The dirt on hotel rooms

According to the Men's Health Meg ,
they asked several hotel industry insiders to help us peel back the covers on your home away from home. Here's how to make the most of any stay


Know your sheets

Bedspreads are often cleaned just once a month. But sheets can dodge the detergent, too. "Some hotels take a unique approach to the water conservation trend," says our tame housekeeping director. "Unless they look soiled, sheets may not be changed."

The solution: Ask for fresh sheets. "When I travel, I change my own sheets," says one hotel director.


Your bill is bogus

The average business traveller is overcharged $US11.35 ($A17) a night, according to an audit of hotel bills by Corporate Lodging Consultants, a firm that helps companies and governments trim travel costs. Beware of fees for fridges or similar "extras".

The solution: Question every charge, especially at the end of the month, says the hotel controller we spoke to. "It's unbelievable what managers do to make budget."


Upgrades can come cheap

Upgrade at check-in, is the advice of our insiders. Full occupancy is rare - the average in the US is 63 per cent, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and suites are often vacant. "A smart manager knows that the cost to clean a suite is roughly the same as a regular room," says a manager we interviewed.

The solution: Make the hotel more money. Offer 20 per cent more than your current rate for the upgrade; you could be sleeping in a suite.


Some souvenirs have legs

Hotels are a haven for bedbugs. Hotels account for more than 37 per cent of pest control companies' bedbug business, according to Pest Control Technology magazine.

The solution: Scan mattress and couch creases for the reddish-brown blood-suckers and their black droppings, says Dr Jason Rasgon, a professor at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. At home, put your clothes in the dryer on high for 45 minutes to kill stowaways.


Beware the TV remote

Often, the worst germ incubators are the frequently touched surfaces: the heating/air-conditioning controls, phone and remote. Dr Chuck Gerba, a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, actually found more traces of fecal matter on these surfaces than in the bathroom when he carried out tests.

The solution: Use hand sanitizer and wash your hands frequently. A recent study reports that cold germs linger for more than a day on surfaces.

Hotel Key Cards

This is pretty good info. Never even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for the room!

HOTEL KEY CARDS

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card?

Answer:
a. Customer's name
B. Customer's partial home address
c. Hotel room number
d. Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date!

When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.

Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee reissues the card to the next hotel guest. At that time, the new guest's information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process.

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader.

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket.. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip!

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card.

Information courtesy of: Metropolitan Police Service.

PLEASE FORWARD to friends and family