Exploring a new hotel room is always exciting but before you settle into your temporary home, always place your luggage in the bathtub.

While this might seem odd, industry experts say the safest place for your personal belongings is the tub, reducing the risk of taking home more than just memories.

What’s the first thing you do when you check into a hotel room? Maybe you check the bounciness of the mattress, scope out the minibar or scan the bathroom to sniff the toiletries?

Chances are, before you do any of that, you dropped your suitcase on the bed or the luggage rack. According to travel and hygiene experts, this common habit might be one of the worst mistakes made by travelers.

Instead of placing your suitcase on the bed or floor, there’s one unexpected place that should be your go-to: the cold, hard, (hopefully) clean surface of the tub, which is the safest spot for your luggage.

So, why is the bathtub the safest place for your suitcase? The answer is simple: bedbugs.

Breeding grounds

Hotel rooms, no matter how high-end or well-maintained, can be a breeding ground for these tiny pests, stowaways looking for a free ride to a new home.

“Bedbugs are highly efficient hitchhikers. They can move quickly across a room and climb onto luggage or anything left on a bed or floor in just one night,” writes pest control company, Orkin. “Hotels are ideal homes for bedbugs because of the high guest turnover rate. They are also found in these spaces because of how difficult it is to control bedbugs in hotels due to the number of rooms.”

And, the creepy little critters are expert predators, lurking “close to the humans they feed on,” warns Orkin.

Bedbug-free zone

Since the pests thrive in soft, warm areas like mattresses, carpets, and even upholstered furniture, placing your suitcase in these spots only promotes their survival.

The bathtub, on the other hand, is a bedbug-free zone. These bugs struggle to climb smooth surfaces, and since hotel bathrooms are typically cleaned more thoroughly than bedroom areas, your luggage is far less likely to come into contact with the pesky pests.

Entomologist Katelyn Kesheimer, PhD, told Reader’s Digest that she always places her luggage in the bathroom while she examines the room, thoroughly, for bedbugs.