This post is brought to you by Amerisleep. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Amerisleep, all content and opinions expressed here are my own.
Premise
The standard line of thinking is you get what you pay (or don’t pay) for. That is, the level of cleanliness for a hotel bed and room is commensurate to the level of quality and stars of the hotel. Nicer hotels should be cleaner than cheaper hotels. But, is that really the case? I’ve taken a dive on graphs and data provided by Amerisleep on the cleanliness of the quintessential hotel bed, as well as other bedding and linen violations, to understand the methodology, rationale, and consistency.
This is the first in a series of articles focusing on hotel cleanliness and health code violations, backed by various studies and datapoints. More can be found on my blog page!
Hotel Bed – Bedding/Linen Violations
Amerisleep surveyed over 8,000 inspection reports from over 3,500 hotels, motels, and inns, to compile the below data points on hotel sheets and hotel beds. Surprising, that five-star hotels had over three times as many bedding violations as four-star hotels, and about the same number as one and two-star hotels. Four-star hotels fared the best, at just five hotel bed or linen violations per 100 inspections.
More details
Unfortunately, the study does not go into detail and only reports at a very superficial and high level. The government site that Amerisleep referenced, only pointed to violations for “Bedding, bed linens, towels” without distinguishing between them. Additionally, these violations were not marked as severe or requiring immediate correction. It simply means the inspector noted a problem of that category. I also do not have access to the inspector’s notes, so could not be more specific. I would guess that they include things like unsanitary sheets, tears/holes, and other problems.
The varying degree of issues was also not reported in the data and thus not included – it could be a minor or major issue, but all were simply recorded as a violation.
Trust, but verify
Amerisleep also linked to a study done by Travelmath, which found that three-star hotels performed better than their pricier four and five-star counterparts on hygiene issues. The study found that three-star hotels had about 1/8th the germs of a four-star hotel, and 1/3rd the germs of a five-star hotel. These tested standard surfaces like bathroom counters, remote control, desks, and phones.
Hypotheses?
Much of this discrepancy, I believe, has to do with the standardization of service quality and cleanliness. Chain hotels achieve economies of scale and good ones fall in the three to four star categories, implementing best practices and lowering violation counts. By comparison, five-star hotels are typically unique, with differing layouts, making their cleanliness more difficult to standardize. This could be the rationale behind lower germ counts or bedding violations for three and four star hotels. For the one and two star hotels, they may spend less time or care on it, because the rates are lower. This requires them to either pay their staff less (resulting in poorer quality of service), or cut corners elsewhere.
Conclusion
Readers, for the most part, should not be alarmed. If there are violations – you can point them out to the hotel management. Lastly, don’t let an issue with the hotel bed or room ruin your luxurious getaway – be proactive, speak up, and communicate your concerns. Much like public safety, the motto flows well into health & safety as well – if you see something, say something.
Featured Image from Pixabay. Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Amerisleep, a mattress company, and may contain affiliate links which, should you click through and/or make a purchase, grant me a commission. Also, I only post in the best interest of my readers. Lastly, thank you for supporting my blog and my travels.
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Like “how are hot dogs made?”, there are some questions you may not really want the answer to. At least with 4 and 5-hotels, you would expect they would rectify any situation immediately. Good luck with the 1, 2, and 3-star properties.