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Crusader / featurepics.com
Do you really want to touch the remote? A small study of hotel rooms in three states found that the main light switch and the TV remote were two surfaces most contaminated with bacteria.
Next time you enter a new hotel room, you might think twice before touching the light switch or reaching for the remote.
Those are two of the top surfaces most likely to be contaminated with potentially sickening bacteria, according to a small new study aimed at boosting cleaning practices at the nation’s hotels and motels.
Katie Kirsch, a University of Houston researcher, led a team that measured germs on everything from curtain rods to bathroom sinks in nine hotel rooms in three states.
Kirsch came away thinking that the current industry standard of visual assessment -- if it looks clean, it is clean -- isn’t good enough.
“A visual assessment can’t tell you about bacteria and viruses,” she told msnbc.com. “It can tell you what’s on the surface, but not if it’s been disinfected.”
Kirsch, a recent graduate who has also studied subjects like the pathogens that linger on restaurant menus and the cleanliness of public bathrooms, enlisted colleagues at Purdue University and the University of South Carolina. They’re presenting their work Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
The researchers went looking for aerobic bacteria, which include germs known to cause illness, including streptococcus and staphylococcus. They also tested for coliform -- or fecal -- bugs. They swabbed the surfaces, put the samples on ice and then flew them to the University of Houston microbiology lab for analysis.
Top hot spots for aerobic bacteria in hotels turned out to be the bathroom sinks and floors, the main light switches and the TV remotes. The remotes, for instance, racked up a mean of 67.6 colony-forming units of bacteria, or CFU, per cubic centimeter squared.
For comparison, one study of environmental cleanliness in hospitals recommended a top limit of 5 CFU per cubic centimeter squared. Even using Kirsch’s relaxed proposal of 10 CFU, the TV remotes racked up way too many bugs.
The main light switches in the rooms were worse, with a mean of 112.7 CFU for aerobic bacteria. Even the telephone keypad was icky, with 20.2 CFU.
When it came to fecal bacteria, the main light switch was the most serious surface offender, with 111.1 CFU.
That may sound disgusting, but it doesn’t necessarily mean hotel surfaces will make you sick, emphasized Kirsch, who said that her study wasn’t designed to test for the specific pathogens that cause illness. Her supervisor underscored that it shouldn’t keep people from staying in hotels.
“It’s not a scare thing,” said Jay Neal, an assistant professor in the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant management.
Instead, Kirsch was conducting baseline research that she hopes might one day inspire the hotel industry to adopt cleaning and sanitation guidelines invoked through HACCP -- Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points -- a protocol already used by food and healthcare industries.
“The study is aimed more toward the housekeeping managers,” she noted.
In addition to checking for the bugs on surfaces in the hotel rooms, the researchers also swabbed for bacteria on the gloves, mops and sponges used by cleaning staff, which have the potential to carry germs from room to room.
Those items were crawling with all kinds of bacteria: at least 500 CFU of aerobic and fecal bacteria on the sponges, for instance.
“When you’re in a hotel room, there’s that stranger factor,” said Neal, noting that no one wants to inherit fecal bacteria from the guy down the hall.
Some hotels appear to be getting the message. Best Western hotels, for instance, just launched a campaign to equip its housekeepers with black light testers to detect unseen bugs. They’re even offering a sanitary wrap for the remotes.
Hampton Inns have launched a campaign emphasizing cleanliness with commercials featuring a hotel guest dressed in a Hazmat suit.
Meanwhile, ordinary guests fearful of hotel germs can take matters into their own hands, said Kirsch, who agreed traveling with sanitizing wipes is an option:
“It would make consumers feel better to wipe down the surfaces.”
Related stories from Vitals:
- Man's microbes help map 'normal' in humans
- Buggy break rooms: Study reveals office ick
- Half of hospital rooms rife with drug-resistant bugs, study finds
CNBC's Jane Wells reports on a new way Best Western is capitalizing on consumer's need for cleanliness.
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I travel alot for business. Most decent hotels are cleaner that the average persons house. The reasearchers should test their own homes and the study would be meaningless. I hope taypayer money was not spent on this "study"......
Probably, and someone will probably submit this for as part of a conference paper, dissertation, or tenure application.
sigh....
Other people have told me about some of their 'hotel/motel experiences' and they are not very good. I'll just leave it at that. By the way, I haven't been in a hotel for yeeeeearrs.
