Hotels are back in and vacation rentals are out. So in order to prepare for your next vacay. Lifehacker.com provided a list of things in hotel rooms and rentals that typically don't get cleaned and you should take care of as soon as you walk in.
1. Light switches, door handles and refrigerator handles: Everyone touches them, but do we really clean them????
2. T.V. remote, night stands and coffee makers: Even if you don't use the items, you inevitably touch them to put things on them or move them out of the way or just because you are a curious person and have to touch everything.
3. The phone, toilet handles and bathroom fixtures: Things like sink and shower knobs often get a quick graze, but not a full on clean, so be sure to wipe down these surfaces too.
4. Pillows, sheets and furniture: Sure housekeeping changes the sheets, but how often and to what quality levels. A good solution is to bring a bottle of disinfectant alcohol and spray down all pillow, sheets, mattresses and duvets to kill off bacteria and potentially bugs.
5. Floors: Whether it's tiled, wood, carpeted, vinyl or concrete, the floors get a lot of traffic whether it's the house keeping staff, maintenance staff, management or concierge there are potentially a lot of shoes touching the floor you want to walk around barefoot on.
I previously worked at a hotel for about a year and I learned that there are a lot of things hotels do that we as consumers don't give them credit for, but there are still a lot of things that we as consumers should do just to give ourselves peace of mind.
When traveling I typically always stay in a hotel and I actually bring a cleaning kit with me. My cleaning kit consists of all purpose multi-surface cleaning spray to wipe down dressers, desks, nightstands and the list can go on, I also bring a travel vacuum to clean the walls and floors for dust and other dirt. I even bring a travel mop (basically just a Swifter) and floor cleaner, disinfectant wipes and an all purpose bathroom cleaner. I use my own cleaning rags that I steam and sanitize with the coffee maker in the room to get rid of bacteria and stains.
Once my trip is done I will wash everything in my cleaning kit and then I am ready to go for my next vacation. One other area that I like to clean, despite knowing that house keeping staff do clean it is the bathroom, I will clean the shower and the toilet. I would rather be safe than sorry and know that it's been cleaned to my standards than for it to have been forgotten for whatever reason.