Between that, the bed bugs, and the 'protein stains', I have come to the firm conclusion that hotel rooms are just plain nasty.

They DO change the sheets between visitors, right?

There are some things I just don't want to know about.....I'm not sure if this is one of them or not.

Thats disturbing enough to make you drink. Oh wait. Ok disturbing enough to make you drink directly from the bottle.

Great, like I need more to worry about in hotel/motels after the bodily fluid stains, curious odors, and bedbugs.

Next up: They don't actually wash their towels and linens, they just swirl them around the employee toilet and hang them to dry.

Hotels are so expensive in general... I hate that I have to bring my own sheets, towels, cups, etc with to every one I go to.

Yeah, generally when I hear about "ew gross" type stuff, I figure it's just people overreacting, but that's seriously messed up. I'd like to see a virus/bacteria test done on hotel cups... if all they do, every time, is just rinse them out, imagine all the nastiness that builds up over time.

W00H000 I was one of the ones who suggested this to the tips email. When my wife and I watched this last night we wanted to PUKE. This is so criminal it should be prosecuted at the corporate level. The fox reporters checked the maid carts in all the hotels they stayed in (mentioned in the reporters blog entries) and none of them had trays of new glasses so the local hotel management has no plausible way in my book to deny knowledge of the practice.

@mantari: Umm if you check the fox news blog about this story you will see when they checked in they said they would be one guest one day and a new guest the next and NO they did not changed the sheets.

This is why you should pour large amounts of alcohol INTO the glass before using it. Then, just to make sure everything else involved in drinking is sanitized, you should probably drink the alcohol too.

I just stayed in 2 hotels and now I want to throw up.

Ewww!
I promise I will never ever complain about the cheap plastic disposable cups sealed in the little bag at some hotels.

I can't remember if I saw trays of glasses on the maid carts the last time I stayed at the Hyatt. Maybe it was a good thing I only drank bourbon out of them.

So what exactly are we paying hundreds of dollars a night for?

@bohemian:
I have always preferred the plastic, wrapped cups for suspicion of this very thing...suspicion I once thought might be unwarranted and paranoid.

Ok, now I'm grossed out.

I always naively assume that hotel glasses were replaced and cleaned with a dish washer but the video shows that glasses are consistently "cleaned" by rinsing in the bathroom sink and often dried off with a dirty towel or washcloth--even in the expensive hotels. I've used a lot of those glasses. EEEEWWW!

I should add that the cheap disposable cups at some lower end motels may actually represent better service than the fancy highball glasses at expensive hotels since the sealed, one use cups have a chance of being clean...

I stayed in a hotel in D.C. once that had a crappy ac unit (was frozen up, not really cooling room), and I found an empty water bottle up against the bed on the floor. Not too bad.. but then I found toenail clippings under the sheets. Yuck

I always end up bringing a package of disposable plastic cups on road trips, so I inevitably end up using those when I'm in a hotel. Besides they hold more booze than most hotel glasses.

We'll leave the (lipstick on the glass) for ya!

I used to work as a housekeeper at a resort in Breckenridge, CO. Same thing there. Just rinse in water, dry them out, and put them back. We even re-used the paper "hats" that are placed on top of these glasses to give the impression of cleanliness.

Think about it...have you ever seen real glasses on a housekeeper's cart ready to replace the ones you've used?

I only drink from sealed disposable cups in hotels, or disinfect them with hot water from the coffeemaker before using them.

@Aladdyn: If I found toenail clippings, I'd be complaining (only to be offered a free night or something.)

I am convinced that it is exactly this practice that started the SARS crisis in Hong Kong in 2003. An infected man from Guang Dong stayed at the Metropole Hotel in Mong Kok. Within days he was dead, as were several others who stayed on the 9th floor.

I didn't realize it was a practice here in the US.

This makes me glad that I normally stay at Residence Inn hotels which have real dishwashers in the rooms. I stayed at the Residence Inn near Bryant Park last week and was quite pleased with how clean everything was. Not even little dust bunnies behind the TV or in the corners.

Still...this story definitely makes me wonder just how often this sort of thing goes on. It then makes me wonder about the other things, such as ice makers and how often they are/are not cleaned. Some grade school student working with a Uni prof did a small study where they tested for bacteria in restaurant ice machines and for good measure tested their toilets. Guess which one had fewer microbes? I'll have a coke, hold the ice please.