Seven2Seven - I would rather be around the germs that I brought into my own home and live with on a daily basis than be exposed to whatever crap a stranger leaves behind in a hotel room. This is not a meaningless study if it leads toward more sanitary hotel rooms that might prevent you from acquiring a bad case of diarrhea from germs left behind by the last person to use your hotel room.
Sorry, camiwa, the data are already being presented at a conference. Try actually reading the article next time.
How terrible, Another 1! That can only mean that you never have the experience of discovering new places if you don't have friends or family with whom to stay. What a limited, sheltered, boring existence you must have!
I worry about the quests that are from the New GOP Party, who may leave some of their hatred of non-White or Anglo people and which bugs will continue to left behind to hinder the rights we are fighting to keep and protect against the wealthy and rich, who are hell-bound to make sure we are not a threat to their policies of division, erosion. and derision of working Americans and the hardworking poor of all races, women, in our beloved America.
Leave it to a moonbat to politicize an article about hotel germs.
They do not keep track of what gets cleaned at a hotel. The only things that get cleaned everyday at the average Hotel is the sheets. Only visible dirt is removed at places like the Holiday Inn/Motel 6/ Comfort Inns. In general, if you are paying less than $175 a night you are getting a filthy room. I worked at several hotels when I was a teenager, the managers do not want you spending too much time on the rooms. I was told to only clean what is visibly dirty at multiple hotels. The mattress pads are never changed unless soiled also. never walk barefoot in your room the carpets are only spot cleaned when visibly soiled and bath floors are usually only wiped down with a wet bath mat if they look dirty, they are not disinfected/sanitized. Nothing is sanitized not even the toilet seats.
Things that are not changed daily or even weekly/monthly(they do not keep track of when these things are changed so if they are not visibly dirty they will stay for months)
1. Bedspreads
2. Blanket underneath bedspread
3. toilets seats/showers/counters/floors/sinks/desks/phones/light switches/lamps/ walls/door handles are only wiped down if visibly dirty.
To find out that I am right simply ask the hotel staff discreetly, how many cleaning people are working today find out how many rooms they are responsible for cleaning and how long they are there. Do the math, how long would it take you to clean fifty rooms to the point that you would feel comfortable spending the night there. The cleaning staff at most hotels only work from 8 am to 2 pm.
Scales, pass on the Super 8, Hampton Inns are better than the Hiltons or any Ritz. Especially the new ones. Oh, by the way, you can just comment on the vine without being a multiple dick attacking others because they don't travel much........
Are they trying to create yet more germaphobia for the sake of a new story? Pretty desperate if you ask me.
I am lucky, I have a wife who loves everything to be spotless at home. I also travel alot and the only areas I have really have had issues with hotel cleanliness was Orlando, Fl and London, England. I stayed in a $300/night hotel in London a few months ago and thought that I had been transported to a homeless shelter in Calcutta! The floors may as well have been dirt and the shower had more mold than a petrie dish in a high school science experiment. Sometimes paying more just means you pay more!
I agree @ Andrea.
I worked as a motel maid for a short period of time as a teen and its pretty gross. The rules were simple. Make the beds. Change the sheets (not the blankets or bedspread) if the room was being occupied by a new client. Wipe down the counters, tub, and bath floor if they were wet (no cleaner/sanitizer). Polish the chrome ("it looks clean if there are no water spots on the chrome" is what my trainer told me). Wipe down mirrors if they have water spots. Replace the used towels and soaps. Empty trash cans. Quick vacuum. Done.
And yes. Further cleaning is only done if there is visible dirt or stains.
My home may have germs but considering what many people use hotel rooms for (even expensive ones) I'd at least like some disinfectant and a clean bedspread.
“A visual assessment can’t tell you about bacteria and viruses,”...
I guess the article has been updated.
not true
might comfort you but statistically that is not the case. It would have been interesting if they had a brief comparison but if I remember the numbers the average home has much less bacteria.
moreover-educated guess--it's bacteria that already colonize you because it's yours/your family' s so you aren't being exposed to new bugs your immune system never saw before.
unless you mean clean to the eye
again, clean to the eye is different then bacteriologically relatively clean
I'd rather my clean mess at home.
