Oh thank you lady in red! Before I was worried about the telephone. I figured no one would ever wipe it off. And I won't even touch the bedspread except to fold it up and stick it on a chair where it remains until I check out. Now I can worry about the keycard. I've seen too many TV shows like 20-20. I try not to think about it.

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

I always take along something to disinfect/clean the surfaces that we will touch...didn't really think of the keycard though...hmmm.
Dirtiest room I've ever had was on a Princess Cruise (of all places). You know how you look at those ships and go off into dreamland thinking "one day I'M going on one of THOSE." Well, I found them to be stinky, dirty and dingy....there goes my dream!!

as I've said here MANY times before...I've stayed in MANY hotel rooms and never got sick...and I really didn't take that many precautions other then walkin around in socks...i'm with adella...what didn't kill me probably made me stronger! Liz...who has a cast iron immune system from flying in enclosed cylinder tubes and staying in a bazillion hotel rooms for 30 + years!

Remember the link to the video someone posted a month or so back? The one about the coffee cups? UGH!!!! I am scarred for life over that one! LOL!

I always get home w/ my key. I never remember to turn them in. I keep Purell in my purse and on my last hotel stay carried my own drinking glass. They had changed out the coffee pots and they made 1 cup at a time and had a little disposable dispenser. They had stripped the bedspreads off the beds and they were all on a cart in the hall. Maybe the pressure is getting to some of those places.

I saw a news expo on the bathroom glasses. They don't replace them or really clean them. They even showed one cleaning person use the same white towel to give a glass a wipe after she just used it on the toliet. Yuck!

I use to laugh about the stories my DH told about his mother cleaning a whole place before staying in it. She use to pack cleaning supplies to take with her on their driving vacations. Now I see why. I think I will be taking some of those bleach wipes with me whenever I stay at a hotel.
Clare

I'm with Liz ...I have stayed in so many and if I was that offended by what might be left there...I just wouldn't stay....and what I find amusing is that for all the ewwwwwww's we make about people who have stayed in the room before us, the next person is moving in and doing ewwwwwwww's about what you left so I just don't worry too much about it and I have never been sick from staying in one that I know of..

I worried about the bathtubs when I bathed my toddlers on a trip. And I have always wondered about the glasses. The bedspread is also something to think about in some hotels.

But with all the news these days about the problem that hotels are having with bedbugs, I cringe. The stories go on to tell how travelers bring home the bedbugs in luggage and clothing and have a very very difficult time eradicating them, as does the hotel. DS's firm had a bedbug problem in their offices last summer--an extremely posh set of floors of offices that have gorgeous furniture and unbelievable NYC views. I assume business trips often ended at the office, where luggage was stored till the end of the day's trip home, and the critters infested the offices that way--and then went home to nest.

I would think it would be the pillows, most places I've stayed in only have a pillow case, not pillow protectors. Can't imagine that they clean the pillows, I do take my own pillow when I can, or else I will put a bath towel on the pillow.
Call me weird if you want!

DH always talks about that stuff when we are in hotel rooms. I shared with him the best advice I have.

"Don't lick anything".

Tee hee!

I'm with Liz and ruthieg, don't worry about it, have never gotten sick and life goes on.

One time I found a roach crawling on the dresser and popped a glass over it, weighed it down and left a note that I worked for the health dept. and maybe they needed to do a little extermination. Nearly everyone in the hotel that day was from the State and County health depts. lol.

Key Cards can't be any worse than a dollar bill or a quarter. Money must be the worst in my opinion.
Judy

I thought that the key cards were replaced. I hardly ever return mine.

I always figured the dirtiest thing in a hotel room was the remote control...

I'm another one who never turns the keycard back in.

I don't either, most hotels don't expect them to be turned in, they are disposable.

"Don't lick anything".

Tee hee!

I think I love this answer...

I don't want to know what has been done in my Hotel Room. I try not to think about it.

Gayle

You know,I could never figure out the big "thing" with the glasses.I haven't stayed in hotels much but every one I ever stayed in had plastic,disposable glasses,each individually wrapped in sealed cellophane.I thought they all did that?? Maybe in the more expensive,higher class ones they have "glasses" that are reused,(which makes no sense to me),but I have never stayed in one of those.I always take my own pillow and usually my own insulated mug or bottled water anyway.
I agree with Judy.You never know where that money has been!LOL

i'm with liz, ruth and dances in the garden..
grew up under the impression that everyone eats a bushel of dirt in their lifetime. you know that there are studies showing that (being exposed to dirt/germs) isn't half bad for you immune system. evidently they help you fight off illnesses. my sister is a clean freak, her asthmatic kids turned into sickly asthmatic adults. my 2 premmie/sickly kids with asthma turned into sturdy, non-asthmatic adults
diggerb

Do Not, I repeat, DO NOT ever drink from a bathroom glass in a hotel room unless it is disposable & wrapped. I watched a video about how they get cleaned and it made me sick! In one instance the woman cleaning the room grabbed a towel off the bathroom rack, sniffed it, and then used it to wipe out the glass, then returned the towel, (neatly folded) to the towel rack and placed the glass back on the counter. I was so grossed out!
Where I work we sell cleaning supplies to Hotels etc. You would not believe some of things I have heard!

