Don't Drink From Those Glasses!

[bradykp]

Credit Fodor's on line newsletter for posting a link to this report from Fox TV in Atlanta. Hidden cameras show that, in even the most expensive hotels, the housekeepers rinse dirty glasses in the sink and put them out for the next guest. One even handles them with the same glove she just used to clean the toilet and dries them with the last guest's dirty towel . One of the benefits of Motel 6....paper cups.

http://clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/438812?cpt=3

for the record, dish detergent also says "do not drink" lol

 

[Carolinian]

One thing to consider, too, is the public restrooms with doors that open inward and have a handle you have to touch to open. There are a lot of people who don't wash their hands after using the toilet, and then touch that door handle or door knob.

On the relatively rare occaisions the door opens outward, I push it with my shoe, not my hand. Otherwise, I use a papertowel, or if they only have a warm air dryer then a piece of toilet paper to put over my hand when I touch that doorknob or handle.

As far as I am concerned, public health laws should require all public restroom doors to open outward. I also appreciate those in many airports that simply don't have doors at all.

 

[dougp26364]

One thing to consider, too, is the public restrooms with doors that open inward and have a handle you have to touch to open. There are a lot of people who don't wash their hands after using the toilet, and then touch that door handle or door knob.

On the relatively rare occaisions the door opens outward, I push it with my shoe, not my hand. Otherwise, I use a papertowel, or if they only have a warm air dryer then a piece of toilet paper to put over my hand when I touch that doorknob or handle.

As far as I am concerned, public health laws should require all public restroom doors to open outward. I also appreciate those in many airports that simply don't have doors at all.

Or have a mechanism to open the door without grabbing the handle. I've always thought it stupid to wash my hands and then grab a handle by held by Mr. Diarrhea who didn't take the time to wash his hands moments before.

As a nurse there's not a lot of things that gross me out but public restrooms pretty much do the trick.

 

[Leeman]

Carolinain, I agree with you. I always use the paper towel that I dried my hands with to open the doors on restrooms. I don't understand why it not mandatory to have a door exiting a restroom to open outwards.

To the original poster thanks for posting this clip. I was shocked and I would never have suspected the glasses left in the room. Especially at high end hotels. I have always placed remotes in baggies when on travel. I like the idea about putting the sheets in the bathtub and running water on them just before checking out, I will do this at each place I stay. Going forward, I will wash the dishes in the dishwasher before my family uses them,in the past I didn't. Every time we stayed at a timeshare we'd always put the rest of the dishes we used in the dishwasher and run it, just before we'd leave to check out. Seeing as how this was such a similar process, I know this has to occur in many other hotels in other states as well.

It's terrible that the news had to do this project to catch these people as opposed to agency that mandates the standards.

 

[Mimi]

Unsafe Systemic Cleaning Practices in Hotels

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO!!!!!!!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3estl_dirty-hotel-secrets_news

 

[johnmfaeth]

I was working at home one day a number of years back and the maid we had hired (based upon great references) came by. She donned her gloves and proceeded to clean to kitchen lavatory and then went immediately to the fridge and started wiping down the shelves. I was shocked to speechless - that takes a lot

After discussing with the missus, called her that night said we were cutting back. After 4 maids, one worse than the next, we decided that cleaning ourselves was the only good solution.

I expect only the worst when at a timeshare or hotel. I always wash everything myself before using.

 

[AwayWeGo]

That Touchy Issue Hits Close To Home.

I expect only the worst when at a timeshare or hotel. I always wash everything myself before using.

The reason that hits close to home is that the more we think about other people's grossness, the less inclined we feel to use accommodations -- timeshares, hotels, resorts, mox nix -- where various strangers come & go & where the clean-up in between occupants can only be taken on faith. If we don't think about it, then what we don't know doesn't hurt us. But if we do think happen to think about it ...

The thing is, our own grossness is OK because we're used to it & it's ours. But other people's grossness is just gross !

Some folks have such acute sensitivity to the problem that they stay out of hotels, etc., whenever possible, preferring to vacation instead in their own travel trailers, RVs, motor homes, & I don' t know what-all. In fact, I suspect it wouldn't take much to tip The Chief Of Staff over the edge into that category, I don't know. If it came to that, then I would agree to travel with our own sheets & mattress covers & bedspreads, our own floor runners, & just about anything along those lines needed to counteract the offputtingness of staying whether other people have stayed.

