Checking in for that much-needed staycation, or heading into your 2-week SHN in a hotel? In the era of Covid-19 a thoroughly sanitised, clean hotel room is more important than ever, but higher turnover rates and more guests than ever may lead to rushed housekeeping efforts. Take matters into your own hands and do the following 5 essential checks in your new room, before you kick back and settle down.
Check For Bed Bugs
These nasty buggers are every travellers’ worst nightmare: little bloodsucking vampires of the night that hide in nooks and crannies all around lodgings, usually close to bed frames and inside mattresses, pillows, duvets and headboards. Their goal? To come out at night, crawl onto your skin and feast on your blood soundlessly and painlessly, leaving you with mysterious itchy red bumps after.
What’s even worse is that they like to travel as well - bed bugs are notorious hitchhikers, ready to stow away inside your suitcases and bags so that you bring them all the way back home where they set up shop and get ready to drive you insane.
While there’s no foolproof way to know if a hotel room is bedbug-infested, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. Firstly, place your bags and suitcases on hard surfaces (like in the bathroom or on the table) while you conduct a little bed bug raid of common hiding places. Pull back the bedsheets, lift up the mattress, look behind the headboard and pat down upholstered furniture to see if any bugs come running out. Also keep your eyes peeled for little bug exoskeletons, or dark brown stains. If any of those warning signs present themselves, request for a new room immediately.
Sanitise The Drinking Glasses
Hotel room drinking glasses are notoriously unsanitary. Leaked footage of housekeeping staff from a number of renowned luxury hotel chains some years ago showed them neglecting to clean or change glasses before new guests arrived, or wiping them down using the same sponges that were used to clean the rest of the bathroom.
Imagine all the germs, bacteria, dust or toxic chemical products that could have touched those glasses before you arrived, and you most definitely won’t bring one up to your lips. Seasoned germaphobe travellers usually bring (or request) plastic cups, or rinse the drinking glasses thoroughly under boiling water before using them.
Check The Towels
Don’t assume that the well-presented towels hanging on the rack or folded on the bed are 100% clean: open them out and do a thorough inspection before you let them touch your skin. Although freshly-changed sheets and towels between guests are supposed to be standard procedure in any hotel, leaked reports from housekeeping staff indicate that certain hotels reward housekeeping for changing towels as minimally as possible in order to cut costs. Towels that look like they were not overly soiled, as such, are sometimes refolded and reused (eww).
Open your towels fully and check for residual dampness, leftover hairs, stains, discolourations, or a musty smell. Immediately request fresh towels for your room if any of those signs are present.
Check The Bathtub
Bathrooms are the ultimate breeding places of all types of disgusting bacteria and fungus, many of whom like to grow around the moist corners of bathtubs. Look for brown or green stains, soap scum marks, and other indications that proper cleaning hasn’t been conducted in this crucial germ hot zone.
Clean The TV Remote
Lastly, the TV remote is one of the dirtiest objects you will encounter in your hotel room. The reason behind that is pretty obvious - every person who has ever stayed in that room before you has probably handled it at some point, and it’s not something that housekeeping staff really clean or change. Envision what hundreds of dirty hands could potentially have left on that piece of plastic, and you’ll understand the need to thoroughly sanitise it with a napkin and some hand sanitiser before you touch it yourself.