I get what you mean 'homeless shelter in Calcutta'
ironically
Indians are a very clean people with few belongings. i would not be shocked if some hotels are filthier than that homeless shelter in Calcutta
it's always disgusted me to touch the bedspread in the room. Who knows who did what on it last? If they were sick...dirty...who knows when it was last washed?
I hate staying in hotels. I bring my own sanitizing wipes now. At least the hard surfaces are germ free with my wipes
knowledge is power but I enjoyed myself much more when I was ignorant...
Hey Stupid Seven 2 Seven!!! This was an "Independent Study" not a government study, so, none of your monies was used!!!! If you want I can send you the one cent that you think was used out of your pocket.
Jose...........You are right. And if seven2seven thinks eye clean and really clean are the same, then his house is a pig sty.
@Laurali - I wish I were still ignorant, too. I don't enjoy vacations nearly as much as I used to.
At my house the remote controls, light switches, and door knobs get wiped down a few times a week. It just makes sense that those are going to be things you touch often without washing your hands first. So I bring a little ziplock baggie of Lysol wipes when I travel and do the same thing.
I'm surprise the phone wasn't up there. While most of us by now use our cell phones, don't you have to use the phone a few times during your stay for in-house purposes, i.e., more towels, room service, concierge, check-out, etc?
Had a relative who cleaned hotel rooms working her way through college. She said to never lie on the comforter/bed cover. Those are not washed routinely. She also said they sanitize the bathrooms with a powerful disinfectant, but if you saw what was left on the bathroom counter, you would never ever lay anything personal on one, no matter how much it had been cleaned.
Oh yea, and never use a drinking glass that isn't wrapped in plastic.
Aye de Me Jose, No tenemos dinero, please don't send me a Peso, they are not work much, Vios Condios Pendeho.......have you even stayed at a decent hotel, another NO!! If you think this was an "independent" study you probably believe all the election promises and Santa Claus.........
It's always best to protect yourself when you stay at a hotel. Some people bring clorox to clean their own hotel room, I take Lysol spray and Lysol wipes when I go on my yearly vacation and I request a clean comforter for the bed. I also check the mattresses for bedbugs!!! I also use the hotel towels for walking on in the bathroom. I clean and disinfect everything.
Listen to all you whiney germaphobes!! Germs are good for our immune systems. Little kids without germs in their life end up allergic to peanuts and can't go out side cause they'll die. Can you imagine how much you would have resented your parents if they tried to keep you inside and not let you play with your friends cause of germs?? Heck, I was exposed to chicken pox just to get it over with. Its not child abuse, its good parenting.
Harry, your comparison and logic is flawed. They are talking about things such as fecal bacteria, which carries things such as ecoli, which will kill you, and no, some things you cannot get immune to.
There are communities in third world countries in which children die daily from such bacteria. Yet they live in it day in and day out. So no, they are not all good for your immune system. Yes, exposure to germs on some level is good, but no, being in a room crawling with so much bacteria is not a good thing.
I completely agree with the first post. Check your kitchen sink/sponge were there is probably more bacteria in that sponge than an entire hotel room, or floor for that matter.
,....and while you're at it, put a thermometer in your refrigerator and freezer.
If your refrigerator section isn't 40 degrees or lower, you just failed.
If your freezer isn't at 0 degrees, you just failed.
If your granite countertops can't be sanitized, you just failed.
If your dishwasher doesn't have water at least 140 degrees, you just failed.
The average home would NEVER pass a restaurant safety inspection -- and it doesn't matter if those bugs are yours or someone else's. Bugs are bugs.
There is one problem here. The article is not about the average home. It's about hotel rooms that are inhabited by a different set of individuals on a daily basis.
They do not keep track of what gets cleaned at a hotel. The only things that get cleaned everyday at the average Hotel is the sheets. Only visible dirt is removed at places like the Holiday Inn/Motel 6/ Comfort Inns. In general, if you are paying less than $175 a night you are getting a filthy room. I worked at several hotels when I was a teenager, the managers do not want you spending too much time on the rooms. I was told to only clean what is visibly dirty at multiple hotels. The mattress pads are never changed unless soiled also. never walk barefoot in your room the carpets are only spot cleaned when visibly soiled and bath floors are usually only wiped down with a wet bath mat if they look dirty, they are not disinfected/sanitized. Nothing is sanitized not even the toilet seats.