I've been suspicious of hotel room drinkware since the time my morning coffee magically changed color on impact with the mug. The previous occupant had poured creamer (God, I hope so) into the bottom of the mug and replaced the little white paper cap.

Eeew! Thanks for posting this right after I spent my 80th night in a Marriott hotel this year. Never used the in-room glasses myself since they have free bottled water in the full service versions of the hotel chain.

I am pretty sure that the housekeeping carts did have trays of glasses on them at the hotel I was at most often this year (Marriott in downtown Richmond, VA).

The only thing I do regularly in hotel rooms is strip any comforter or bedcovers since I don't think those get washed or replaced often enough. No other real sanitary issues to report except for the occasional stray hair in the shower.

Why would you drink from anything but those wrapped plastic cups? The bar and the restaurant are the only places I feel that the glassware is properly cleaned because I have seen the equipment used to clean them.

Saw this for myself about 10 years ago when I returned to my room in the middle of it being cleaned. The housekeeper was "rinsing" glasses under bathroom tap. Since then, I have stayed at dozens of 4 and 5-star hotels and not once have I seen a cart full of clean glasses or a cart full of dirty glasses being removed. I would stick with bottled water.

I just stayed in a hotel this weekend. Luckily I didn't use any of the supplied cups (only there for one night). I think now I'll pack dish soap with my normal toiletries. :P

@chrisdag:

totally. and either don't use or wipe down the tv remote and phone. you know that stuff never gets cleaned.

@Skeptic: Me too. EWWWWWW. How does a hotel NOT have a giant dishwasher that does nothing but wash room glasses?????

Meh...

I just try to console myself by being even messier and more disgusting than any of the other guests...

(Hmmm...toilet paper, or pillow cover....)

Ha ha, I've never even stayed in a hotel with anything but the wrapped plastic cups! I guess there's something to be said for stinginess!

Hahaha My Fox Atlanta is the news station that did the special investigation into 4chan.org as being a terrorist organization. I dont think i can ever take them seriously again.

This is why I stay at the cheapest hotel possible, bring my own cups, and spray the beds and counters, and anything else with lysol.

Ummm yeah I'd much rather sleep in my car at a rest area when traveling on the road. There is no reason to pay exorbitant rates for a dirty hotel room.

No surprise here -- years in the hotel industry have shown me that there isn't a hotel chain anywhere that spends the money necessary to purchase enough glassware (not to mention the labor dollars needed) to pull glasses from rooms and clean them properly.

What's even more amazing is the fact that health inspectors routinely take the word of hotel managers as to whether or not proper cleaning is occurring.

This is why I stay at Red Roof and use the plastic cups they provide...

@Hoborg: Now I believe 4chan.org is a terrorist organization, thanks a lot.

We stay at Holiday Inn Express whenever we travel and we love it. They use the plastic-wrapped, disposable cups. In the last year they also switched to using nice, white comforters on the beds, so most stains would be very visible. We've never had a bad experience there.

In other words, the good-value economic midrange hotels that have shrink-wrapped plastic cups are actually better for you?

Hey, ya gotta build up antibodies somehow.

What do you think goes on with cruise ships? I hope they're not the same but uggggh.

every hotel I've stayed at recently has disposable cups individually shrink wrapped.

As someone who works for a franchise of a national hotel chain, I was disgusted when I saw the video. While it is not the practice at the hotel that I work at (we send our glasses, coffee mugs and coffee pots through the dishwasher in our restaurant), the sad reality is that this is a common practice throughout the hotel industry.

In response to this story, the brand that I work for sent out an email making sure that we are following the correct procedure for washing glasses and coffee pots. It was almost like they are in damage control mode.

Now I feel slightly guilty about using these glasses for ashtrays (especially in the non-smoking rooms).

I also feel slightly smart for assuming the maids were scrubbing these things out with the toilet brush and never drinking from them myself.

I'd rather sleep in a stranger's sheets than sleep in lysol.

Any time I have suspicions, I call the front desk, tell them something got spilled on the bed, and ask for the delivery of clean linens ASAP.

I can deal with sheets because they usually smell so strong of bleach that I don't think they're stained with human fluids, but I can't over look this. From now on I'm bringing my own plastic cups in.

