No matter how clean and shiny a hotel room may look from the outside, there are often certain things inside that can secretly carry the most dirt and germs. Clean bedsheets, shining mirrors, neatly placed towels, and a fresh fragrance may make people believe the room is completely hygienic, but the reality can sometimes be very different.
Surprisingly, the bathroom is not always the dirtiest part of a hotel room. Some of the most commonly touched items are often not cleaned as thoroughly as people think.
One of the dirtiest items is often considered to be the TV remote. It is among the most frequently used objects in a hotel room. Almost every guest touches it, but not everyone uses it with clean hands.
Because of its small buttons and edges, properly cleaning a remote is not always easy. In many cases, housekeeping staff may simply wipe it quickly from the surface. As a result, food stains, sneezing germs, cough droplets, and bacteria from dirty hands may remain on it for a long time.
This is why many travellers clean the remote with tissues or sanitizer as soon as they enter the room.
Another commonly ignored item is the decorative cushions and colourful fabric runners placed on hotel beds. White bedsheets and pillow covers are usually changed regularly, but decorative cushions and fabric pieces may remain unwashed for several days.
Guests often place bags, shoes, or outside clothes on them, and sometimes even sit directly on them after returning from outside. Because of this, many experienced travellers remove these decorative items from the bed immediately after entering the room.
The electric kettle or coffee maker in hotel rooms also worries many people. Most assume that boiling water automatically makes everything clean, but the real concern is whether the machine itself is cleaned regularly.
Sometimes these appliances are not properly cleaned, which may allow bacteria or fungus to grow inside them. Some travellers wash the kettle before using it, while others completely avoid using hotel kettles.
The drinking glass placed near the bathroom is also not always considered completely safe. Several reports have claimed that in some places, glasses are only rinsed with water instead of being properly disinfected.
Sometimes the same cloth used to clean other parts of the room may also be used for the glasses. Because of this, many people prefer washing the glasses themselves or drinking only sealed bottled water.
Apart from this, items like light switches, door handles, telephones, curtain handles, and small buttons near the bed are also touched frequently but may often be overlooked during cleaning.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, awareness around these things has increased significantly, and many travellers now consider carrying disinfectant wipes an important travel essential.