Things that are not changed daily or even weekly/monthly(they do not keep track of when these things are changed so if they are not visibly dirty they will stay for months)
1. Bedspreads
2. Blanket underneath bedspread
3. toilets seats/showers/counters/floors/sinks/desks/phones/light switches/lamps/ walls/door handles are only wiped down if visibly dirty.
To find out that I am right simply ask the hotel staff discreetly, how many cleaning people are working today find out how many rooms they are responsible for cleaning and how long they are there. Do the math, how long would it take you to clean fifty rooms to the point that you would feel comfortable spending the night there. The cleaning staff at most hotels only work from 8 am to 2 pm.
You are correct, Andrea. I have done hotel work since my teens. Back then I worked a full day and my manager made sure everything was cleaned. In the past 5 years I have had to go back into the this work. I have watched other people "wash" the bathroom floors with a rag on the end of a filthy broom, looked under beds to find countless articles that should have been thrown away, bedspreads are washed only if something noticebly dirty on them. Doorknobs are another germy item. Given a 20 minute time limit and a 8-2 work day, there is no way to do a good job and sadly, most of the work crews don't care to do it, even if given the time. Walk down the halls and you'll see staff sitting on the bed watching soaps or Jerry Springer. Stay-cations are tops with me.
Nine hotel rooms? Only nine?
Guess you aren't getting the point here. Yes, there are germs in our homes and that is a fact of life. The point is that while you may not get sick from the germs in your own house that your immune system already knows are benign or has already responded to in the past, these may be completely different to you and make you sick. Of course as usual those with compromised immune systems will be at highest risk, but it is a good thing to know about and didn't hurt any of you here. Why do you mind information?
No one said your house is germless, but just where the most germs are in these selected rooms. If you contact foreign germs (to your immune system, I mean) you would be more likely to get sick than if you are around more familiar germs at home...not saying you can't get sick at home, of course. Don't read it if you don't want to know.
Following the same logic it is actually a good idea to stay in hotel to stimulate and keep you immune systems healthy.
The theory of your home being different can only be true if all you do is stay in your home 24 hours a day, which we don't. We go out to other places and bring foreign bacteria and viruses into our "safer" homes daily. How many other people have handled and replaced the apples you bought and brought home? What about the repair man with a cold who fixed your clothes washer? And all the germs you bring home from the PTA meeting shaking people's hands and from going to your kid's recital with the careless guy with strep throat. I guess the point would be we have to live life everywhere and germs are everywhere. A life lived in fear is a life half lived.
It is a good thing God made us washable... I agree that you could have a pretty miserable life and turn into a pretty miserable human being to be around if you worry sick about everything that is so out of our control. I believe in taking precautions but like Harry we would go around chicken pox and measles just to get it over with. We all grew up pretty healthy and also, IF all the motel housekeepers had enough integrity to clean instead of use the time keeping up on the soaps....they could get it done. We had to and I don't ever remember being allowed to cut corners to hurry. We had to hurry without cutting corners meaning they didn't pay us to watch TV or talk on the phone.
I take cleaning supplies on vacation with me. No I'm not a neat freat or a germaphobe but eewwwwwwwweeeee. I like to wipe down the phone, the remote, light switches and doorknobs. Yes I have been mocked for bringing my own sheets. I always ask for a clean bedspread or take it off the bed.I have a rather good memory and can remember being on top of the bedspread. EWEWE!
NOT GOOD AT SHARING.
If anyone really thinks that hotel rooms are cleaner than the average person's house, well have I got a surprise for you! I used to supervise cleaning crews for hotel rooms. You would be repulsed if you were to really know what staff finds left behind by 'guests' in hotel rooms. Maybe you really think the room is clean but I don't think so. People are pigs when it comes to leaving messes that someone else (like the housekeeping staff) has to clean up. I have found used condoms strewn about the room. One time one was purposely left half hanging out of a cup onto top of the dresser. I have found them thrown on the carpeting in the room, floating in the toilet, in the trashcan, etc. Oh, did you ever wonder just what those stains on the headboard and picture above the headboard really are? Maybe you really don't want to know. Used, dirty, crapped-up adult diapers thrown on the floor. Urine in the carpet. Urine on the bedspread (plus other body fluids). Diarrhea sprayed around the bathroom, and I mean like someone stood in one place and turned around 360 degrees and let it rip so it covered the shower curtain, walls, under the countertop, etc. I have found used hypodermic needles and diabetic lancets. Let's not forget the food that is left all over a room, Trash piled up everywhere. Oh, yes, and Bedbugs - ugh.....
