Is it true?

[DisneyKT]

Im leaving for Disney tomorrow and more than one person has told me that they don't change the bedspreads between customers. Please tell me they are wrong. I mean ick. I will have to buy a bottle of Lysol spray for sure.

 

[mariolatry]

Most hotels don't change the bedspreads between customers. The blanket is also not washed very often. Usually once every 2 or 4 weeks. The sheets should be changed everyday unless otherwise noted (i.e. they'll ask you if you want the same sheets for your entire stary). If you Google the topic, there were some interesting articles about this recently. Mostly it's a cost-cutting measure disguised as eco-friendliness.

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

DisneyKT,
Call housekeeping as soon as you get there and ask to have them changed or even oops...have some kind of spill accident so they have to be changed.

I always throw ALL bedding into the bathtub when we checkout along with the wet towels in hopes that everything gets taken out and replaced. It doesn't help our visit, but I hope it helps the next persons.

 

[Colinsmom]

Yes, it is absolutely true. Also true what the PP said about blankets not being washed very often. We just came back from the Beach Club, and our sheets were NOT changed daily even though I didn't see anything saying that they would not be.

DisneyKT,
Call housekeeping as soon as you get there and ask to have them changed or even oops...have some kind of spill accident so they have to be changed.

Note that this just gets you a different bedspread and blanket - not necessarily one that has been cleaned recently. Worth a try, I guess, but don't lull yourself into a false sense of security!

 

[Beck's mom]

Last week at Pop Century, we were leaving when the maids were cleaning on our floor and I noticed the bags of bedding to be washed contained the bedspreads. I too thought the spreads weren't washed every time, but maybe this is something Disney does? It was consistent in each of the bags so it didn't appear they were washing some of the spreads because they were soiled and leaving others.

 

[traci]

that's just gross. think of coming back from the parks after a hot day and ploppling down on the bed...now imagine 50 other people doing it before you. sick

 

[DisneyFreq]

I hate to gross everyone out but I've worked as a housekeeper at a very UPSCALE condo in Destin, FL. We don't wash the comfortor between guests unless there is a visable spoil/stain/sticky spot. The blankets generally get folded up and put back in the closet. The only time that ALL the bedding gets washed is when the unit is scheduled for a deep clean...which in most cases is only once a year.

Even tho you may be paying $100 plus for cleaning, the maids get less than $40 and management pockets the rest (mostly for maintenance). The turn around rate is so fast, we wouldn't have time to wash the comforters.

Don't think that I condone this! I only did it b/c thats what I was told to do... I had NO idea that this was standard practice until I took a position in this line of work. Now I cringe everytime I lay down on a hotel bed. I try not to EVER do it without clothes! However, I don't get too upset about laying on a hotel comforter in clothes...I look at it as comparatable to sitting in a seat at the movie theatre. The seats are covered in fabric and you can bet they NEVER get cleaned.

 

[rchristiansen]

...I look at it as comparatable to sitting in a seat at the movie theatre. The seats are covered in fabric and you can bet they NEVER get cleaned.

I was thinking the same thing - what about a sofa, or bus seat, or a plane seat or a park bench, or a door knob, or whatever.

Also, Lysol is only supposed to be used for non-porous surfaces, not fabric.

You don't sleep on the comforter, you sleep in between the sheets. Also, from what I remember there are two sets of sheets - one above the blanket and one below.

 

[Reese]

Yuck!

I think the first thing I'll be doing is peeling the bedspread off and that way when I get back and just want to lay down we can do it on the clean sheets.

 

[Disneyrsh]

Yeah, I know, it's kinda gross. But hey, germs are *everywhere*.

Usually what we do as soon as we get into the room is peel back the sheets so the only surface you sit on on the bed is sheets, the blankets and comforter are folded underneath, presumably only contacting each other and not us.

 

[Huntava]

Before I heard that hotels rarely washed the bedspreads, I just assumed they were cleaned every time (ignorance is bliss). Now that I know they are rarely washed, ewww. I will do what some other posters have said and just take them off, fold them up and put them away. The only other thing I read on another posting about a month ago was about bed bugs. Again, something I had not thought of til I read it hear. Now THAT grosses me out!

 

[traci]

okay not to freak you out even more.....BUT before our trip I actually had a bug crawl into my ear!!! It was a silverfish. long, lotsa legs. very creepy. The kicker is I had had a bug man out about 10 days proir to spray for spiders. Our home is only 2 years old and I keep a VERY clean and tidy house. Here's what happened...


I woke up because I felt a bug crawl into my ear. I awoke dh and he fussed at me saying "it's unlikely to be a bug go back to sleep."

Of course I couldn't sleep because I KNEW it was a bug. I could feel it. Finally he got up and looked at it (3 hours later) and saw its legs (are you creeped out yet?). He tried to pull it out but it just went deeper! It hurt and I started to cry. hard crying. When he would shine a light in my ear the bug would go bezerk and start moving all around like it was trying to escape...only it was going the wrong way!! I was about to pass out.

I was bawling uncontrollably because I didn't know if it was a spider, and if it would bite me or lay eggs!!! Plus I am a germ freak so the thought of a live creature inside me about made me vomit!

He called an ear/nose/throat doc he knows and he met us in the ER to get the creature out.

The bug was still alive when he pulled it out!

I am all better now but just had to share my yucky story!

 

[SandrainNC]

When we went to the beach this year I immediately pulled the blanket and comforter off of both beds and hid them in a drawer (so housekeeping would not put them back on) and then threw them back on the beds before we left. Since we drive, we can take our own quilts or comforters. I know germs are everywhere, but some things are done in hotel rooms that are not done (ok, hopefully not or not as often) on movie theater seats or on buses, etc. We do spray lysol on stuff too like the remote control and telephone. This won't get rid off all germs of course, but anything to help.

