It’s surprisingly dirty in there ...
WHEN checking into a five-star hotel, cleanliness is one thing we assume is a pretty sure deal. But, unfortunately, travel planning website Travelmath has uncovered a shocking secret.
A new study has shown that the more you pay for a fancy hotel room, the dirtier it’s likely to be.
The company sent a team to test the cleanliness of rooms in nine different hotels in the US, with ratings varying from three to five stars, gathering 36 bacteria swabs in total.
They tested for a range of bacteria including bacilli and cocci (which can cause diseases such as food poisoning and systemic infections), yeast, and Gram-positive rods (bacteria that can cause skin infections and pneumonia) and Gram-negative rods (bacteria to blame for respiratory and other infections).
The results of the test are measured in colony-forming units (CFU), which measure the number of bacteria that are able to multiply in the area per square centimetre.
The bathroom counter was found to be the dirtiest surface in a three-star hotel room with an average of 320,000 CFU/square inches (2,064,512 CFU/square centimetres) — about eight times less than a four-star hotel room and a third less than a five-star hotel room.
But when it comes to five-star hotels, the remote control was found to be the filthiest.
Overall, they found that the average hotel room was dirtier than a typical home, plane or school.
“In five-star hotels, the brunt of bacteria were Gram-negative, though the phone was rife with Gram-positive cocci,” a Travelmath spokesperson said. “In four-star hotels, bacillus spp dominated on the remote and telephone.
“In three-star hotels, the remote control tended to harbour bacillus spp, which could be associated with various infections ... additionally, tests revealed yeast present in the bathrooms in three-star hotels.”
Here’s how the different star-rated hotels compared:
Three-star fares OK.
Four-star is filthier.
Eww, the remote in the five-star rooms!
So how can you minimise the risk of getting sick?
“Wash your hands frequently, for starters. You also may want to pack a small bottle of disinfectant spray and a carton of alcohol wipes to disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as the phone, the bathroom counter, and the desk.
“And rather than disinfecting the remote control, one solution is to seal it in a clear plastic sandwich bag before using it.”
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