Former Hotel Employee Shares 7 Things You Should Never Do In A Hotel Because Of How Nasty They Are
Checking into a hotel usually means it’s time to relax—you’ve reached your new home-away-from-home. However, you shouldn’t get all too comfortable, as the room might not be as spotless as you would think.
New-York-based model Angela Riihiluoma pointed out some things to stay away from while in a hotel room. The TikToker shared useful advice she learned while working in a hotel herself. Her video quickly went viral, which encouraged Angela to reveal more about the dos and don'ts of staying in a hotel in her follow-up videos. Scroll down to find her tips below.
Hotel rooms seem clean at first glance, but it’s better not to touch certain things as they might be filthier than you think
Image source: angelariihiluoma
"I worked for a hotel a while ago, doing some like marketing stuff. And the gentleman that I was working with had been working for hotels for 20 years and this was top-secret information he shared with me that I'll share with you."
This former hotel worker revealed the dos and don'ts of staying in a hotel room in a TikTok video that went viral
@angelariihiluoma i was shocked to learn this 🤢 #hotelroom #hotelcleaning #cleantok #travel #traveltiktok #TakingCareOfBiz ♬ Oh No - Kreepa
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Check the bed for bedbugs. I stayed in a hotel once. Two weeks later, it was in the news for having a massive bedbug infestation. Nothing came home with me. Oh my God, was I terrified! I was living in Minnesota at the time. So I took everything I had and shoved it outside in the middle of the winter. Negative 30 degrees will kill just about anything if it's in there long enough. But yeah, just lift up the corners of the bed right when you walk in for any little, like, black dots that could indicate like fecal matter from the bedbugs or eggs. Look for anything crawling around. You don't have to go all the way under the bed. Just pick up the corner. I've never seen anything, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
This is a real threat to even the best hotels and can ruin a reputation. Our family owned hotel is managed by a 5-diamond collection (to keep it anonymous given our location, can’t say which) and although we’ve luckily never had an incident, our team inspects around mattress at head of bed every day, every bed. Even Aman has had to deal with the occasional bed bug scare.
Never ever, ever, ever, ever use the coffee machine in a hotel room. Why Angela, you may ask, why ever don't? Because apparently, some people like to use it as a urinal. So I don't care how addicted you are to coffee. Don't touch the coffeemaker.
I feel like at this point, everybody knows not to use the top cover. Just take it off, take it off, just throw it on the floor
Like our hotel, many are doing away with comforter or bedspread because they’re pricey to wash, repair, replace. We have duvets and covers and a knitted throw much like the picture above. We change covers & throws on turnovers or if spill or stain happens. For turnovers, we spray the actual insert with an industrial, CoVid-safe disinfectant before applying the new cover. Always. Between each guests.
Don't use the ice bucket. Unless, of course, there's like a plastic liner in it. But for real, for real, don't use it. People like to use those as puke buckets, as urinals, again which why? There is a perfectly good, perfectly good bathroom. Why? I guess you could be sick, maybe? Or it could be a cultural thing. Maybe some people think they're, like, chamber pots or something. But this is not Regency England.
Do not use the glasses that they put in the bathroom. You know, like, the really nice glass glasses. Apparently, housekeepers only have so much time to turn the room and so more often than not, they're just wiping them with Windex. They won't even wash them.
We clean the glasses. They get swapped out with clean glasses, the dirty glasses go in a dishwasher. It's required by our health and safety rules. This is in BC Canada.
Bring flip-flops. Apparently, it's extremely common for people to just do a number two in the shower. So yes, please bring flip-flops. I think it will give all of us a greater sense of hygiene
Always, always, always wear socks or slippers in the hotel room. Well, why is that? Because they never ever, ever wash the floors.
Yeah, that's right. Floors are nasty, nasty. You'll notice anytime you ask for slippers, they are not white. And that would be because the floors are filthy like Christina Aguilera.
Ours are hardwood and, admittedly, spot mopped by housekeeping. We do an actual mop on turnovers.
Cleanliness is the top priority for hotel guests, which is why it’s essential to give the housekeeping staff enough time to take care of the rooms
Staying in a hotel should be a worry-free experience. There’s no need to clean up, you have all the necessary amenities, even the bed is being made for you. However, not taking care of things yourself means not being sure whether they’ve been properly cleaned.
Research of microbiological contamination in hotel rooms reveals that certain areas gather more bacteria and suggests they should be cleaned more thoroughly. “Room attendants should focus their limited time in the guest room to cleaning those surfaces that are more likely to be contaminated,” it states. Some such areas include several parts in the bathroom—the toilet basin, the bathroom floor, and the sink—as well as the main light switch.
Angela pointed out that due to the little time the housekeeping staff has for each room, they might skip certain things in there. For instance, the glasses you find in the bathroom or the bed covers.
Not having sufficient time can lead to hygiene violations, which is why it’s crucial to properly distribute the workload among the housekeeping staff. A 2021 study emphasized that it’s important to evaluate the time it takes to clean each type of room when planning the tasks. It suggests managers should assign the number of rooms per person per shift taking these factors into consideration.
It’s essential as cleanliness is guests’ number one priority. PR Newswire presented a survey commissioned by CLR, which revealed that it’s the top criteria for 86% of people looking through online reviews for hotels and vacation rentals.
Reading the reviews of a specific hotel is one way to make sure the room meets certain standards. People in the comments under the TikTok video pointed out that the level of cleanliness depends on each place of accommodation. Some of them used to be housekeeping staff themselves and ensured that all of the things Angela mentioned in her video were properly cleaned at their workplace.
Some people in the comments were shocked to learn this, others shared contradicting opinions
Please please stop believing made up stories by attention seeking idiots on tiktok
As much as I refuse to believe most of it, I wash cups, spoons, glasses etc before using them. Used to work in a massive hotel chain and after seeing a maid cleaning glasses with a toilet brush makes you a bit paranoid. All in all I prefer to stay in small hotels 10-15 rooms where housekeeping is not overworked by cleaning 30 rooms per maid so standard in those rooms are as good or better than a 4 star airport hotel with 700 rooms.
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Having spent a couple of decades working all over Europe and staying in many many hotels, I can wholeheartedly say that most of this utter horsepoop. The only nightmares I have had are one hotel in London that I couldn't actually sit on the toilet without having the door open so I could put my legs out the door, another hotel in London that had cockroaches, and the bedbug incident I referred to above. I've had some very strange hotels, but they were all clean and safe to stay in.
meh, some of that might be true, but the average human being can handle some dirt and some germs. You'll be ok. (i cleaned summer cabins for years)
Please please stop believing made up stories by attention seeking idiots on tiktok
As much as I refuse to believe most of it, I wash cups, spoons, glasses etc before using them. Used to work in a massive hotel chain and after seeing a maid cleaning glasses with a toilet brush makes you a bit paranoid. All in all I prefer to stay in small hotels 10-15 rooms where housekeeping is not overworked by cleaning 30 rooms per maid so standard in those rooms are as good or better than a 4 star airport hotel with 700 rooms.
Load More Replies... Having spent a couple of decades working all over Europe and staying in many many hotels, I can wholeheartedly say that most of this utter horsepoop. The only nightmares I have had are one hotel in London that I couldn't actually sit on the toilet without having the door open so I could put my legs out the door, another hotel in London that had cockroaches, and the bedbug incident I referred to above. I've had some very strange hotels, but they were all clean and safe to stay in.
meh, some of that might be true, but the average human being can handle some dirt and some germs. You'll be ok. (i cleaned summer cabins for years)
