Relative Cleanliness

I like to keep my home clean. Minimizing clutter is a priority. If I have an item that serves no purpose I either donate it or dispose of it. Dusting is a real pain so that only gets done once in a while. Areas like the kitchen and bathroom get sanitized regularly. When one is away from home cleanliness becomes the responsibility of someone else. Hotel rooms look clean, but below the surface, there lingers all manner of disgust.

My advice comes from what I have experienced. Christine and I have stayed in hotels hundreds of times. What we have witnessed should serve as a warning to others. Housekeeping staff is notoriously overburdened. They have many rooms to clean and little time in which to accomplish their task. Their task is not what you might expect. A room is not cleaned so much as it is made to appear so. Due to this there are things every person should do when they first walk through the door.

The bed is the first place to look. Bed bugs are quite hard to get rid of and are common to find even in expensive hotels. It is best to lift the sheet and mattress cover to get a closer look. Little black dots that jump and move is the best way to tell if your mattress is infested. The next area to examine is the bathroom. There should not be signs of the previous occupant. Floor, sink and shower areas should be stain and hair free.

When the maid comes to clean they will use chemicals of course. The concern is that what they use may not sanitize surfaces which people come into contact. Windex makes glass shine but it hardly makes anything sanitary. Bringing a can of Lysol spray is a good defense against unwanted bugs. I recommend spraying the television's remote control, all doorhandles and any bathroom surfaces. A little bit of prevention helps to keep a person healthy.

Some rooms have glasses for drinking water or for whatever beverage one might have. I learned my lesson the hard way. I assumed these glasses were sanitary until one fateful hotel excursion. I happened to catch the maid cleaning my glasses in the bathroom sink. Why did I think they would use a big dishwasher somewhere in the hotel? In this case she was cleaning them using hand soap and the same rag she used to wipe down surfaces. When I inquired as to her "cleaning method" she explained that this was how she and the rest of the staff washed glasses.

These few tips are meant to inform and educate. I certainly wish someone had told me about this years ago. There are probably more ways to keep yourself safe in a hotel room but unfortunately it is easier to stop a burglar than to stop a bug. There are similar stories of maid service in people's homes. House cleaners are often only concerned with surface appearances. Everyone deserves to get away once in a while. Please remember that wherever you lay your head there have been countless other heads there as well.