I won't stay in a hotel room unless it is a necessity. When I had to, I refused to walk barefoot on the carpet, immediately took the bedspread off and checked the blanket (because I can assure you it is not changed everyday nor is the bedpad put under the sheets on top of the mattress), pulled back everything to check for bedbugs, checked the pillows because they are not changed everyday either. I checked all drawers and behind pictures and furniture for bedbugs and garbage left behind. I wipe down the doorknobs, sink and knobs, the telephone, and of course that tv remote. The tv remote is one of the grossest things to see. Can you just imagine where people's hands have been just prior to grabbing that remote to turn the tv on? Oh, and the refrigerator - think twice before you really assume it's clean. Oh, and let's not forget the coffee maker and glassware in the rooms - do you really think it's taken downstairs and put through a dishwasher? Surprise, it isn't. The housekeeper uses the 'pink' cleaning stuff and a rag (which you hope didn't clean the toilet and sink first) to wipe out the 'pink' spray stuff and then puts that 'sparkling' clean glass back on the tray. How often do you think the shower curtains are changed? Not often. Clean toilets? - better lift up that lid and check it and check the space between the toilet seat and tank (lots of urine and hair there). Oh, used tampons? - found them in the trashcan, on the bed, floating in the toilet.
So, don't assume that just because you can't see the germs and viruses/bacteria, that they aren't there - they are.
My cleaning people were a crew of 'intellectually-disabled' adults who cleaned rooms and I had to be very strict with supervising them and how they cleaned. They cleaned better than the housekeepers employed by the hotel because we had a reputation to uphold with the organization I worked for. The other housekeepers, they were a 'dime-a-dozen' and the turnover rate was constant.
So, is your hotel room really clean? You better check! For all that a hotel charges for one of it's rooms, you would think that a paying guest would not have to do all this to ensure that the room is REALLY clean.
@ Mary, very fine, mature post. I too was curious about the earlier posters seemingly personally offended by suggesting hotel rooms were not exactly clean. I think these writers are likely right wingnuts, expressing indignation that corporate america could leave rooms less than clean, especially where a lot of the crud left is microbial, in nature.
Grow up you traveling weenies, and realize that bedspread you love diving on has probably 25 jizz stains all over it. I travelled a lot in my professional career, and always assumed the room was really filthy, as Mary so expertly expressed above.
Mary, Why did you have to insert such a statement? Talk about racist.. You have allowed today the discrimination between Right and Left. I believe the story was about clean and unclean. Its probably all of you left wingers that leave them dirty. You started it.
So, Woop, you are saying that it is the political right wingnuts who worry about germs and the illnesses that they cause, but the political left wingnuts are fine with living in filth and disease.
No matter what hotel we stay in, we turn down the bedspread first.
We call hotel bedspreads "Mike Tysons" .... after the revelation in his rape trial that there were five or six different DNA semen stains on the bedspread AND NONE WERE TYSON'S.
I guess we should call them "the unidentified".
But yeah. Just be smart about things.
BTW, anyone afraid of bedbugs should not put their suitcases on soft surfaces. But as paranoid as people can be, we've stayed in lots of hotel rooms in the past five years, and never seen a bedbug.
We don't use the coffee pot, and the glassware only if it's like a sealed-up plastic glass (or we clean things ourselves, with the sanitizer we carry).
@ Jean, you may need remedial reading, you seem to have stated something not contained in MARY's post.
@ Scales, I'm saying right wingnuts NEVER think anything is wrong with corporate america, their oblivious and stupid...much like the talkmasters they listen to on air.
mary, thanks for the great post. now i know we're doing the right thing in what we do! off topic, but just as a little hint, several years ago my husband (a chef) had to get a food handlers card and had to take a class. back in 01 he learned that it's a good idea to wipe down your groceries before you put them away. so we fill the kitchen sink with lysol disinfectant and wipe down our groceries -- everything! i haven't had a cold in ages probably 2009 and neither has he. we use hand sanitizer and when we have to shake hands, we casually whip it out and use it. i don't care if people see me, it's protecting me. i'm in a wheelchair and when i use the restroom i just roll out the door and use hand sanitizer after i leave the area. if anyone is in the restroom i announce that i will be washing my hands with hand sanitizer; people look at me sort of funny, but, like i tell them, i don't want them to think i don't wash my hands. peace and love ya'll!