If that would not do the trick, then I guess we would no longer vacation much, except in our dinky 35-foot non-traveling travel trailer over by Rehoboth Beach DE.

I can't see us at our advanced age careening down the Interstate in 1 of those big honking Greyhound-size motor homes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Barbeque]

I like Carolinian will use a paper towel to open the door of a restroom to leave and then discard the towel at the waste basket there or at another outside.

The one other thing that I see that is really gross to me is shopping carts at the grocery store especially the kid seats that women will put their purses in later. Or many will stack their food or even vegetables in the kid seat. Johnny just sat there and his diaper leaked.

 

[jstapleton]

Thank you for posting this.
When I was younger, I use to go out on Friday nights with my girlfriends.
We use to go to the same bar each weekend and I would sit at the bar and watch the bartender take a glass, dip in water and take out and dry off the glass
I didn't care how I looked being a girl and drinking a beer from a bottle, there was NO way I was putting my mouth on any of those glasses. :ignore:

 

[AwayWeGo]

Beyond Dip & Swish Behind The Bar.

I use to go out on Friday nights with my girlfriends.
We use to go to the same bar each weekend and I would sit at the bar and watch the bartender take a glass, dip in water and take out and dry off the glass
I didn't care how I looked being a girl and drinking a beer from a bottle, there was NO way I was putting my mouth on any of those glasses.

By contrast, I noticed a Las Vegas bartender (at the Rio) going through a super-thorough sanitation routine using modern wash-rinse & re-rinse facilities right there behind the bar (upstairs at that mezzanine level overlooking banks & banks of slot machines where we viewed the overhead show styled after Mardi Gras).

Remembering that old dip & swish & dry method from the old days, I was surprised & impressed by the extra steps the Rio installed for improved barware sanitation. (I didn't order anything from the bar -- I don't order anything from any bar -- but that's another story.)

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[Lisa P]

I like Carolinian will use a paper towel to open the door of a restroom to leave and then discard the towel at the waste basket there or at another outside.

Same here. I use it to turn off the water and open the door (for me, it's a nurse thing).

The one other thing that I see that is really gross to me is shopping carts at the grocery store especially the kid seats...

Our local grocery chain (Ingles) always has a canister of antibacterial wipes available and handy for customers to clean the handle rail and any other part we'd like. I really appreciate that - especially during flu season.

 

[Steve]

Now that I think about it, how could they wash the glasses properly in a hotel? It would be very costly and time consuming for the staff to replace each glass with a new one, and where would they wash the dirty one besides the sink? The only way would be to wash the sink first, change gloves, take out the disk washing liquid, clean the glass and dry it with a clean dish cloth. Put away the dish cloth, change back to the other gloves and continue cleaning the room. This is a lot of extra work.

I didn't think that it was so bad that one hotel sprayed the glasses with a disinfectant. As long as the glass was well rinsed, and dryed, the disinfectant would not be ingested. We do not drink the soap that we use to wash our dishes!

From now on, I bring my own bottled water.

Having worked previously in the corporate guest relations department of a major hotel chain, I can tell you that all of the glasses are supposed to be washed in a commercial dishwasher just like glasses are washed in a restaurant. The maids take the dirty glasses out each day...just like they take out the dirty sheets and towels...and replace them with clean ones. Not doing so is a serious violation of company policy and also of local health codes.

Obviously, some hotels are lazy and sloppy and probably should be shut down by the local board of health. But the same could be said of restaurants and swimming pools, too. I worked in a fast food place in high school, and you don't want to know what sometimes happened there. Or what has happened in a number of restaurants from hepititis outbreaks to worse. You certainly don't want to know what happens in public swimming pools.

So, if you're going to be really careful, cook all of your own food and certainly do not go swimming. Of course, that might ruin your vacation...but I think both eating out and swimming in public pools are riskier activities than drinking out of hotel glasses.

