How dirty is your hotel room? Very. Surely you’ve seen those undercover news reports where investigators use a black light to show us things we never wanted to see like body fluids all over the walls and bedding. And what about the video clips of house cleaners unknowingly being filmed using the same rag they used to clean the toilet rim on the bathroom counter. One news team even caught a maid spraying Windex inside a drinking glass – and she didn’t wipe it off!
Now you understand why flight attendants never touch the duvet and wash out the mugs in scalding hot soapy water before drinking coffee! I have a flight attendant friend who covers the television remote with a shower cap and wouldn’t be caught dead walking around her bare feet. But hotels aren’t the only ones to blame. What about hotel guests?
Hotels are a lot like airplanes in that people do things they would never in a million years do at home, like leave wet towels all over the floor. Even I have a deep dark dirty secret that only happens at layover hotels. Two words. Tanning lotion. I’d hate to stain my own white sheets a slight shade of orange. I’ve heard rumors of flight attendants using coffee pots to clean pantyhose. Not so sure I believe that. But one flight attendant told me he uses the pot to heat up soup. I’ve tried using it to make oatmeal but it turned out completely inedible. Better doublecheck the bottom of the iron before pressing it against your nice white shirt since it may have been used to make grilled cheese sandwich. Did you know you can even heat up restaurant leftovers using an iron and a little tin foil? It’s true.
Well all of this got me thinking. Besides the obvious of course, I couldn’t help but wonder what other kinds of disgusting things people were doing in hotels rooms. So I sent out a tweet asking people to confess their deep, dark, dirty, hotel secrets. The responses came pouring in, many of which I’m unable to share here. We’re keeping it clean, people!
Heather Poole 
When I first started flying, the senior gals warned us about bedspreads and remotes. Supposedly they’re ghastly but better safe than sorry. Some coworkers did the shower cap deal. I didn’t but I was careful to say, not eat or brush my teeth after flicking the channels.
Those samples drove me crazy. They went into a drawer. I want a decent bar of soap! The same drawer also hosted all the advertising junk they put all over the room.
I had problems with minibars. Forget all that stuff they put in there. It went in the closet because my Whole Foods goodies needed the space. Better bagels and sushi than their overpriced water and beer! My wrath was vented at the kind of minibars where the bottles couldn’t be removed (they’re almost designed like a pop machine). One hotel, bless their hearts, actually had set aside rooms for F/A’s with empty friges. They knew our needs!
First time I stayed in a hotel with my husband, he was all “wow, we have *issues* here!” watching me transform the room. I actually got worse with kids. I’d call the desk and have furniture and waste cans removed because they could cause my toddler injury and my kids needed more space to play!
I will admit that “hotel time” on layovers was often used to clip toenails, apply facemasks, dye hair and exfoliate my feet, if just because I had the time and peace to do that stuff and not necessarily to spare the mess at home (but that was a plus!)
you never know what would people do at public place. i have a bartender friend who use the used glass to next customer… after used in Jim Beam Coke, he use it to serve a tequila sunrise… he was lucky the customer wasn’t experienced enough in cocktail taste,