you need faster than anything else.
But with unidentified objects, whether you’re on the road or not, your best bet might just be Reddit’s r/whatisthisthing community. They have 1.8 million members from all kinds of backgrounds, and when it comes to figuring out what the strange things people encounter are, they’re genuinely helpful and usually crazy fast.
Which brings us to the question at hand, regarding these…things
“What is this on a pillow at a hotel I’m staying at?” asked coolusername21s.
Honestly, it’s a good question! At home, you don’t generally see zippers with little plastic bits around them on your pillows.
So these are the sorts of things you only see when traveling, but I don’t think I’ve ever noticed them on hotel pillows. If I had, I would wonder too!
There were a couple of solid guesses
One person thought that the zipper thing contained an anti-theft device, sort of like the tags that get attached to clothing.
After all, people are always taking the towels and bathrobes home from hotels with them, aren’t they?
Someone had a similar thought
On the same track, someone thought it was to prevent people from opening up the pillows to take the inserts and replace them with their own. That sounds like it would be a pretty clever racket.
It’s possible — there is a big difference between a $30 pillow and a $200 pillow, after all. But how many hotels will stock those expensive pillows anyway?
In fact, the little plastic bit is there for one tiny yet important reason: bugs
Bed bugs in particular have been a huge issue for hotels in recent years and the nasty little things have hit everywhere they could, from seedy one-star motels to five-star luxury resorts.
Bed bugs do not discriminate and they’re a huge pain to get rid of.
Basically, the little plastic thing closes off a point at which bugs can enter or exit a pillow
There are no chemicals involved — it’s just a lock, snapping into place with a click, sealing off the easiest point of entry.
A couple of people in the thread identified themselves as hotel workers
They noted that the little plastic things made their jobs easier. “These things just make it harder for them to get in to pillows. This is desirable since you can’t wash pillows. The rest of the room is totally fair game, though,” one wrote.
“My hotel we have these on the pillows, the mattress, and even the box springs,” another hotel worker wrote.
“This is just a prevention device, a guest brings in bed bugs, they can’t get into the pillow, mattress, or box spring so they’ll likely stay in the bedding for the first few nights.
“By then we’ll come collect the bedding and wash it, in which case they’ll be dead when it hits the dryer and no one will even notice they were there.”
For hotels, this little prevention measure is well worth it compared to the cost of the cure
“People do not seem to understand the difference between a house with a bedbug infestation and a hotel that can have bedbugs transmitted to them very easily,” dolomite125 shared, “The cost of closure, fumigation, and reputation loss is much greater than putting preventative measures in place. It is the fundamentals of Risk [Management].”
“I work at a hotel in southern CA and we just had to close for a week because a family brought in bed bugs,” eyeCinfinitee wrote. “I was literally in the process of evicting them from the room … and while I was talking to them I noticed their bags were crawling with bloodsuckers.”
Which is good because folks had some serious horror stories about dealing with bed bug infestations
“It’s goddamn psychological torture knowing the things come out to feed at night. They’re super sneaky, we first realized we had them when one of our cats started attacking the wall above our bed at 3am,” therankin shared. “Even to this day I still sometimes have trouble falling asleep because I think about them.”
Seriously, bed bugs are bad news that stick around in your head long after the infestation is gone.
“I found out I had them ten years ago when one walked across my pillow in my line of vision when I laid down to sleep late one night,” another, user rubyfaye77 wrote. “Even now, any time I feel a slight tickle in the middle of the night I get nervous that I somehow got them again and then can’t sleep because I think about for the rest of the night.”
And a lot people found the idea of the anti-bed bug device on the pillow disconcerting
“Yeah, just the fact that they’ve invested in this device is worrying,” user L4NGOS wrote. “Inside pillows isn’t even the primary hiding spot for bedbugs, they hide behind headboards and other snug tight spaces so.. idk what they hope to [achieve] with installing this device, prevent throwing away pillows perhaps.”
“I’m not sure if that would make me feel better or worse. If they haven’t had bedbugs in the past, they wouldn’t need to use those in the first place,” user Suppafly wrote.
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Some folks provided some tips on what to look for if that zipper case makes you suspect an infestation
“You are looking for little black dots. Lift the sheet up and check the creases of the mattress. They like that spot the best,” user L4dyGr4y noted. “Wash all clothing with hot soapy water after returning from a trip and leave your suitcase outside for a few days if possible.”
“[Put] clothes in the dryer when you return home on the high heat setting. Soap doesn’t kill bedbug eggs — high heat for long enough does,” user Dog1andDog2andMe added.
But for many, seeing that little plastic deal over the zipper brought at least some measure of peace of mind
“Every hotel has bedbugs, from travelers luggage etc. Not every hotel deals with them in a timely manner, which is how infestation happens. This is a pretty good sign they have a regular maintenance plan against bedbugs, and that would definitely help me sleep better at night if I stayed there,” BakerKristen085 wrote.
“I could 100% see a hotel using it as a preventative measure. People are nasty,” SolidBones agreed.
And those who have actually dealt with bed bugs swear by the zipper cases
“As someone who has dealt with them, when you get rid of them you cover everything fabric in plastic or a cover like this,” forgot_username522 shared. “You can kill them with poison on hard surfaces and even in carpets but stuffed items, pillows, mattresses, duvets, etc.. Can keep eggs safe from poisons if they’re in the middle of them.”
“It’s been years, all new mattress and pillows, and a move across the country and my bedding will always have protective covers, from now on, no matter what,” user lordlovesaworkinman concurred.
For the person who originally asked the question, the answer was welcome news
“Thanks, now I can rest easy knowing there’s no bed bugs,” they wrote.
And if they happened to bring some bed bugs with them without realizing it, the hotel staff will have an easier time cleaning up.
What do you think? If you saw one of those plastic things on a hotel zipper would you be relieved, or would you be moving hotels? Let us know in the comments!