This information is disgusting
and thank you for it
Jean-982597, don't make it personal. You're suspended for a day for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
They keep harping about hotels. Imagine how incredibly infested with germs are the door handles at a popular restaurant or store or the handlebar on that Walmart shopping cart. I got an extremely bad cold and sore throat less than a day after I made the mistake of eating a Snickers immediately after I'd bought it at a Walmart and made the further mistake of touching the chocolate because the wrapper had opened too far. I actually thought about that right after I'd taken a bite of it.
People generally are not bathing and sleeping in popular restaurants or Wal-mart shopping carts. People also are not in contact with restaurants and Wal-mart shopping carts for as many hours as they stay in hotel rooms. Furthermore, if one is staying in a hotel room, there obviously is no other choice for lodging when away from home. That is why "they keep harping about hotels".
Everyone should have the good sense to wash his/her hands well after touching door handles, menus and shopping cart handles before handling food or touching the mouth, eyes or nose. Washing my hands well is the first thing I do after returning home from being out in public.
This research is out of line. All quality hotels rooms are cleaned with the highest standard of cleanliness. The Chemical they use are very high standard chemicals. Rooms are made as fresh as possible every day.There are three hundred items a housekeeper has to take care with disposable gloves for each room & bathroom. The hotel switches, telephones,and every thing which comes into contact cleaned and wiped with industrial & commercial high end products.
So the hotel rooms and bathroom and sinks & toilets can be as sanitized and germ and bacteria free as a hospital room. Researchers needs to concentrate the Germs and Bacteria flying in the atmosphere and in and around them. Did they realized how much bacteria they are carrying under their long finger nails? Just an idea to explore?
Peer - you are being sarcastic, right? Have you ever noticed how housekeeping staff clean even the high end hotel rooms? You are living in a fantasy land if you think that they are wiping down light switches, etc., on a daily basis.
PeerK.
You are out of touch. While I was in School we made extra money cleaning the best Hotels. They give you a matter of minutes to clean these rooms. If your sheets look a little limp, well they are.. If they can get by with smoothing out the sheets, so be it.. It gets a lick and a promise, then on to the next. We actually begged for enough time to clean them, but no way. We never had more than fifteen min. and no way can you get a room clean in that time. If you could just wipe the tub that was instructed. I won't give names of these hotels but believe me they are the best. I always instruct friends and family to take a can of LYSOL...
In agreement with the last two posters. There is NO WAY every surface can be "cleaned/ disinfected in 15-20 minutes. The last hotel job I worked, the head housekeeper was dismayed at the length to time I spent in each room. When I explained and showed her the things I was cleaning that had not been done in quite a way, she changed her attitude. She thanked me and said that she would miss my service when I moved on to another employment.
Peer, I know you are right but I'm still gonna wipe em again.
The article quotes units of CFU per cubic centimeter squared, which is grossly incorrect. Proper units for surfaces are CFU per square centimeter. Proper units for 3D objects are CFU per cubit centimeter.
You beat me to it, Rich. I was wondering how you would square a cubic centimeter in a 3-dimensional space.
It's MSNBC, which is not known for having the brightest or most thorough writing and editing staff.
I find their editing is ok EXCEPT with science, scales.
thanks for the correction so the rest of us don't have to. In another article about calcium and Vit D there were two completely contradictory sentences effectively negating eachother and to those of us paying attention,
completely nullifying any conclusion of the article.
Sure, a cubic centimeter squared makes sense. It's a cubic centimeter across time, right?
Very flawed research. Hotels use quality and reputed companies cleaning chemicals. Possibility of bacteria growing in a remote or light switch or even on sink surface is one out of thousands as these are chemicls which are not available to ordinary people but for institutions use. Majority of the hotels have well recognized cleaning programme on daily, weekly and monthly basis which MUST be followed to keep the hotel guest comming. When you pay a good room rate you get that service too.
This rsearcher should concentrate on there own human body that how many germs and bacteria they are carrying on just an example check under your finger nail and you will be amazed to see the results? How many bacteria are in the atmosphere on daily basis. Hotel rooms & bath rooms are very cleaned and sanitized. People should not worry for cleanliness as there are very set standards to follow on daily basis.