Sandra

 

[BoPeep]

I do agree that it's gross about the bed comforters, but I think you probably come across grosser things in the parks. There are kids picking their noses everywhere!! Where do you think they wipe their, um, "findings"?

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

I now fold the bedapread and tuck it in a corner in any hotel room.IS there a way to get a clean blanket though? We use those because with the Ac it does get chilly in the room.

 

[POB14]

I don't want to gross people out even further - but I will

At a conference, I had the opportunity to meet a fellow prosecutor who is a nationally recognized DNA expert (he consulted - but his advice was not followed - in a case involving the initials O.J. a few years ago). Anyway, he once had to examine evidence from a comforter in a 4-star hotel, and he found over 40 . . . uh . . . DNA samples.

After that, he started using gloves and removing the comforter from every hotel bed he sleeps in!

(Still think you come across grosser things in the park, BoPeep? )

 

[Colinsmom]

You don't sleep on the comforter, you sleep in between the sheets. Also, from what I remember there are two sets of sheets - one above the blanket and one below.

There are at some hotels, but were not at the Beach Club last week!

The thing that completely grosses me out is that the comforters are pulled directly over the pillows each time they make the bed - so even when we throw the comforter in the corner each day, if they put it back on... ewwwww!

 

[cillakat]

i travel a lot and my kids used to *used to* get sick a lot. More than was needed to build a strong immune system

i've got some protections in place now, some of my own invention, some are ideas from friends who travel 5 days a week for business.

1)we fold up the bedspreads and put them away.

2)we ask for additional sheets and put them over the furniture. sounds crazy, i know...but if you saw that 20/20 episode, you'll know why. they *always* balk at this but I firmly insist.

3)i use alcohol hand wipes on everything as soon as we come in...the phone(s), the tv...everything. i also bring a tiny spray bottle with 50% alcohol 50% water and i spray any necessary surfaces and wipe them down.

4)i firmly take out the blankets and request fresh blankets that have been washed and dried in hot water.....stating that one of my children has severe allergies and asthma (true) and immune issues (well, a stretch unless you consider the allergies the immune issue which it kind of is).

5)i call house keeping and request that they not enter the room at all unless i request that the room be cleaned. while they would be cleaning the room, they would also be tracking in everyone elses germs on their carts/bodies/hands and filling my room with dangerous fumes from strong cleaning products. (there's good evidence to support a link between asthma and fumes from various cleaning products). i just put the trash in a plastic garbage bag and let them know when there's trash to be picked up.

6)as soon as we come in the room from a park, we all take off our dirty clothes and head for a quick shower (or at least wash hands/feet). we put clean clothes on.

7)at night before bed, if the kids are fresh out of the bath, great, they can get into bed....if they bathed earlier, they wash hands/face, i wipe feet with hand sanitizer right before they get into bed.

8)i bring baby wipes to just wipe down the counters, sinks, faucets and of course i have the alcohol spray to swipe down the back of the toilet, toilet handle, seat and rim every day (with a babywipe).

sounds extreme and i know it is. we're really not germ freaks at home, but i really just can't risk lila getting sick when we're away from homebase. it doesn't make my kids compulsive...they're *so* far from that, but some ppl would probably have to be careful on that front.

every time we get in the car (from the parks, or someplace at home like target or school), we do hand sanitizer and do wash hands when we walk in the door of the house.

we now get the normal 1-2 colds per year (which i knock out quickly with vitamin A, zinc, ech/goldenseal, C) instead of a cold every few mos. my kids had the flu for 1 day 2 yrs ago (stopped it in it's tracks with the aforementioned supplements).

the above measures, though extreme have been very helpful.

once you've seen the actual reports of semen on the bedspreads and e coli on the phone/remote/tv......well, that just about does it!

your best bets for clean things in the rooms are towels and sheets and pillowcases....so use accordingly

katherine in atl

 

[Disneyrsh]

okay not to freak you out even more.....BUT before our trip I actually had a bug crawl into my ear!!! It was a silverfish. long, lotsa legs. very creepy. The kicker is I had had a bug man out about 10 days proir to spray for spiders. Our home is only 2 years old and I keep a VERY clean and tidy house. Here's what happened...


I woke up because I felt a bug crawl into my ear. I awoke dh and he fussed at me saying "it's unlikely to be a bug go back to sleep."

Of course I couldn't sleep because I KNEW it was a bug. I could feel it. Finally he got up and looked at it (3 hours later) and saw its legs (are you creeped out yet?). He tried to pull it out but it just went deeper! It hurt and I started to cry. hard crying. When he would shine a light in my ear the bug would go bezerk and start moving all around like it was trying to escape...only it was going the wrong way!! I was about to pass out.

I was bawling uncontrollably because I didn't know if it was a spider, and if it would bite me or lay eggs!!! Plus I am a germ freak so the thought of a live creature inside me about made me vomit!

He called an ear/nose/throat doc he knows and he met us in the ER to get the creature out.

The bug was still alive when he pulled it out!

I am all better now but just had to share my yucky story!

Oh, God, Traci, the hypochondriac/overactive imagination nutball inside me is flipping out.

TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!!

 

[Disneyrsh]

I do agree that it's gross about the bed comforters, but I think you probably come across grosser things in the parks. There are kids picking their noses everywhere!! Where do you think they wipe their, um, "findings"?

Naw, no problem there. They eat them.