Making Sure Your Hotel Room is Actually Clean

It is in the interest of the hotelier to have facilities up to date and clean. Guests are more inclined to write about a bad experience than about a happy one. Checking reviews online is a good pace to start.

If the gardens and parking lot, along with the foyer, lobby, and elevators are clean, chances are the rooms will be likewise.

When it comes down to it, only you and your family live in your house.

A hotel room may have hundreds of strangers staying there before you. Every adult sheds around 30 to 40 thousand dead skin cells per hour—it is mostly the fine dust that accumulates on your television screen.

For this reason, hotel surfaces must be wiped down and clean bed linen supplied.

The same can’t be said for the bedcover which in almost every incidence is not changed between guest. A baby with a soiled nappy must be attended to and the logical place is on your bedcover. In fact bedcovers may be cleaned only a few times per year.

A good idea is to take it off the bed. While pillow cases are clean, chances are pillows stored in the cupboard will be cleaner than the ones on the bed.

Nowadays low pressure steam cleaning keeps them under control. It is wise to check for signs behind peeling wall paper, cracks and nooks, and especially the headboard of a bed. Bedbug droppings are light brown and smell of coriander.

No surface is without bacteria. Thankfully, Mother Nature made sure they are the non-dangerous kind. Micrococcus makes seafood go bad and turns human sweat into body odour.

Staphylococcus is found in noses, throats, and in the hair of half the population of healthy humans. While it can be an opportunistic pathogen, it is fair to say both will not infest healthy people.

But when you think of the hundreds of strangers, many of whom may not have your standard of hygiene, it is wise to wipe door handles, light switches, and remote control units with a sanitizer.

Something to consider before laying out your toothbrush on a bathroom bench top. If in doubt, store your toothbrush in a toiletries bag.

Check for mildew in corners of the shower. If the bathroom is tiled, look at the grouting in hard to get places for signs of mould.

This includes a quick check around the S bend of toilet bowls. It is easy to overlook, but check for strands of hair in the drain rosette.

Wash drinking glasses before using them, even the ones in the mini bar. Most get a quick rinse, or wiped over with the same micro-cloth or sponge used in other rooms.

Anyone owning a coffee machine knows how quickly spent coffee grounds grow unsightly growths. Check the inside of your coffee maker before using it.

At the end of the day, you are the paying customer parting with hard earned cash, and your stay should be as enjoyable and worry free as possible.