9 Creatures Living Under Hawaiian Hotel Beds That the Tourism Board Hopes You Never Google

I’ve lived on Oahu for over three decades. Not as a tour guide. As your neighbor.

And the thing nobody puts in the hotel brochure? The creatures already checked into your room before you did. Hawaii’s hotel industry pulled $5.5 billion in revenue in 2024 – and they’d really rather you didn’t Google what’s hiding under the mattress.

Here’s the honest breakdown from someone who’s dealt with all of them. 🤙

The Flying Cockroach Locals Call the B-52

Let’s start with the one you’ll definitely meet. The American cockroach. Locals call them B-52s because they’re huge, loud, and they fly straight at your face.

Hawaii has nearly twenty species of cockroach. The big, scary flyer is the American roach. The smaller, sneakier one is the German cockroach. Both live in every hotel on every island. No exceptions.

Here’s what nobody puts in the welcome packet. Even the cleanest five-star resort in Waikiki has roaches. Your room rate doesn’t matter.

Professor Daniel Rubinoff at the University of Hawaii confirms that cockroaches thrive in tropical climates and fly toward light sources at night. So when you crack that lanai door open to feel the trade winds with the lights on? You just sent them a dinner invitation.

My first year on Oahu, I woke at 2 AM to a B-52 crawling across my pillow. The sound of those legs on cotton – like someone crinkling a candy wrapper right next to your ear.

I screamed so loud my neighbor banged on the wall. She came over, looked at the roach on the floor, and killed it with her slipper without even putting her coffee down. “Welcome to Hawaii, brah,” she said. That was my orientation.

Even the cleanest home in Hawaii is likely to encounter a roach. That’s not my opinion. Every pest control company on these islands will tell you the same thing.

🪳 Pro tip: Keep room lights off when your lanai or windows are open at night. Roaches fly toward light. Close those screen doors even if the breeze smells like plumeria and salt. And never, ever leave food out. Not even a banana peel.

But the roaches are just the opening act…

The Centipede That Hunts You While You Sleep

If cockroaches are annoying, centipedes are genuinely terrifying. The Hawaiian centipede – the scolopendra subspinipes – is venomous, aggressive, and fast enough to make you question your reflexes.

They grow up to twelve inches long. They have 30 legs. And they don’t wander into your room by accident. They actively hunt at night, drawn to warmth and body heat.

According to a study published in the Hawaii Journal of Medicine & Public Health, centipede bites accounted for 11% of all cases in Hawaii emergency rooms between 2007 and 2011. That’s not rare. That’s every ninth patient.

Here’s the part that makes my skin crawl even after all these years. Centipedes like to crawl into bedding.

One longtime Maui resident posted that she removed her bedskirt entirely after getting bitten in her sleep. She ended up at the ER with hives, swelling, and bite marks that left scars for six months.

The bite itself feels like a hot nail getting driven into your skin. The venom causes extreme pain, swelling, redness, and sometimes tissue damage at the puncture site. Secondary infections can happen. Doctors will typically give you a tetanus shot along with antihistamines.

Now here’s the controversial part. Hotels spray aggressively to maintain what one local resident called “the illusion of bugless paradise.” Visitors rarely encounter centipedes in resort rooms that get sprayed on schedule.

But vacation rentals? Ground-floor condos near vegetation? Rural Airbnbs? That’s a completely different story.

And here’s something that might surprise you. There are about 25 species of centipede in Hawaii. The brown ones are most common, but you might also see orange or even blue-tinted juveniles.

Dr. Steven Lee Montgomery, a Hawaii entomologist who’s provided bug wrangling for TV shows like LOST, says the myth about baby blue centipedes being more painful is not backed by evidence. Both hurt like crazy.

🐛 Pro tip: Never leave clothes, shoes, or towels on the floor. Always check shoes before putting them on. If your bed has a skirt touching the ground, tuck it up. And if you’re staying on a ground floor near any plants or dirt, keep a flashlight by the bed. I’m dead serious.

Wait until you see what’s hiding behind the bathroom door…

The Cane Spider That’s Bigger Than Your Hand

The cane spider has a leg span of three to four inches. It’s brown. It’s hairy. And it doesn’t build a web. It hunts other bugs on the ground – which means it moves fast and shows up where you don’t expect it.

Before you panic, though, here’s the deal. Cane spiders are actually helpful and eat cockroaches and silverfish. Their bite is weaker than a bee sting. And they almost never bite humans. They’d much rather sprint away from you.

But none of that logic holds up at 3 AM when one is sitting on your bathroom wall staring at you like it pays rent.

I’ll never forget my first one. Second year on Oahu, living in a rental near Wahiawa. Walked into the kitchen and there it was on the wall above the fruit bowl. Legs splayed out like a furry starfish.

