Hotel Bed Spreads
 

Can someone tell me how often are the bedspreads in Hotels and /or Motels washed? I have a funny feeling that it is not fresh for each guest? Is anybody else bothered or as grossed out by this as I am, and if so, do you sit on it, or use it at night for cover????? Just wondering......

the only ones I'll use as a blanket are the duvets ... Westin Heavenly, sheraton sweet sleeper, Loews, etc.

Never sit on them. First thing I do when entering the hotel room is yank off the bedspread.

They get dry cleaned every other week at some hotels, less often at others.

How often do you wash them at home? Judging by "looking-like-new" it's not done even after every other guest... You sit on that arm-chair in your hotel room, on a bus, on an airplane, touch a library book somebody read before... how much worse a bedspread can be? And why do you think the blanket is cleaner and changed after each guest? And how do you know a pet did not use this bed just the night before? Just stop thinking about all this, enjoy your vacation! Turn it off if it's bothers you, you can't change it anyway so why be bothered? Do you sanitize the remote or the telephone before you touch it? Or a light switch? Take it easy, life is too short!

I never touch the bedspread except to pull it off the bed. Totally grosses me out. I never touch the blankets or comforter, either. I really appreciate the hotels that have triple sheeting where the blanket has a sheet on the top and bottom of it so it is totally covered.

Do you grab the handrail of an escalator?Think about it...........

Never!

I wish my biggest concern in life was the bedspread.

LOL at Mike....i bet the bedspreads are gross.

What I have against the blankets and bedspreads is that they are not changed until who knows when, we've even asked the housekeeping staff and they don't know. Now, I do sit in public seats but they have not had the sexual activity that those blankets and bedspreads have, not just even the naked butts. We ALWAYS check the beds and if we see body fluid stains, and we often have, we call housekeeping and have them change our blankets/and or bedspreads.

I have a friend who is a NYC police officer and she told me there was 12 different DNA "samples" on one hotel bedspread where someone who sexually assaulted. Ugh!

Comparing handrails and other items to bedspreads is like comparing apples and oranges. I never sit naked on an escalator rail (Might be a thought tho, lol)or put it up by my face. Same with other items mentioned.

As for the bedspreads, never sit on the unless fully clothed and don't use them as covers. I also try to make sure the blanket is covered with the sheet before putting it close to my face.

I think I stayed in that hotel with the 12 DNA samples on the spread....

Old news.
This has been hashed and rehashed here before.
And the topic's been examined on 20/20 or one of those shows.
No the bedspreads don't get washed often.
Yes they contain lots of dried human bodily secretions and dead skin.
No they shouldn't be touched with any part of your body which you'd like to remain semi-clean.

If you really want to avoid the spreads, you can ask housekeeping to remove it from the room when you check in. They just make your bed without the spread during your stay. I've never been refused this simple request and the reasoning is implicit to management. LMF

Why not buy an RV where you can always live in your own standards of cleanliness? I agree that the thought is not so pleasent, but I refuse to dwell on it, that I'm going to enjoy my travels. I've never been sick, nor known anyone else to, where I could attribute it to a "used" bedspread. Chill!

Even my kids now rip those spreads off as soon as we get in a room! Thinks about all of the changed diapers, too! Too many gross things to list happen on those beds. The remote controls and telephones are gross too, feces has been found on them. Yuck, yuck, yuck! It doesn't keep me from traveling, I just have my ways for trying to keep the crud off of me.

I sat on a flight with a couple of flight attendants. They had two words of advice - kick the bedspread off with your foot and never use the coffee pot. The second was because they assert cleaners have 1 rag - and only 1 rag - for everything they clean (coffee pot, toilet, shower, floor whatever).

I wash the coffee pot and coffee cups with bar soap and clean towel upon entering our room. Takes only a minute and I feel much better.

Never thought about the coffe pot! Now I have to add another ritual to the madness of staying in a hotel room!!! My family will be ever so greatful!

*grateful

Are you people for real?! I've actually been living in a hotel for the past 11 years and wonder of wonders, I'm alive to tell about it. Even bigger wonder....I've been sick only once in all that time! And yup, the housekeepers clean in here, even clean my kitchen with their "one rag". What is gross is this thread, you all!! Yikes and double yikes.

Oh, come on, just wash it and run on "empty", I mean just run hot water through it and poor it. After that it's safe to make coffee.

And remember to wash the ice buckets and glasses they leave there.

Why don't we all bring our own inflatable beds and camp in the middle of the hotel rooms?

How many of you sanitize the toilet and the shower walls? Just think of who was taking the shower before you and what DNA samples you can find there?

Will the next MONK be based on this post?

