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Hotel rooms may look sparkling clean when you first arrive – but surprising levels of bacteria and viruses can be lurking in overlooked places.
Beyond the usual suspects such as sinks and toilets, common “touchpoints” like remotes and light switches are also crawling with germs, studies say.
Hotel rooms had up to 10 times more bacteria – including fecal strains – than are allowed in hospitals, a University of Houston study found.
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The staff at hotels often spend just 30 minutes tidying and cleaning each room. They may skip decorative items entirely, Enza Laterrenia, head of housekeeping at Canne Bianche Lifestyle Hotel in Italy, told Travel & Leisure.
Here’s a list of spots that can be teeming with germs, experts warn — and the steps you should take as soon as you arrive in your hotel room.
1. Decorative elements
In hotel rooms, the decorative runners along the foot of the bed could be full of germs. The same goes for the duvet covers. (iStock)
“Having worked in hotels, the first thing I fling off to a far corner of the room are decorative pillows and any decorative runner that goes along the foot of the bed,” Maria Diego, a San Diego, California-based travel adviser, told the travel magazine.
“These never get washed.”
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Duvet covers can also be a collecting place for germs.
“Most hotels do not wash the big duvet. They only wash the sheets,” a former hotel staffer noted on Reddit last year.
2. High-touch surfaces
Diego said she is also cautious about switches, remote controls, phones and other major touchpoints.
High-touch surfaces such as remotes and outlets are not always wiped down, frequent travelers say. (iStock)
Los Angeles travel adviser Rani Cheema said hotel room phones disgust her the most.
“I am grossed out by the receiver,” Cheema said. “No one’s cleaning that.”
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Carpets are another culprit.
Many high-end hotels are now swapping them out for flooring or area rugs, according to Cheema.
3. Bathtubs
Hotel bathrooms are even dirtier than airplanes, studies have found – especially the countertops.
Hotel bathtubs – especially those with jets – can harbor bacteria, experts warn. (Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But the tub is also infested with germs, harboring up to 40 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, according to a 2023 investigation by WaterFilterGuru.com.
“I also won’t take a bath in a hotel unless it’s a super-luxe five-star hotel, and only if it’s a non-jet bathtub,” Diego said.
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Jetted tubs can harbor more bacteria and aren’t always disinfected fully, according to experts.
4. Overlooked and hard-to-reach spots
Ceiling fans, curtain rods, shower heads and other such spots are often neglected, according to Laterrenia of Canne Bianche Lifestyle Hotel.
Visitors should inspect hotel rooms and alert the front desk if anything appears dirty. (iStock)
LaDell Carter, founder of Maryland-based Royal Expression Travels, said she looks out for other red flags.
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“When I enter a room and notice a dusty charging port next to the bed or a bedside lamp caked in residue, that tells me the basics may have been done, but the details were missed,” Carter told Fox News Digital.
5. Glasses and ice buckets
Housekeeping staff have been found to wipe down glassware between guests’ stays – not replace it, according to reports.
“Personally, I never use mugs or glasses in the room without rinsing them out first,” Carter said.
Glassware in hotel rooms isn’t always replaced by housekeeping staff. Guests should clean these items themselves before using them. (iStock)
“I usually boil water in the kettle and give each item a thorough rinse.”
“It’s not about fear, it’s about good habits,” she added.
Ice buckets should have a liner.
The ice bucket could be the next breeding ground.
Housekeepers sometimes have only 30 minutes to clean each hotel room. (iStock)
During one norovirus outbreak at a hotel, guests vomited in ice buckets, contributing to the spread, Brian Labus, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, told Travel and Leisure last year.
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Ice buckets should have a liner, experts say.
Otherwise, consider packing your own drinkware and a small cooler with ice.
Alert the front desk if anything in your room seems “off,” experts say. (iStock)
If anything feels “off,” alert the front desk staff, Carter recommended.
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The staff can have the room cleaned again or move you to another room.
