Hotel rooms house guests fairly constantly, and a new guest cannot know how clean the previous guest was, or whether or not the room was thoroughly cleaned between uses. To improve hotel hygiene when staying in a hotel room, consider the most common areas where germs may accrue, and either avoid them or clean them upon arrival. Checking for bedbugs has also become increasingly more important, and a simple check of the mattress and the area surrounding the bed can save a hotel guest from an uncomfortable and unhygienic problem. Hotel hygiene often means being savvy, not obsessive, about cleanliness.
Most drug stores or corner stores carry small bottles of isopropyl alcohol. If hotel hygiene is a concern, it may be a wise decision to go to one of these stores and purchase a bottle of the alcohol. Use it to wipe down the sink in the bathroom, the toilet seat, and even door handles or television remote controls in the room. This ensures the bacteria on the items has been properly killed, at least to some degree. Even the most thorough housekeepers miss a spot or two, so to be sure the sink and other common areas are clean, wipe them down briefly with the alcohol soaked into a hand towel.
Remove the top cover of the bed and do not use it while sleeping for the best hotel hygiene. While sheets and pillow cases get washed regularly, top covers and heavier blankets often go much longer between washes. This means several guests may have slept in those blankets, potentially transferring bacteria into the material. If the room is too cold to sleep in without blankets, request a fresh blanket from the front desk. Before sleeping in any hotel bed, be sure to check the mattress and area around the bed for bedbugs. Bedbugs are a troublesome pest that can make hotel hygiene difficult, and they can be transported in clothing and luggage as well. If bed bugs are present in the bed or anywhere in the room, ask for another room immediately or find another hotel.
While the bathrooms in hotel rooms usually get cleaned fairly thoroughly, it may be a good idea to wear shower shoes in the bathroom and shower anyway. Foot diseases such as athlete’s foot can spread easily, so wearing shower shoes can help prevent bacteria from being spread to vulnerable areas such as in between the toes and on the arch of the foot.