Hey, I'm just sharing what the flight attendants do.... I lay on the bedspread and eat dinner while watching the news.... No pride here....

Message to Olive Oyl who claims to have lived in hotels for 11 years and never gets sick.... It could be that your body has been exposed to so many pathogens from dirty rooms that your immune system has built up armies of antibodies that would stave off any infection.
An immunocompromised person such as an HIV or chemotherapy patient would not be so lucky in a filthy room. Feces on the remote control and the phone? GROSS

Olive lives in a Hyatt because her husband is the GM. She's not making that up.
Her point is also well taken that your exposure topathogens in ahotel is not really different than your exposure in other places beyond your home. You touch door handles at restaurants right before you put your fingers in your mouth. You shake hands with people. You touch money which has been who knows where.
All of these activities expose you to potentially harmful bacteria/viruses.
But most people aren't affected most of the time.
The example of immunocompromised patients is irrelevant. They're susceptible to everything in their environment whether home or away.

I think if I were staying in rooms where I often saw signs of body fluid stains, I'd consider upgrading my lodging. If you've gotta worry about crap on the remote, or the phone, it's time to spend some of that filthy lucre and upgrade to a 2-star or better....

I agree. Her point is well taken, albeit rudely expressed.

All of you, calm calm, calm down. I just SIMPLY asked a question about how the bed spreads are treated and some of you are acting like I am a neurotic. I was just wondering, I didn't want to be pounced on. I will think twice before asking a question next time. I appreciate HELPFUL the feedback.... not the SILLY answers :)

I realize nothing I most likely won't get sick or anything from touching or sleeping on bedspreads in hotels... it's strictly a mental thing. I know they are dirty and it bothers me. So I choose to remove them when I enter the room... no big deal.

Two weekends ago we stayed at the Hyatt in Chicago. A four star hotel. In the middle of the blanket was body fluid with a pubic hair in the middle of the stain. The head board had streaks of body fluid. Housekeeping came to clean and even agreed it was gross. The manager sent up two bottles of wine. I'm just saying, hotels beds have a lot of sexual activity and I don't want to sleep in the middle of it. I always check.

....so if you don't see anything visible then there's nothing there?

I agree with previous posters about not sitting on the bedspread. In addition I have also heard that the TV remote control and telephone are often not clean either. There have been tests done on various items in hotel rooms. It's not uncommoon for a bedspread to have bodily fluids (semen, etc.) and the phoine and TV remote control to test positve for E. coli. from people not washing their hands after using the restroom. I know this is gross, but these are important things that we should be aware of.

One of the best ads going today is the Dial soap ad, "you're not as clean as you think". Cute little golden retriever lapping out of the toilet bowl upstairs...why do they love it so, even with clean water bowls (and even our cat does this) then hears the front door open and down the stairs he runs, tail wagging, so happy to see his mistress coming in. And she's sooo happy to see him too, crouching in the hall and presenting her face to him to receive his sweet wet (toilet bowl) kisses all over her face. "You've not as clean as you think!" And think where his feet go, and our cat's feet go, then they hop up on the couch, curl up on our laps, hop up on the bed, "shake"! You just can't obsess about this stuff, and taking a bedspread off with ones feet surely sounds as if there might be a problem.

LOL OO. My kids watch the dog and cats lick thmeselves "because they can" and swear they'll never allow the pet to give them kisses but when it comes down to it, they must forget 'cause there they are getting all the licks!!!!

If you think about it too much the germ thing can get you freaked out. Pushing the grocery cart, holding any hand rail down a staircase, and for the spritual, how about the pew at church. Listen carefully to the number of sneezes you hear during service!! Germs are all over!

Suzie...how could I forget about the licking! LOL It's a wonder our pets live either! Straight e coli.

Now it's been a long time since I've taken Communion, I must confess, but when I did last, all the minister did between parishoners was take a little silk cloth and swipe at the lip of the chalice, and used the same cloth wipe after wipe, person after person. Has that changed? (Episcopal Church)

The chalices at communion are immaculately clean(ed).

Sweet! another topic! Chalice's! :-) OO is right, they are just wiped after each person. And some even have mustaches that dip into the wine. My husband says the alcohol kills the germs....ummmmmm maybe I usually elect to take the single glass which is also offered in the Lutheran Church.

This is it! Thank you thank you thank you CD! You have the solution!!! Just spray alcohol over that dreaded beadspread! Unless of course you want to clean yourself from inside out then just drink it. Cheers :)

Dang! I thought I must have a really good immune system since I rarely get sick. Now, I find out it is really the cocktails!

My husband and i always think about those "germs" that Suzie listed therefore we try not to touch this or that. We are not pet people. If you sit and watch a dog and what it licks and then they lick humans......very gross.