Photo by Bill Mayer

A few weeks ago I did a post discussing accommodation options that could save you a little money while you travel. I want to talk about accommodations again but this time I want to talk about what can be called “Dirty Little Secrets”. This morning in the period of about 30 minutes I heard two reports that made me want to take a shower right away. The first was when I just woke up. There was a news item on the radio about a well known hotel in London that offered bed warmers as a customer service. Human ones. They felt it was a good thing because “people sleep better when the sheets are warm”. Hello!! The bed warmers are supposed to wear one piece pajamas and have their hair covered. But they couldn’t guarantee that they would have had a shower. Call me crazy, I wouldn’t want a stranger warming up my sheets even if they had a shower!

And speaking of sheets that brings me to the second story I heard this morning. It is fairly common knowledge that the cleanliness of hotel rooms comes under question at times – even the GOOD ones. But after I heard a report on GMA this morning, I felt the need to report what I heard. Maybe some of you saw it too. They had a segment that was even worse in the creepy crawly division than the bed warmer. Trip Advisor has a list of the 10 dirtiest hotels. They are listed for you if you visit their site. The show featured a microbiologist going into a few of the hotels with an ATP Meter that picks up bacteria and mold. While they say a meter reading of 300 is considered safe, they were picking up readings of 2040. That and other instruments showed not only mold and bacteria on walls, floors, bathrooms, etc.; they also found rust, water damage on ceiling tiles, bodily fluids on bedspreads, walls, chairs, floors. A real cesspool. And then there are the bed bugs.

Now that I most likely have you all retching, what is a traveler to do? The first thing to do when you get to your room is conduct a room inspection. Do not put your suitcase on the bed. (And when you get home, do not put your suitcase on your own bed.) Put it on the bag holder. Look for stains on the spread. Remove the spread entirely. Who knows when or if these ever are cleaned. Check the linens for stains. Pull up the corners of the sheets and look for bug debris or dander or any little droplets of what could be blood in the crease if the mattress along the seam that would indicate the presence of bed bugs. Then move to the bathroom. Look for rust, water damage or stains in the sink, tub and around the toilet floor. If ANY of these are found at this point, ask to have a different room.

If the room passes all of these tests, here are some more just general things to do. Bring you Clorox wipes and clean off the doorknob and the remote. Give a good healthy disinfectant spray on surfaces in the bathroom. Don’t use the glasses or cups unless they are paper and wrapped. Bring slippers or at least Flip Flops when walking on the carpet or in the bath. They had these little plastic mattress bags that you could bring along but didn’t say where they got them. Anyone know? Precautions like these, while annoying, can help prevent things like the flu, colds, or athletes feet.

I am sure that many hotels go out of their way to keep their rooms clean and safe. But there are always some that might look the other way when it comes to training and monitoring staff. Better to be safe.

If you can think of other things to look for or have any other ideas to protect yourselves from unwanted contaminants, please leave a comment.