Steve

 

[ladycody]

I too worked at a high end hotel in Boston and the glasses were cleaned in a dishwasher. They had clean racks of glasses available on each floor should they be needed by housekeepers (guest request etc) but, as a general rule...it was the minibar staff (a subdivision of room service) that put in fresh glassware...not the housekeeper that cleaned your bathroom.

On a personal level...I try not to think about it too much.

I check things fairly carefully but, like another poster, tend to believe that most people will use a dishwasher where available. I will clean the coffee pot because it's the one item most likely to be left dirty that a housekeeper might handwash. I also bring a ziplock with some folded anti-bacterial wipes to use when we first arrive for a quick once-over. I check my sheets carefully and always throw them in the tub with the dirty towels when leaving to ensure that they get changed out for the next guest.

Having worked in both hotels and restaurants...if I worried about things I know could be wrong at every restaurant and hotel and coffee shop and store I visited (things that I know are wrong in more of them than I care to admit to myself)...I'd be badly obsessive/compulsive or even downright agoraphobic....and where's the fun in that?

 

[dougp26364]

Having worked previously in the corporate guest relations department of a major hotel chain, I can tell you that all of the glasses are supposed to be washed in a commercial dishwasher just like glasses are washed in a restaurant. The maids take the dirty glasses out each day...just like they take out the dirty sheets and towels...and replace them with clean ones. Not doing so is a serious violation of company policy and also of local health codes.

Obviously, some hotels are lazy and sloppy and probably should be shut down by the local board of health. But the same could be said of restaurants and swimming pools, too. I worked in a fast food place in high school, and you don't want to know what sometimes happened there. Or what has happened in a number of restaurants from hepititis outbreaks to worse. You certainly don't want to know what happens in public swimming pools.

So, if you're going to be really careful, cook all of your own food and certainly do not go swimming. Of course, that might ruin your vacation...but I think both eating out and swimming in public pools are riskier activities than drinking out of hotel glasses.

Steve

If you're refering to urine in swimming pools, that's not really much of a worry. First off, unless someone has a urinary tract infection, urine is bacteria free. You also have all that chlorine or bromine to take care of other nastys that get into the pool. The biggest risk in a public pool are the swim diapers. They do not keep feces contained in the diaper and babies have accident. Now feces is unlike urine in that it does have a lot of nasty bacteria running around in it (no pun intended).

As for fast food restaurants I guess I was lucky when I was a kid. Nothing really disgusting ever happened that I can recall. I wouldn't say they were exceptionally clean but then again, very few home kitchens are. Being a nurse I always wash my hands before handling food as well as between handling different foods. In watching other people prepare food at home I certainly can't say the same for most. Cross contamination is a great way to spread bacteria.

You can't avoid bacteria and I don't believe we should put as much effort into as some people seem to do. However, just rinsing off glasses time and time again is setting the bar a little high in the risk catagory IMO.

I remember years ago seeing the maid carts with racks of glasses in them. The problem is that seems to be a fond memory from long ago. I recent years I can't say I've seen one maid cart that had glasses in those brown plastic racks on them. For that matter I don't recall seeing a maids cart big enough to hold racks of glasses to replace in the rooms (and take the old glasses out).

Maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention. Maybe hotels have found they're not being checked on this and are purposely cutting corners to save a buck. All I know is after that video I will be paying more attention to the maids carts and, if I don't see clean glasses on them and racks of dirty glasses going out of the rooms I'm not touching those glasses provided in the rooms. For that matter if I notice they're not replacing the glasses I might just quit staying at that hotel chain figuring if they're cutting that corner then what else isn't being cleaned properly as well.

 

[Picker57]

We were having dinner with friends & family at a semi-upscale (well, semi-upscale by our standards anyway) Chinese seafood restaurant at a seaside resort we all enjoy. Across the way from our table but straight ahead of where I was seated & in my direct line of vision, I saw the bartender polishing some brandy snifters by breathing onto them to make them foggy & then rubbing them shiny with his bar towel, holding them up to eye level so he could spot more places that needed polishing. I don't drink brandy -- consumed my entire lifetime capacity of alcohol by the time I was 45 -- so I am out of the loop about barware sanitation. That is, maybe high-proof brandy kills all germs & so the bartender's breath is nothing to fret about, I don't know. But if the bartender had stopped to think about it, surely he would have realized the customers shouldn't see him breathing on the glassware out there in the open. Sheesh.

