Why You Should Never Put Your Suitcase on the Bed - AFAR

When my husband and I were dating, he once sat on my bed in what I refer to as his “outside clothes.” I screamed.

Maybe it’s a Southern thing, but I believe that you have “inside clothes” that you wear at home for lounging that never touch the surface of public spaces, and “outside clothes” that are worn in public. Of course, this means you never, ever wear your outside clothes on the bed. The intention behind this is to keep your sleep space as germ-free as possible. This thought process naturally applies when I pack my suitcase. I would never place it on my bed—but also I don’t even like packing it on the floor of my bedroom, opting instead to pack it in the hallway just outside.

Imagine my surprise (horror?) when I learned that many of my fellow travelers, 38 percent according to Real Simple, regularly pack or unpack their suitcases on their bed. In fact, this method has infiltrated marketing tools as well. On May 7, 2026, a search for “packing suitcase” on a stock photo site delivered more than 168,000 results. Of the roughly 70 images on the first page of results, 40 photos depicted travelers—businessmen, young women, families, and elderly couples alike—packing a suitcase on top of a bed. Twenty-five photos showed people packing a bag on either the floor or another non-bed surface.

Photo by Viktorya Telminova/Shutterstock

Your suitcase is dirtier than you think

Now, I’m not one to yuck anyone’s yum, but if you’re still packing your suitcase on your bed, there are a few statistics that may make you reconsider. According to a 2025 research study from U.K.-based travel insurance company Insure and Go, it’s highly possible that your suitcase wheels carry nearly 58 times more bacteria than a public toilet seat. My right eye just twitched thinking about it.

To conduct the study, the team swabbed 10 hard- and soft-shell suitcases at a London airport train station using sterile cotton bud swabs. Each swab was then incubated for five days to allow bacterial colonies to grow, and the company partnered with a microbiologist to test the swabs. To compare results, the research team swabbed commonly used public surfaces at the airport, including a public toilet seat, a toilet flush button, and a luggage trolley handle.

Types of bacteria found included Escherichia coli (E. coli), which can occasionally cause stomach illness; Bacillus cereus (which can cause food poisoning), Staphylococcus (which can cause skin infections); and even black-mold fungus. While the wheels of your suitcase are by far the dirtiest (I’m thinking of all the times I’ve wheeled mine through standing pools of dirty water on city streets and in airport bathrooms), the second most contaminated part of your bag is the base, followed by the handle. In summary: Putting your suitcase on your bed is gross. When you’re on the road, the stakes are even higher.

Photo by Shutterstock

The one place your suitcase should go in a hotel room

It’s unclear exactly when luggage racks were invented, but they likely became popular in the late 19th century, when travelers started carrying handheld suitcases rather than hefty trunks. Until wheeled luggage was invented in the 1970s, porters typically handled suitcases, ferrying them from point A to B. What started as a convenient way to access your clothing without unpacking is now the easiest way to keep your suitcase off the bed.

And as bedbugs continue to be a global issue, keeping your suitcase on a luggage rack reduces your risk of encountering those little life ruiners. However, Rob Anderson, an associate professor who researches blood-feeding pests like bedbugs in the biology department at the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, takes it one step further.

“In theory, trying to keep a suitcase from touching walls and carpet and beds, etc., might reduce the likelihood of bedbugs ‘climbing aboard’ because the luggage has reduced points of contact, but bedbugs, as with most insects, can climb really well,” Anderson says. He now recommends that people keep their luggage inside a large-volume garbage bag with a tight closure when staying in hotels.

If that’s not a feasible solution, a luggage rack is better than nothing. You’ll typically find one in your hotel room’s closet if it isn’t already set up when you arrive. If there isn’t one, I personally have gone so far as to unpack my suitcase on the desk, the coffee table, or some other piece of furniture in the room that isn’t as highly touched as a hotel room floor.

How to pack your suitcase without bringing germs home

Once you’re back home, there are several alternatives to packing your bag on the bed. I adore packing cubes because most are washable, so they are the easiest way to lay out on the bed what I want to pack and fold into the cubes—without my suitcase in the same room. Then I organize the cubes in the suitcase in my hallway. If you want to avoid the floor entirely and don’t mind the extra laundry, throw a spare towel across the bed and pack your luggage on top of that. Just make sure to wash that towel in hot water for extra sanitizing.

Amazon sells a variety of luggage racks for $100 or less; you can keep one in your closet and pull it out when you pack. It also doesn’t hurt to get one for your guest room: It’s easier than getting into an argument with your mother-in-law about why you don’t want her suitcase on your white comforter. If all else fails, at the very least, you can wipe down your suitcase (wheels, handle, and all) with antibacterial wipes, making sure to let the cleaning solution air-dry on the suitcase.

It would appear that the idea of not packing and unpacking your suitcase on the bed is starting to resonate, according to the following polls of small groups—but packing on the bed is still a second-place choice. A May 2026 poll of Afar staff showed that most of us pack on the floor (48 percent); on a surface other than the bed (21 percent), like a chair or ottoman (and, in one case, an ironing board); or a luggage rack (7 percent). However, 24 percent of Afar’s staff still pack their suitcase on the bed.

Afar’s social media audience told a similar story this month. From a poll of 240 people on Afar’s Instagram stories, most people packed on the floor (57 percent), on a luggage rack (11 percent), or another non-bed method (2 percent). The second-highest number of Afar readers (30 percent) still pack their suitcase on the bed.

This article originally appeared online in 2019; it was updated on May 8, 2026. Lyndsey Matthews contributed reporting.

Shayla Martin is a senior editor at Afar. She is an award-winning travel and culture journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is also the founder of “The Road We Trod,” a newsletter that explores travel destinations through the Black gaze.