The quality of the chemicals is one thing. Whether they've been properly mixed instead of being over-diluted to save money or mixed with incompatible chemicals so that the spray bottle and mop bucket just contain solutions of inert salts is another. The housekeepers' technique and regard for avoiding cross contamination are also a thing to consider. Finally, there's the fact that many guests make the guys in Animal House look like neat freaks.
with the Hotel industry, heh?
Ever see someone wash a bathroom floor by spraying the cleaner on a spot, throwing down a rag and then using a FILTHY broom on that rag and swish it around ??? When I had to clean that room the next day, I found that the edges of the bathroom floor were black with dust and the small area behind the toilet were blacker and full of hairs. Eeewwww.
Don't forget the maids tip @ checkout. & not w/ filthy $.
I use to work in a hotel myself and I have seen some pretty gross things. Ha!
I agree that it's flawed research: small statistical sample population, Microbiology 101 lab techniques (total CFU without identifying if the bacteria are harmless or pathogenic), and generally alarmist without a reason to be alarmed. I can culture higher levels of total bacteria counts off my forehead.
There's a guy in Tucson at Univ. of Arizona who's been doing this type of "research" since the 1980s. Every time he needs an additional 15 minute dose of fame, he does a press release to the newspapers, but not a peer reviewed journal article, about aerosols from flushing the toilet or using dirty sponges on kitchen counters. And it works because reporters and editors print some alarming headline about why we should all panic.
I'm a scientist who travels a lot on business and I agree that a lot of hotels don't clean well. Rooms in general aren't vacuumed well, the bathrooms swiped instead of cleaned well, and there's lots of mold and bodily fluids in places that you don't want to hear about.
But stop and think for a minute: have you heard of a single case in the last 50 years of a single person actually getting sick from these situations? I haven't, and I've worked for years at health departments in two different states.
If you are such a brilliant scientist, then you would realize how flawed your statement is. For example, suppose that you are traveling from NYC to San Francisco for a conference. You take a cab to the airport in NYC, sit on a plane for hours on your non-stop flight to San Francisco, take a cab to your hotel in San Francisco, drop your luggage in your hotel room, take a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf for a little sightseeing and dinner, take a trolley back to your hotel, then crash for the night. A few days later, after spending hours among people at the conference each day, you come down with a bad cold and sore throat. Are you really going to take the time and invest the money to see if you can isolate the virus that caused your cold to the hotel room in which you stayed? Probably not.
In other words, where are your statistics for the number of people in the past 50 years who became ill after staying in a hotel but never tried to relate that illness back to something contracted from the hotel room? Just because it isn't published as a top headline in the news does not mean that people have not become ill in the past 50 years from something they contracted in a hotel room.
Instead of sarcasm ("brilliant scientist"), try looking at your own argument.
"You take a cab", "sit on a plane for hours", "take a cab" again, "take a cable car to Fisherman's Wharf", do "sightseeing and dinner", and "after spending hours among people at the conference each day", you choose to blame the room?
I agree that the room could/might/maybe/possibly cause an illness. But could/might/maybe/possibly is not the same as an actual cause and effect.
I am saying that 1. nobody has ever established a link, 2. editors and reporters go into "everybody panic" mode in reporting it, and 3. Your own sequence is a known cause and effect for disease, by your own admission. I say, if there's a threat, then investigate it, but don't fall into the trap of this must be bad without knowledge.
Take a look at Desiree's comment below. You live in a sea of germs and you're still quite healthy.
And by the way, being sarcastic or rude doesn't imply being right. It just implies that you're brave and smart-assed when nobody knows who you are and you can't get caught. Just ask most trolls.
Physicist? Chemist?
Not a microbiologist obviously.
Actually, yes. Two degrees, nine continuing education courses, nine expert witness testimonies in court, plus experience in microbiology in environmental work (restaurants, safe drinking water) for health departments and engineering companies, then a career change to chemistry for hazardous waste and environmental remediation for a total of 35 years in the field. Your obvious experience is?
No surprise. We always clean the remote, switches etc. It's a "crap"shoot who was in the room before you so expect the worst.
@ Rob.....LOL.....@ "Crapshoot" OMG!!
