The dirtiest item in a hotel room

TV remotes, bedspreads... are among the least cleaned items in hotel rooms. Photo: Engin Akyurt/Pexels .

In a hotel room, the dirtiest things are sometimes not the toilet or the floor, but the tiny items you touch dozens of times a day, like the TV remote, decorative pillows, or bedspread.

According to travel magazine Travel + Leisure , many housekeeping staff admit that this group of “high-touch, low-clean items” is the most worrying source of bacteria in the room. TV remotes, light switches, landline phones, doorknobs, and decorative pillows and bedspreads are often not washed or disinfected as often as sheets and towels, even though guests use them constantly.

In many hotels, decorative pillows and bed runners can be used for multiple guests before being changed or washed, while guests often hug, lean on, or place personal items on them, a housekeeping manager said.

If you are a picky traveler, the simplest way is to remove all decorative pillows and covers from a chair or a corner of the room, and just lie on the main set of sheets and pillowcases that have been replaced.

According to a 2023 survey by WaterFilterGuru, bathtubs are also a hotbed of bacteria, and can even be 40 times dirtier than toilet seats. Photo: A mixstudio.

Meanwhile, the New York Post named the TV remote as the number one candidate for the title of dirtiest item in a hotel room. Microbiological surveys in some hotels have shown that the concentration of bacteria on the remote is much higher than on many surfaces in the bathroom, simply because it is touched by many people but rarely cleaned thoroughly between guests.

Additionally, in-room cups, ice buckets, and coffee makers are also frequently "checked." The Points Guy and Condé Nast Traveler reported that glasses and ice buckets are sometimes simply rinsed with water, or even wiped with a cloth used on another surface, increasing the risk of cross-contamination.

This is even more likely to happen when housekeeping staff only have a few dozen minutes to handle a room, forcing them to prioritize "obvious" things like toilets, sinks, mirrors, and floors, while smaller details are easily overlooked.

In the wake of the pandemic, many major hotel chains have announced enhanced cleaning procedures that emphasize disinfecting all frequently touched surfaces rather than just focusing on bathrooms and floors.

Some brands have even replaced traditional TV remotes with waterproof, easy-to-clean ones or allowed customers to connect their personal phones to the TV to reduce the number of touches.

Source: https://znews.vn/mon-do-ban-nhat-trong-phong-khach-san-post1604103.html