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Occasional news stories on hotel cleanliness — or lack thereof — reveal that top dollar doesn’t always buy a clean and healthy home away from home.
To avoid the gross-out factor — and perhaps to skip contracting an illness — on your honeymoon or business trip, you might consider calling ahead for more than the nightly rates. Here are a few probing questions to ask:
Does the establishment’s housekeeping director/manager know what he or she is doing?
You can be more polite than that, but consider this: While cleaning is generally considered a low-education job, it involves microbiology and judicious use of pesticides and cleaning chemicals. It’s not enough for a manager merely to understand these subjects; she must have the leadership skills to train and motivate a team of people to clean your potential room properly. So how does he get the expertise required?
Good old-fashioned education. Associations, such as the International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA), provide access to education and resources in the art of clean.
Answers to look for here: The housekeeping director/manager is a registered executive housekeeper or R.E.H. for which a bachelor degree is necessary. Or, she is a certified executive housekeeper or C.E.H. or is pursuing less formal programs, which also mandate hitting the books — such as IEHA's curriculum involving 330 hours of intense study on subjects such as pest control, laundry and linen, housekeeping techniques and continuous improvement.
Is the hotel certified?
CIMS (Cleaning Industry Management Standard) certification is the brainchild of the ISSA (International Sanitary Supply Association) and several cleaning-related associations, including IEHA, and ensures a baseline of standards. Your candidate hotel has probably built on elements of that foundation to form its own benchmarks, but it’s nice to know you can count on a minimum criteria. In the case of CIMS, this means the establishment has numerous checks and balances in place, like written room cleaning instructions and documented employee training.
Getting specific, how does the housekeeping department ensure germ-free glassware and coffee mugs?
A recent news exposé videotaped hotel housekeepers violating health codes. They were cleaning the drinking glasses with toxic window cleaner right in the room — or not really cleaning them at all.
Answers to look for: While individually wrapped, disposable cups lack romance, they’re a pretty good bet for clean and healthy. Alternatively, the housekeeping staff should be able to name the employees who daily gather dirty goblets, glasses and mugs, cart them to the dishwasher and furnish the rooms with a fresh, sanitary supply.
Bonus question: Do they use triple sheeting?
Not extremely widely employed, triple sheeting uses one bottom sheet, one top sheet under the blanket and one top sheet over the blanket. Sandwiching the blanket or comforter gives it extra protection from human contact and allows for more frequent laundering of bedding than use of a large, bulky bedspread.