Don't you folks have more important stuff about which to worry?

o j

The bed think of all the people who slept,had sex.yuk.........

When my 87-year-old Auntie lay dying, I asked the doctor, "Why is she lingering? She hasn't had anything to eat or drink for SEVEN days." (She'd had a massive stroke.)

The reply: "These are sturdy people. Born before the advent of antibiotics and germ-cleansing sani-wipes, they're a tough bunch and their bodies have built up resistance and natural immunities to just about anything and everything. People of this generation are very, very strong and tough people."

I agree with Ruthie and the others on this. I don't think it's wise to become obsessive about germs. And like the others, I've stayed in lots of hotels and never got sick.

Rose

I know I'm drifting off topic here but, James Herriott, the veterinarian and author of the All Creatures Great and Small series writes about being a vet in Scotland in the 30's, 40's and 50's. When an animal died the knackerman picked it up, took it home and "processed" it into dog food. Herriott remarks about the knackermans' kids playing on and around carcasses of animals that have died from every known disease. "The knackermans' kids were the healthiest ones in the district." Their immune systems were kicked into high gear.
I don't go out of my way to get exposed to something but, I'm not going to live my life in a shell to avoid it either.
When my cousins kids were little every time they sneezed she'd run to the Dr. and get them antibiotics. Now, they're asthmatic, sickly young adults. When my kids got a cold we just let it run its course. Made sure they had plenty of fluids, etc. They rarely get sick.
Just one mans opinion.

Ron

Allways take the key card. We heard that they can store your credit card info on them. cut them up at home.
Had our absolutely worst hotel experience ever about a week ago. drove down to Ohio to see new grandbaby. We were headed for Florida and stayed in a hotel, 'cause the kids house was full. Well, DH and DS#3 went to check us into a local no tell hotel while I gave nursing lessons to DDIL. DH was not ready to sit there while we discussed nipples! LOL!
We left there late in the evening and we were TIRED! When we walked into no tell hotel, I cringed! But, didn't dare say a word to DH. He went out side for a smoke and I pulled the covers off the bed I was going to sleep on. the blanket looked like swiss cheese and had stains on it, crusty ones! I flipped the worst to the bottom of the bed.
that night I had dreams of bed bugs and head lice, plus whenever I got cold and started to pull the blanket up, I'd wake up and push it back down.
At breakfast the next morning we shared our experience. He had the same dreams of bugs I had!
Next time,we will run like he!! from a place like that. Still get the heebie jeebies thinking about it.
Oh yeah, about 20 years ago boys and I got headlice from a hotel. DD didn't, she slept on the floor in her sleeping bag! That was Ohio too!
Kathy G in MI

I'm with whoever said"that that don't kill you will make you stronger" !! I don't worry about things like this,i don't get sick very often,never had the flu etc.Raised my kids the same way,and we're a healthy bunch.I'm just about 70 now,so no sense in changing what ain't broke!! JMO
Kathi

I heard that the remote control for the TV was the dirtiest. Don't they throw the keys away after each person?
I saw a special on TV the other night where they hid a camera in the bathroom while the maids cleaned it. These were nice, very well known hotels. They showed in three different hotels the maid just wiping out the drinking glasses. In one scene, you could hear the toilet flushing and some swishing around like she was cleaning the toilet and then she touched the glasses and wiped them out. YUCK!!
Did anyone else see this?
Lu

I am probably safer at the worst hotel than I am at my sisters house so I just refuse to worry about germs.

Here's the video.

Here is a link that might be useful: hotel maids

LOL....I didnt start the post to get you all worried about germs...just kind of a FYI topic. And I can tell you that those key cards cost the property about 30 cents a piece and I expect them back. They are re-usable which doesnt mean disposable. Also...there is NO information about the guest on they keycards. Not a name...not credit card info....absolutely nothing. The only thing on a key card is the room number and the length of stay...and the only way for someone to find out that is if they had a keycard reader of the same kind.

Thank God we have wrapped plastic cups and wrapped coffee cups.

And...I am along the same line thinking that what doesnt kill you makes you stronger. However....Staph can kill...you might wanna carry along some germ killer for some of the places you stay!!