Hofstra1

Is there such a device as a small portable gauge or meter that travelers can carry with them to measure the air quality in their hotel room, especially mold?

Ackislander

The issue, like testing for prostate cancer, is what are you going to do about it if you find it?

If one room in the hotel has mold, it is more likely than not that they all do.

If you have severe mold allergies, there may well be areas of the country you should avoid -- notably Florida and the southeast. I would be suspicious of Hawaii as well.

Hofstra1

While I appreciate this response, it does not answer my question. Is there such a portable devise being manufactured? Also, if I was given a motel room with mold, I would just move on to another motel in that same city having no air quality problems and a meter or gauge, if available, would indicate this.

jamesr3939

The best gauge would be your eyes and nose. I doubt there is anything that will test on the short term for what you want or without sending off to a lab; which would then be to late.

kelliebellie

From what I can find, I don't think it has been invented yet. I did find this:

http://www.amazon.com/First-Alert-Mo.../dp/B000HYN1DW

But you have to mail your samples away to a lab.

Otherwise I think you'll have to rely on the ol' nose.

Ackislander

"Reliable sampling for mold can be expensive, and requires equipment not available to the general public."

Arizona Health Department


There's your answer.

If this is an issue for you, you need to inspect the room before you check in. Do not expect to get a refund just because you find the room moldy. The standard answer will be "no one else ever complained."

J62

I am sensitive to mold and smoke odors - if I can smell the room when I walk in I know I'm in for trouble. Often times an open window will do the trick. What make me laugh is is when hotel staff will come in with a bottle of perfume, spray it thick enough to create a toxic cloud, then call the room clean.

Mold and smoke can be deeply embedded into any fabric - rugs, sofa, curtains, and the 1/2" thick layer of black dust on the air filter, so even if they change the bed cover that doesn't make a room clean. Only a very deep cleaning, or in some cases completely redoing the room will clean it up totally. There's a lot of surface area in fabrics onto which airborne stuff can absorb.

Once, long ago, I checked into a non-smoking room at a roadside hotel. Ash trays were all over the room, and it was definitely a smoking room. The solution? The staff came in and removed the ash trays and toggled the sign on the door to non-smoking. Great. It was only for a night, and I survived, but not without discomfort.

Chladyg

When we drive to a hotel I always take an air filter with me. Even no smoking rooms have been cleaned with scented cleaners.
(In Disney ly I left a note for the housekeeping staff to please not use the scented whatever stuff and they kindly stopped. )

Hofstra1

A friend just called and said he found a website that lists a portable air sanitizer that destoys mold. Using your search engine it is Germ Guardian UV-C Light Wand.

kelliebellie

It doesn't have great reviews on Amazon, but there are only two of them.

I like the light-sabery shape!

Rich

We carry a spray bottle of Febreze when we go on road trips . . when we first get into the room, spray down the A/C and the curtains/bedspreads . . then back out and spray all around.

Go to dinner, and when we return the room is fresh as a daisy . .