In a hotel room? Watch your glass.
When traveling and staying in hotel rooms, guests like to assume a certain level of cleanliness will greet them upon walking into their room: fresh linens, crisp towels, a tidy bathroom, vacuumed floors. We want the image—and reminders—of previous visitors wiped clear from the room. Problem is, things that look tidy to the eye may actually be hiding a dirty little secret—a secret that’s just waiting to be swallowed.
An undercover investigation posted on MaxaBlog.com revealed some unthinkable and highly unsanitary acts with the in-room drinking glasses. Reporters posing as guests checked into three different hotels in the Cobb County, Georgia area, including the Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn, and Sheraton Suites—all respectable hotels in their own right. They then set up hidden cameras near the bathroom sinks (typically where you’d find drinking glasses) in each room to capture the cleaning rituals of the housekeepers. What they found was beyond disgusting.
None of the housekeepers in the three hotels replaced any of the used, dirty glasses with sanitized ones. In order to save time, the housekeepers simply rinsed the glasses out with tap water from the still-dirty sink, or just sprayed a blue, Windex-type liquid whose bottle clearly read “DO NOT DRINK” into the glass and simply wiped it down with a cloth. If that’s not stomach-churning enough, try watching the housekeeper go from scrubbing the toilet with her gloves on to rinsing out your drinking glasses while wearing the same gross gloves. Bottoms up!
Due to these negligent housekeeping practices, hotel guests run the risk of getting infected with various bacterial infections including E-coli, salmonella, hepatitis, and various staph infections, including the deadly MRSA—not something you want to come down with the night before a big presentation or while relaxing on vacation.
When presented with the video evidence, the hotels in question either denied comment or insisted that what was caught on tape was not standard practice (although the particular Holiday Inn under investigation soon switched all drinking glasses to individually wrapped, single-use plastic cups for each room).
So, what to do? Put down the glass and enjoy your beverage straight from the bottle or can. Another option? Pack your own plastic tumbler or bring (or buy) several small, disposable drinking cups. If you must have a glass for said 
beverage, run down to the hotel’s bar or restaurant and ask to borrow a few—tell them the manager sent you. Too lazy to leave the room? A “last-resort” option is to wash the in-room glasses yourself under hot tap water using a soapy shampoo and a face cloth. Granted, it’s not the same as running them through a sanitizing dishwasher, but the glasses will be much cleaner than what was left for you.
For a complete listing of the dirtiest hotels on record, check this out.
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