Hospitality industry: cleanliness in hotels of different types of "stars"

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

When you receive your room key, you still have no idea what awaits you there. A visually clean room, upon close inspection, may not be at all what it appeared in the photograph. To be on the safe side, find out which hotel room surfaces are the most contaminated.

If you are going on a business trip or traveling with your family, one of the possible accommodation options may be a hotel. You can choose in advance how many stars there will be, what class room you will live in, which bed to sleep on, what the view from the window will be. However, one important factor will always be outside your control. It is completely unknown how many microbes will actually be hiding in your room.

Check for cleanliness

To study this issue, the team of the online portal, together with the EmLab P&K laboratory, conducted a special study that helped to find out how the pollution of rooms in hotels of different types of "stars" differs.

A special group of cleanliness campaigners was sent to nine different hotels ranging from three to five stars to collect 36 prototypes in four main positions:

• cleanliness of the countertops for the sink in the bathroom;
• cleanliness of the desktop;
• the purity of the TV remote control;
• cleanliness of the handset.

These things are traditionally considered to be the dirtiest in hotel rooms, since they accumulate the most microbes. To find out the contamination of the selected objects, the participants in the experiment used special devices that made it possible to estimate how much bacteria, yeast and mold cultures are per square centimeter of the surface. All this was measured in CFU.

CFU (colony forming unit) is a standard indicator indicating the number of bacteria forming colonies in 1 ml of medium.

The numbers were also checked for the presence of various types of bacteria:

• bacilli and cocci;
• yeast and gram-positive rods (bacteria that cause skin infections and pneumonia);
• gram-negative bacilli (bacteria that cause respiratory and other infections).

All samples were taken in the rooms immediately after the arrival, that is, after the standard cleaning, which is done by the maid before the arrival of new guests.

The research results were impressive and quite unexpected. Let's consider and explain them below.

Spoiler alert: it's better not to touch the TV remote control!

Research results

The results of the audit showed that ordinary hotel rooms are an order of magnitude dirtier than our apartments, public institutions and some types of transport. It also turned out that the rooms in three-star hotels are much cleaner than in four- and five-star hotels, despite all the amenities that the latter offer.

Room in a three-star hotel. Such rooms are the most popular among tourists due to the optimal price-quality ratio. There is a minimum set of amenities: bathroom, TV, refrigerator, air conditioning and TV, as well as free internet access. The service offered by the services is rather limited.

• The dirtiest surface is the bathroom sink countertop. But here's the interesting thing: It was about eight times cleaner than the countertop in a four-star room, and three times cleaner than in a five-star room.
• The work table turned out to be the cleanest surface.
• Most of all bacteria were found on the examined objects, causing respiratory diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.

Room in a four-star hotel. Rooms with a higher level of comfort. In addition to the standard set of options, there are also necessarily bathroom accessories, bathrobes, countless towels and lovely but absolutely unnecessary interior elements like decorative pillows.

• The dirtiest surface is the bathroom sink countertop.
• The cleanest surface is the phone.
• Most of all were found gram-positive microorganisms (cocci and bacilli), which cause skin and respiratory diseases, as well as fungal infections.

A room in a five-star hotel. The difference between rooms of this type and four-star ones is rather unsteady. As a rule, the view from the windows of such apartments is wonderful, room service is round the clock, and the flowers in the vases are always fresh.

• The dirtiest surface was at the TV remote control, the cleanest at the telephone.
• Many gram-positive cocci have been found, which excite purulent inflammation, as well as gram-negative bacteria. They provoke the occurrence of respiratory diseases and indigestion.

How to continue to live with all this knowledge

Bacteria, viruses and parasites are everywhere, but most of them are found in various public places. It is worth considering the number of people who managed to live in hotel rooms before you check in there, and understand that even with the most thorough cleaning there will not be as clean as your home.

Keep in mind, however, that the bacteria count varies not only by hotel class, but also in different areas of the room itself. Even if there is a frightening amount of bacteria in the room, this does not mean that you will definitely get sick with something, but the risk still exists.

In general, housekeeping exists to reduce the number of bacteria and dust and dirt at the same time. But the whole catch lies in the fact that the means with which the maids disinfect surfaces (rags, mops, gloves) are not individual and are intended only for cleaning one room. Therefore, harmful microorganisms wander with their help.

If you have read everything that is written above, and now you do not want to go anywhere, then leave your panic. Don't get scared right away, there is good news: most surfaces that harbor germs can be disinfected. Many types of bacteria are not harmful to health, but it still does not hurt to play it safe.

If you don't trust the hotel staff or are just very concerned about your health, be sure to take antibacterial wipes or sprays with you on your trip, and then apply them as needed. Also, avoid the dirtiest places in the room, disinfect those surfaces that seem questionable to you, and wash your hands often. You dreamed of just such a vacation, right?

Hand washing reduces the risk of respiratory infections by 16%.

A little life hack: it is not at all necessary to disinfect the TV remote control. You can simply place it in a transparent plastic bag before use.

Have a nice and safe stay!