Many readers wonder whether hotels change duvets between each guest, or just the sheets? And what about decorative bedding like throw pillows?
The answer is that it certainly varies by chain and brand. But cleaning in upscale major chain properties is better than less expensive independent hotels. For instance Marriott started changing duvet covers in 2005 and Hampton Inns started putting sticky notes on beds saying these had been changed in 2012.
As a general matter if you see something white it’s being changed, if it’s multicolored it was probably purchased specifically to avoid showing stains. Pricier chains have changed bedding more regularly than budget hotels. There was once a standard in the industry for mid-priced and below to change duvets four times a year coinciding with a deep clean of the room. Here’s how one motel industry worker put it,
I’ve worked for at least 5 different chains of motels. I worked as a housekeeper and the laundry worker. The only time we did the blankets or the bed speads was if something was spilled on them even if it was a smoking, or pet approved room, or the blankets and spreads were getting dingy or smelling.
I also worked as an assistant manager for house keeping and laundry where the laundry person didn’t like that I would usually send many of them to be washed for my sanitary thoughts and of course I would get spoken to about that.
Of course even where cleaning is required some hotel properties don’t follow their brand’s standards and some housekeepers don’t do everything that’s asked of them, either.
Are housekeepers cleaning the coffee pot? Were the same cleaning items used in the bathroom used anywhere else? One Beijing hotel was caught a few years ago using the toilet bowl cleaner on the room’s drinking glasses. I’ve heard over time that this is common. And do you really think TV remotes get wiped down?
Aside from the loyalty program the primary value of a chain hotel is the brand and the trust they’ve built. Hotels no longer do enough cleaning during the stay, and that makes it harder to clean thoroughly between stays. It seems to be taking a toll on the cleanliness of rooms, but that hasn’t changed whether the duvet at least gets rotated out.
Except for the sheets and pillow cases. EVERYTHING is dirty. It may be cleaned 1x a month but if you are there on day 30. Gross. Same with that scarf on the bed and the carpet it is all dirty.
Yet somehow millions of people who have stayed in these hotels are alive and well with no ill effects. Germaphobia has really gotten out of control. Human skin contact of an item isn’t like some reverse Midas touch that gives it permanent cooties. One wonders how humanity survived for thousands of millenniums without having Park Hyatt Tokyo standards of cleaning. Must have been really touch and go.
@Andrew M – AMEN!!!! Gary is definitely a germaphobe and you wonder how he somehow manages to leave his house. People are exposed to all kinds of germs but the body does a really nice job of combating them as a rule. Personally, I don’t obsess about cleanliness and anyone that does is setting themselves up for failure since there are many, many instances where they come into contact with germs (theirs or other’s) on a daily basis. For example, I just read that the average cell phone has more germs than a toilet seat but you sure don’t see anyone putting them down.
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I don’t do all the germ hysteria. Lots of life is gross and we’ve managed to populate the earth and lengthen life expectancies in the process. Andrew and AC nailed it….if you focus on it, you’re simply looking to be disappointed so you can tell everyone. I still want the appearance of a clean room, but I’m confident not every room is perfect and I can go about living anyway.
The human body sheds about 30,000 skin cells per minute. It is dust mites that feed upon these, the cause of asthma and allergies.
This is only one of the reasons we should be concerned the fabric in hotel rooms are cleaned well and often. Proud germaphobe here.
The skin of the average person has lots of mites in or around the skin pores.
If we looked at people and everything under a microscope and get grossed out too easily, things that bug would soon stop bugging or the lifespan of the individual, of progeny and the species would be far more limited than is currently the case.
This isn’t an argument to welcome or even accept unclean places and unclean habits, but just saying too close an examination of everything would lead to paranoia-driven insecurity and paralysis of some sort or another that would be a far more serious and persistent problem.
@Maryland dust mites can live in mattresses and carpets too and they’re effectively impossible to fully eliminate unless you remove all fabric items from a room. Hotels that keep the thermostat cool to save money will at least incidentally have fewer dust mites since they don’t like temps below 75.
To. Andrew and GUWonder
I acknowledge your response, yes we carry our own mites, but rooms not vacuumed (mattress included) grow a large population. Dermatitis can require medication and asthma is serious. Both can be avoided by simple cleaning. Why not do just that?
And yet I’m also supposed to tip the housekeepers. No.
You can spot a weak thinker any time you see a “see it didn’t kill me on the spot” idiot. Working in a lab, this is a constant struggle. Acute risks are very much real (e.g. this chemical will absorb through your skin and eat your bones and internal organs) but the chronic ones are far nastier. Cancers, gene damage, reproductive harm, emphysema, etc that will make your back half short or miserable. Not equating a dirty hotel room to that but sanitation is key to a healthy life. You can’t control others so you do your own best.
@anameofaguy – so stay in your bubble then you Sheeple! Either you live life and accept the reasonable risks or you are scared of your own shadow. We certainly know which one you are.
Better sanitation/hygiene is a key to longer and better living in various ways. It also seems to be a key to whether or not a population is shorter or taller.
“Hampton Inns started putting sticky notes on beds saying these had been changed in 2012.”
Well, you’ve got to give Hamptons Credit for honesty, even if if means that the bed duvets haven’t been cleaned for 9 years.
Sanitation and hygiene are important.
You can obviously overdo it to negative effect, but there’s a massive scientific and statistical (survivor bias) error in saying things like, “I eat food off the ground and I lived to 200 years old.”
“Germs” are not all alike. Some are merely gross but won’t do you any harm. Others are lethal.
Don’t ask questions where you’re likely not going to like the answer. There’s exceptions but this is a good general rule.