British holidaymakers have been given a stark warning to refrain from unpacking their luggage in their bedrooms after returning home from foreign travel.

This is due to the risk of accidentally importing unwelcome pests.

Post-holiday tidy-up often sees travellers emptying their suitcases onto beds for convenience.

Conventional wisdom might suggest this as an ideal way of reorganising belongings once back on home soil.

However, bedding company, MattressNextDay, cautions against such a practice, painting a possible picture of unintentional stowaways lurking within our travel items.

The company’s CEO and mattress expert, Martin Seeley, offers a dire prediction of what could happen if holidaymakers choose to unpack in their bedrooms undeniably causing panic. According to him, “Unpack on a hard floor and not in your bedroom,”.

Elaborating on his instructions, he stated, “When you get home, unpack your luggage in another location apart from your bedroom. Even better if it’s on hard flooring, as you won’t be able to spot bed bugs on a carpet. Inspect your suitcase closely and use a flashlight or torch to look into the seams, folds and pockets of your suitcase.”, reports the Mirror.

He further advocated the notion of deep-cleaning one’s suitcase with a vacuum cleaner prior to stowing it away.

The rationale behind this was that bedbugs could easily make the shift from luggage to household items such as beds, curtains or other soft furnishings, leading to a potential infestation.

Tourists could also make the mistake when they arrive at their accommodation. Martin said: “Never put your suitcase on the hotel bed.

“It is common that when you initially arrive at your hotel, you might put your suitcase straight onto the bed without checking for bugs and begin unpacking.

However, by doing this, you’re putting your luggage and clothes right onto the place where bed bugs are commonly found and giving them a free ticket home.”

Tourists should also store their suitcase as close to the hotel room door as possible or keep it on the luggage rack.

According to the NHS, bedbugs hide in many places including clothing, behind pictures and under loose wallpaper. There are several signs people can look out for that might indicate there are bedbugs about, which include:

• Bites – often on skin exposed while sleeping, like the face, neck and arms
• Spots of blood on your bedding – from the bites or from squashing a bedbug
• Small brown spots on bedding or furniture (bedbug poo)