Frequent travelers are well versed in what to “avoid” in hotel rooms, and many have their own cleansing rituals they perform with each stay.
Most believe the bedding, the bathrooms and the floors are the dirtiest places in hotel rooms, but at a recent microbiology researchers’ conference in San Francisco, some surprising “dirt” was uncovered.
The dirtiest places in a hotel room?
The TV remote and the bedside light switch.
Researchers from the University of Houston took bacteria samples from items in hotels in different regions of the country to compile the surprising results.
In addition, the study found that the cleaning process itself leaves much to be desired. Housekeeping staff only takes 30 minutes to clean each room, and the “highest level of contamination was found on the maid’s cleaning cart.” This means that bacteria is being moved from room to room with each “cleaning”.
Although the researchers tested for multiple kinds of bacteria, they found that the levels for coliform bacteria (an illness-causing bacteria found in feces) was up to 10 times higher than medically acceptable levels.
Findings will be used to help hotels improve their cleaning processes; suggestions include replacing cleaning liquids more frequently, and placing more focus on thoroughly cleaning the more contaminated areas of the room.
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