I froze completely. My roommate came in, scooped it into a cup like it was nothing, and set it outside. “Brah, it’s just a cane spider,” she said. “It eats the roaches you’re always screaming about.” Fair point.

Cane spiders are territorial and tend to claim one spot, so you might keep seeing the same one. High-rise hotel rooms rarely get these visitors. But ground-floor rooms, vacation rentals near old sugarcane fields, or properties surrounded by vegetation? Different world.

🕷️ Pro tip: Don’t kill cane spiders. They’re doing free pest control. If you’re spider-phobic, book rooms on the third floor or higher. That alone eliminates most encounters.

So you’ve met the spider. Now meet the roommate that drops from the ceiling…

The Gecko That Chirps at You in the Dark

Geckos are the one “hotel roommate” most people actually like. They’re tiny, they eat mosquitoes and ants, and they’ve been in Hawaii for about 1,500 years – arriving on Polynesian voyaging canoes. Today, there are eight species on the islands.

But here’s what nobody warns you about. The noise.

Geckos make a sharp clicking chirp at night. It’s their territorial call. The first time you hear it in a dark hotel room, every hair on your neck stands up. Your brain goes straight to “what creature is in my room?”

Geckos are considered good luck in Hawaiian culture. Local families often welcome them into their homes because they control the bug population. Killing a gecko is frowned upon. As we say here, “no make the gecko mad” – they’re doing you a favor.

The real annoyance is gecko droppings. They leave small dark marks on walls, counters, and sometimes on your stuff. Not harmful, but not great on a white hotel towel.

And yes, geckos occasionally fall. From the ceiling. Onto you. One visitor described a gecko dropping onto their head while brushing their teeth. It happens. It’s harmless. It’s also the kind of thing that makes you spill toothpaste all over yourself at midnight.

But here’s where things get genuinely concerning…

The Bed Bug That Hawaii Refuses to Regulate

This is the section the tourism board definitely doesn’t want you reading.

Hawaii has zero laws regulating bed bugs in hotels. Zero. A state that pulled in $5.5 billion in hotel revenue in 2024 has no legal requirement for hotels to prevent, treat, or even disclose bed bug infestations. None.

In 2025, lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 456. It would require landlords to keep rental units bed bug-free. Senator Karl Rhoads said a bedbug-infested property “probably rises to the level of uninhabitability.”

But here’s the kicker. The bill specifically excludes the entire hotel industry. And any effort to include hotels faces what Civil Beat called “strong opposition.”

Think about that for a second. Nevada and New York require hotels to fumigate and disclose. Hawaii doesn’t.

The Hawaii Department of Health doesn’t even track bed bug numbers because the bugs technically don’t spread diseases. But the CDC notes that bed bugs inject an anesthetic and blood thinner before feeding. Most people sleep right through the bites and wake up covered in itchy red welts.

Reports keep surfacing. One visitor in September 2024 found bed bugs in the mattress seams of a well-known Waikiki hotel.

Another traveler wrote that they battled bed bugs for over a year after returning from Hawaii, spending over $1,000 to get rid of them. Tim Lyons, executive director of the Hawaii Pest Control Association, confirmed that bed bugs hitchhiking into hotels with travelers is not uncommon.

Pro tip: When you check into any hotel – even a pricey one – pull back the sheets and check mattress seams for tiny brown spots or shed skins. Keep your luggage on the rack or in the bathroom, never on the bed. Some experienced travelers keep their suitcase inside a large garbage bag during their whole stay. Sounds extreme, but so is bringing bed bugs home.

And we’re not done yet. There’s something else hiding in the dark corners…

The Scorpion Everyone Forgets About

Yes. Hawaii has scorpions. The lesser brown scorpion lives across all the islands. It’s small, it loves dark and damp spots – under beds, inside closets, behind furniture.

The sting feels like a bad bee sting with added nausea. Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu treats scorpion stings regularly.

Most visitors have absolutely no idea scorpions even exist here. They’re not in any welcome guide. But pest control companies across Oahu treat for them routinely, especially in older buildings and ground-floor units.

Your scorpion risk depends almost entirely on where you stay. A high-rise Waikiki hotel on the 15th floor? Basically zero chance. A rustic vacation rental on the Big Island near Kona, surrounded by lava rock? Very different odds.

But scorpions aren’t the only forgotten creatures in your room…

The Silverfish Eating Your Paperback in the Bathroom

Silverfish are those tiny, gray, carrot-shaped bugs that love moisture. You’ll find them near sinks, in bathrooms, and inside closets. They don’t bite. They don’t sting. But they eat paper, wallpaper, and fabric.

So that book you left on the bathroom counter? That boarding pass in your suitcase pocket? Fair game.

These guys thrive in Hawaii’s humid air. They’re common in older hotels, vacation rentals, and any room with poor airflow. Seeing several silverfish is actually a red flag about moisture management. Not dangerous. But definitely unsettling when one darts across the tile while you’re brushing your teeth at midnight.

