Your hotel room is dirtier than you’d like to believe, experts reveal
You may be on vacation, but germs aren’t.
Hotel rooms should appear pristine on arrival — but dangerous bacteria continue to lurk despite spotlessness, experts warn.
Martin Seeley of MattressNextDay.com revealed some of the places bacteria and dust mites love to congregate.
“While this information may be unsettling, it’s essential to be aware of these potential hygiene issues in hotel rooms,” Seeley said in a report for The Sun.
“It doesn’t mean you should stop staying in hotels altogether, but being informed and taking these precautions can help you sleep better, especially if you’re prone to allergies triggered by dust mites that can affect your sleep quality.”
Couches
You might want to sit down for this. Or not.
Seeley called hotel sofas and seats “germ motorways” and potential carriers of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, which can lead to staph infection.
He said that sofas aren’t frequently deep cleaned therefore bacteria accumulates there.
Reader’s Digest previously spoke with Harvard University public health specialist Nidhi Ghildayal, who recommended putting a clean towel on the sofa before sitting down. She also said sometimes the cleaning staff wipes stains instead of removing them which is another way they aren’t properly cleaned.
Bedding
Recent studies have found that unwashed pillowcases have more bacteria than toilet seats.
Even though hotel bedding is washed, the hotel comforters may only get a deep cleaning about once per month, harboring millions of dead skin cells, dried saliva and bodily fluids from previous guests.
The mattress expert suggests removing the hotel comforter and doing it gently so as not to kick up allergies in the room.
As for bedspreads — don’t even think about it, says one former hotel worker, Evangeline. Last year, she confessed to followers on TikTok that they’re only washed “maybe once a year.”
Fabric headboards
Sleep tight — and don’t let the bed bugs bite.
Bed bugs hitch rides on travelers’ clothing to infest hotel rooms, and a fabric headboard is an ideal place for them to nest.
Hotel fabrics can also be home to dust mites, thus triggering travelers’ allergies — the sneezing from which also sprays unwelcome germs.
Unfortunately, fabric headboards are also harder to clean than traditional headboards since they need steam cleaning, which doesn’t happen in between stays due to a lengthy dry time.
Carpets
Carpets, rife with dust mites, are usually vacuumed between guests — but that’s only half the problem. Particularly in warm, wet and humid environments, carpets are a breeding ground for fungal spores, which you could be tracking on your bare feet.
Philip Tierno, a microbiologist and clinical professor of microbiology and pathology at NYU School of Medicine, told The Post in 2018 that travelers should walk around their hotel rooms in slippers.
Curtains
Hotel curtains don’t get deep cleaned frequently, allowing mites to accumulate between washes.
Cheryl Nelson, laundry connoisseur and founder of lifestyle blog PrepareWithCher, once suggested people clean their curtains at home every three to six months, Apartment Therapy reported — and we can only hope hotel maids are doing as much.
The bathroom
Hotel shower heads could be home to the pathogen that causes Legionnaires disease — legionella — which is a type of bacterial pneumonia.
While experts urged homeowners to change their showerheads annually, hotels may not hold themselves to such a standard.
NYU’s Tierno said running hot water for a minute before taking a shower can make some of the bacteria drop out before you go under the shower head.
The tub may also be a cesspool. “Keep in mind there’s a [film] that forms over time in the tub and that holds organisms,” he added, suggesting guests do a quick wash and rinse of their tub with shampoo or shower gel before climbing in.
In addition to potentially harmful microbes, mold lurks in moist bathrooms.
“If you smell mildew, you’ve got mold exposure,” Dr. Clifford Bassett, medical director of Allergy & Asthma Care of New York, previously told The Post.
Hotel glasses
Revealing which items in guest rooms to avoid, Evangeline, the ex-hotel employee, told her followers on TikTok what even she wouldn’t touch, including the seemingly clean drinking glasses.
“I would never use the glasses in the room — I’m not talking about styrofoam cups or the paper cups — I’m talking about the glass glasses that are sitting there for you to use,” she said, insinuating they don’t get cleaned unless they look used.
Those who decide to risk it and use the cups should wash them first, she suggested.
Remote controls
Evangeline also noted that hotel remote controls are seldom disinfected, if ever, and guests would be smart to pack sanitizing wipes in their luggage for just such an instance.
“Your cleaning and my cleaning are different cleaning, you feel me?” she warned.