One time we were having BOGO-coupon supper at a countrified hillbilly-theme restaurant in Branson MO. I swear, when the kitchen help came out to reload the buffet serving dishes, I could hear Dueling Banjos playing in the background. I don't really think the look of those folks was part of the country ambiance the place was striving for.

A friend's daughter used to work at a Wendy's fast-food restaurant. Based on her experience slinging burgers, etc., she warned, "Don't order the chili at Wendy's." I never asked her to elaborate.

Back in college days in Charlottesville VA, I had a friend who liked to say, "Remember, when you eat at Jim's be sure to punch a hole in the roll so they can't serve it again."

So it goes.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

These are hilarious - would probably be even moreso if I (a) wasn't a brandy drinker and (b) didn't like Wendy's chili. Jeez...life'll never be the same.

---Zach Kaplan

 

[johnmfaeth]

Hi Zach,

Yes, sipping Jack Daniel's does have the effect of killing anything living in the glass. Works for me...

John

 

[JudyS]

The Chief Of Staff's late grandfather used to say we're each going to eat a pound of dirt in our lifetimes anyway so what the heck -- or words to that effect.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

My mom used to say you have to eat a peck of dirt in you life. And I'd reply, "Yeah, but what if the time you finish your peck of dirt is when you die?"

I kind of wish I hadn't read this thread! Maybe I was better off not knowing.

 

[hvsteve1]

Fox 5 New York just did their own version. Housekeepers in two upscale Times Square hotels were caught doing stuff like washing glasses and drying them with dirty towels. One used a dirty washcloth to clean the toilet then wiped down the counter top with the same fetid rag. They then showed the clips from Atlanta. Hotel chains said, in this latest expose', it was an "isolated incident" and a violation of their procedures. Naughty Maids! (Sounds like an adult video title I once had).:hysterical:

 

[billymach4]

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?p=427323&posted=1#post427323

Maybe one of the moderators wants to merge threads???

 

[Blues]

This has been making the rounds all over the internet -- not just TUG.

A co-worker, not on TUG, forwarded the same information. Another co-worker responded as follows:

"I worked as hotel maid to help pay for college. The number of rooms assigned and the number of items to take care of per room makes real cleaning pretty much impossible. Housekeepers have to cut corners in order to get through their assignments or else get docked or fired. A common practice in the place where I worked was to straighten up sheets instead of changing them; usually this was if the same guest was staying another night, but not always....

When staying in hotels, I use the plastic-wrapped plastic cups (not the glass ones), I try to minimize my skin contact with the outside of the bedspread, and I check the sheets before getting in. And I never eat any food that I drop onto the floor (not even the 5 second rule)."

 

[SandyW]

I once worked in a mid-price range hotel, so I can verify that the information posted here regarding hotel maids is absolutely true. As a result of that experience, whenever I travel, in addition to not using hotel glasses, or coffee cups, I always carry along a can of Lysol Spray. I use it to spray the bed sheets & pillows, headboard, bed spread, carpet, shower, toilet, bathroom floor, chairs and especially the telephone and TV remote.

 

[Karen G]

Hotel drinking glasses

This video clip might make you think twice before using those glasses.

 

[dioxide45]

The same may hold true for timeshares. How well do you know those glasses and table settings in the cabinets and drawers were cleaned before you checked in? I know that most timeshares have dishwashers, but is there any way to prove that dirty dishes left behind by a guest were actually run through the dishwasher?

 

[AwayWeGo]

I Will Not Be Using Those Hotel Glasses -- Not Till I Wash'm.

There was some recent major serious discussion related to this right here on TUG-BBS.

Click here for that.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[hvsteve1]

Well, here's an update on the "clean thing". We just returned from a cruise on Regent, a luxury cruise line. They had something in the public restrooms I had never seen, but a great idea. As with upscale hotels, the rest rooms used regular hand towels that were then dropped in a container...no paper towels to open the door. However, on the door itself was a small dispenser for mini paper towels and a small trash can, also attached to the door. It was actually there for the purpose of opening the door and disposing of the towel as you walked out. What a great idea