Here’s a creature that arrives in armies…

The Ant Invasion That Happens While You Sleep

Hawaii has thousands of ant species. The ones you’ll likely meet in hotels are tiny black nuisance ants, pharaoh ants, and carpenter ants. Leave one crumb on a counter. Just one. By morning, you’ll have a marching column of hundreds.

But regular ants aren’t the real threat.

The little fire ant is an invasive species that the state considers one of its top three most dangerous pests. Their sting is painful. They form massive supercolonies. And they’re spreading fast.

On Oahu’s windward side alone, more than 2,500 samples came back positive for little fire ants in 2025 out of 27,000 samples tested.

One traveler described finding ants in their high-end suite on Kauai, with management barely caring. That experience ended twenty years of annual Hawaii trips for them. “The value just isn’t there,” they wrote. “And it’s not even close.”

⚠️ Pro tip: Never leave food out. Wipe counters after every meal. If you see a trail of ants, alert hotel management immediately. If you’re staying somewhere rural, shake out towels and clothes before using them.

And then there’s the creature that doesn’t bite, doesn’t sting, but might ruin your sleep anyway…

The Tiny Frog That Screams at 100 Decibels All Night

The coqui frog is about an inch long. But its “ko-kee” call hits 100 decibels. That’s louder than a lawnmower. And it starts at sunset and screams until dawn. Every single night.

These frogs arrived from Puerto Rico around 1988 and have completely taken over the Big Island. Eradication there is no longer possible. The state captured 2,262 coqui frogs on Oahu alone between 2024 and 2025, with breeding populations now established in Palolo Valley, Waimanalo, and Mililani.

If you’re staying anywhere on the Big Island near vegetation – especially Hilo or Puna – the coqui chorus is your nightly soundtrack. Whether you find it charming or maddening depends on your noise tolerance. Most locals I know fall firmly in the “maddening” camp.

As we say in Hawaii, no can help. 🐸

Insider tip: If you’re noise-sensitive and booking the Big Island, choose the Kohala Coast (dry west side) over Hilo (wet east side). The drier climate means fewer frogs and quieter nights. It’s not silent, but it’s noticeably better.

How to Actually Protect Yourself

After thirty-plus years here, I’ve made peace with most of these creatures. But if you’re visiting, here’s what actually works:

• Request rooms on the third floor or higher. This eliminates most ground-crawling visitors like centipedes, scorpions, and cane spiders
• Check mattress seams immediately at check-in. Look for brown spots, shed skins, or live bed bugs
• Never leave food out. Not fruit, not candy, not even a half-empty soda can
• Keep luggage on racks or in the bathroom. Never on the floor or bed
• Close lanai doors and windows at night, even when the trade winds smell like plumeria and grilled teriyaki from the restaurant downstairs
• Shake out shoes and clothing before putting them on, especially anything left on the floor

Here’s my honest, possibly controversial take. These creatures exist in every hotel in Hawaii. Every single one. The difference between a $150 room and a $600 suite isn’t whether bugs exist. It’s how aggressively they spray and how fast they respond when you find one.

The best hotels handle critter situations immediately and without attitude. That’s what separates a great property from a bad one. Not the absence of bugs – the response when they show up. In a tropical climate with year-round warmth and humidity, complete elimination is a fantasy that no amount of money can buy.

Where to Stay for the Best Experience

If you want to minimize encounters while still enjoying everything Hawaii offers, here are reliable options you can book on Expedia:

For Oahu, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has high-rise towers where bugs rarely reach upper floors. The Halepuna Waikiki by Halekulani is another excellent pick with modern rooms and solid maintenance.

On Maui, the Wailea Beach Resort by Marriott offers well-maintained rooms. The Sheraton Maui Resort on Ka’anapali Beach is another reliable choice.

For Kauai, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort in Poipu consistently delivers clean rooms and proactive pest management.

On the Big Island, the Fairmont Orchid on the Kohala Coast is your best bet for avoiding the coqui frog symphony.

Browse all options at Expedia’s Hawaii Hotels page.

The Truth About Bugs in Paradise

I’m not writing this to scare you away from Hawaii. This place is my home. I love it with everything I’ve got.

But after three decades here, I think visitors deserve the truth.

Paradise comes with roommates.

The smart travelers aren’t the ones who pretend bugs don’t exist. They’re the ones who check their mattress, keep luggage off the floor, and request that third-floor room. They know a gecko on the wall is good luck, a roach through the lanai door doesn’t mean the hotel is filthy, and centipedes are the real thing to watch for.

What bothers me most is that in 2025, Hawaii still has no bedbug laws for hotels, while 24 other states do. Maybe that’ll change. Maybe the tourism board will eventually acknowledge what every local already knows.

These creatures are here. They’ve always been here. And they’re not going anywhere.

The only question is whether you’ll be prepared when you meet one. 😏