Having worked in the hotel industry at various levels, beyond room revenue, cost control is paramount to profitability. Generous management rarely allows more than 30 minutes per room. Housekeepers learn how to cut corners while "polishing" the stuff that gets seen and inspected. If you have many rooms, quality control can only be done on a random basis. Even then, a room inspection can not take more than 5-10 minutes max. When I had to do this task, it was like a frickin' game. Finally I resorted to random, but high intensity inspections. I would pick rooms on a semi-random basis (making sure everyone got a turn), start with 20 $1 bills and subtract one for every deficiency found. This worked like a dream, but later my short-term penny pinching bosses nixed it.

Disposable is better on almost all levels except for the landfill part. Recycled paper cups would be best. Not sure it was mentioned anywhere, but the coffee urns are also a "hot zone". Most places, the urn never leaves the room.

Anyway, we started with real glasses per corporate standards requirements and the logistics of maintaining a constantly shrinking inventory on each floor of spotless glasses challenged us daily. In the end, we switched to logoed plastic and took the penalty on the corporate quality assurance scores. You know, all for the health of the guests.

Is this from the hearing impaired channel? Where's the sound?

The spray/blue liquid for washing the glasses is a bit of a red herring. You wouldn't drink home dishwashing detergent, would you? As long as the glass is rinsed well, the unusual liquid in itself should be no problem.

The rest of the report is right on target, though. The health department should throw the book at the hotels, assuming there's no bribery going on.

For washing the glasses yourself, the individually wrapped hand soap and hot water should be enough. TV remote? Don't wash it, put it in a plastic bag.

When are people going to realize that the hotel industry is the overpriced and under-regulated (rather, the regulations aren't enforced)?

There is no excuse why a bed should cost any more than $20 a night. Period. Where does all that money go??

So nobody cares about the workers, huh?

Try and be a little bit more understanding, you guys are the ones leaving them crap to clean, think they're happy about it?

BY MGYQMB AT 12:16 AM

When are people going to realize that the hotel industry is the overpriced and under-regulated (rather, the regulations aren't enforced)?

There is no excuse why a bed should cost any more than $20 a night. Period. Where does all that money go??

More than $20.00 per night keeps the riff-raff out. Almost anybody could afford $20.00 per night. As for where the money goes, well, it sure does not go to the clerks, or the housekeepers, or even the sales manager, or assistant manager, or even general manager. With all those excluded, I am sure you can figure out where the money goes. It isn't very difficult.

The hotel business is a very destructive business to the environment. Think about all those single serving little bits of plastic that wind up in landfills. Think about all those HVACs running nearly 24/7. Think about all that water a hotel uses. The list could go on. Some hotels are trying to be compatible with the environment, but 100% of the hotels I worked at have no environment friendly programs. It is staggering how many resources are wasted to get Joe or Jane businessman from point A for a two day meeting with Joe or Jane buyer with company X.

Forgive my tangent, but I did not want to write the exact same post as TOURPRO AT 11/07/07 08:13 PM. That post fits my hotel experience to a 'T.'

@frank26080115: I don't think anyone was faulting the workers specifically in this report. They seemed to be focused on chains & hotels rather than the workers. With all 5 of the hotels sampled exhibiting the problem, this points towards upper management, not the hourly workers.

@oldnumberseven: It's the hotelier's own faults for not being wise with resources. Conserving resources makes good economic sense when done properly. Sure, there's an up-front cost, but with payback on some of these items being less than a year, it's worth it. Why should HVAC systems be allowed to run 24/7? Why should hotels still have 6.0 gallon toilets in them? I'm not saying they should be legislated out of existence, but no doubt that hoteliers who aren't willing to reinvest into their properties will find their profit margins shrinking as the costs for supplies and energy increases.

@Hossofcourse: They're probably afraid of being sued or fined by the FCC. Some of the Florida TV stations got fined for not running closed captioning during the emergency broadcasts during the hurricanes of 2004-2005. Sad, but true, these broadcasters would have been better off just shutting off their transmitters and telling everyone to go home. Instead, they were trying (under dangerous conditions) to keep the public informed and the FCC fined 'em for it.

@FLCONSUMER AT 04:38 AM
but no doubt that hoteliers who aren't willing to reinvest into their properties will find their profit margins shrinking as the costs for supplies and energy increases.

Actually, the hoteliers probably will not. Many hotels are owned by one company, managed by another, and franchised from a third. When it is no longer profitable the owning company will either