Another thing we have to worry about. Someone craping on the light switch :(
And now I'm worried that the scientists are catching on to my crapping-on-hotel-light-switches scheme. I'm not sure how I'll start making money off of it, but I'm hangin' in there!
Basically, if it's something that could be touched by hands, treat it as contaminated - no matter where you are. I carry hand sanitizer every where I go.
Sex must be a real adventure for you. Do you spray purell on everything before or after or both?
LOL!!! Good one.
I was referring to fixtures and objects - not my husband - although when you look at some people out here...mmm...never mind.
Another "Sanitize everything you come in contact with or you will die" article.
Ho Hum...
A room is only as clean as a person thinks it is. I know the room could be cleaner, but as long as I don't see an obvious sign of dirt/grime/filth, I think it to be clean. I don't think about the unseen, if I did, I would never leave my home. How clean are the shopping carts at the local store or the clothes you try on (who tried in on before you and did someone sneeze on it) when shopping. That can go for the food you buy...at one of our local grocery/everything stores, there are birds which pick at the fresh veggies and who handled the prepackaged food before you touched it. It is just a study, there are germs/bacteria everywhere, no matter how clean something may appear, there will still be some sort of germ/bacteria on it. The study was to try to get a specific business type to rethink how rooms are cleaned and what unexpected things may need more attention. I will continue to stay in hotels, shop at the stores, pump gas, use the atm and open the mail I receive. Why worry about what can't be seen, I have other more important things to worry about.
From the drift of the remarks, it appears Americans are OK with certain amounts of filth, despite the best efforts of people trying to point out some basic facts.....such as........hotels are pretty gd dirty, no matter how fresh in appearance.
You are basically saying that ignorance is bliss.
And that you are able to use denial in order to deal with this.
For me, ignorance of the fact that that the bathroom was just wiped down not cleaned with santizer as I would my own bathroom was nice. Now that I know, I can't be in denial.
I just bring the sanitizer myself and wipe stuff down.
Hi LAurali....probably right about the denial aspect, but i will begin packing Lysol next hotel or motel visitation.
Enjoy your posts, incidentally.
I usually wash my hands in the toilet. I was relieved to find out it wasn't on this list.
I know sarcasm doesn't help but, xsited1, that was funny!! Made my day. and, Dave in HI, thank you. I appreciate your experience and not just a lot of rattling because you have too much time like woop seems to have.
I work at a Hotel, and you couldn't pay me to stay there, after seeing what goes on in there everyday.
Then where so you stay if you have to travel to a destination where you don't know anyone who might be able to provide lodging for you?
Thank you for being for being the one person to stand up and do the job correctly thinking of the others who will later stay in the hotel. Oh, sorry Colt, you don't trust your own product and are also too lazy and cowardly to do the right thing and speak up about the substandard work done by you and your fellow employees.
Take a can of Lysol with you when you stay in a motel, I always do now. I also take my own blanket and pillow and wash it when I get home.
Motel 6 (Pompano Beach) has old mattresses with rusted springs sticking out - I had to flip the mattress over myself. No bar soap & rude management - not to mention barefoot prostitutes hooking on the street in front of the motel.
What did you expect from a Motel 6, don't be such a cheapskate.
YES, I believe in motel/hotel cooties.
When I knew I had to or I have to stay in a motel/hotel (cannot be helped), I always brought/bring my own pillow and a comforter, which I lay on top of the bed coverings, no matter the motel/hotel's rating. I try not to let my mind go to how many cooties I am encountering -- I would freak out (distraught level freak out). And I will not even go into the horrors of recycled air on airplanes, and especially when you have to sit in one of those bacteria boxes for half a day.
The obsession Americans have with removing all germs and bacteria from everything they ever touch is going to kill us all.
it is not all the same...all black and white
this hotel disgust is not an example
Some pig was in the bathroom pissing and making a mess. THEY DON"T EVEN SANTISE THE BATHROOM.
they don't clean it. Just wipe it down
thirty people slept in that bed with that coverlet
it is not the same
let us at least wipe the remote
I don't worry too much, but do take sanitizers to the remotes, clock, sink area, door knobs. My wife is more picky than me. The main thing I do worry about is bed bugs getting into my suitcase and being carried home.
Best Western launching a cleaning campaign? That's a laugh. With the exception of the one in Jacksonhole, WY I wouldn't stay in a BW if you paid me. Those hotels are the grossest no-tel mo-tels you can find out there.