RELATED: See the Germiest Spots in a Hotel Room. Even if you’re not in a five-star hotel, you can safely assume that the sheets on your bed are washed thoroughly between guests. But that’s not necessarily so for the duvet, says Brandon Berkson, hotel expert and founder of the new HAP Concierge trip planning service. “Many hotels do not change duvets regularly,” Berkson explains. “So, with that in mind, I often take off the duvet first, before anything. And, this is hard for me to do, being that I’m obsessed with sleeping entangled in my duvet at home.” The travel experts behind One Mile at a Time also question the frequency of duvet washing. And one microbiologist revealed to CNN that the duvets on hotel beds are rarely washed, if ever. RELATED: Never Forget to Do This Before Going to Bed in a Hotel Room, Expert Warns. Keep in mind that the duvet is typically encased within a duvet cover, which you can assume has been fully cleaned in a top-end hotel. Washing protocols also vary from hotel chain to hotel chain. If you want to explicitly confirm that your duvet has been washed, research the hotel chain or ask the front desk about the policy. Some global brands publicize or promote their bedding cleanliness policies, USA Today notes, especially since COVID. Aside from the bedsheets and duvet, which are typically white in hotel rooms, you might see a decorative strip at the foot of the bed known as a bed runner, along with an array of decorative throw pillows. These typically come in darker, colorful, or patterned hues—and that’s by design, so they won’t show stains as they cannot be easily washed. Travel experts say you may want to toss these away from the bed instead of snuggling up with them. RELATED: For more travel advice delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter. Other potentially germy items in a hotel room include the TV remote, which is a high-touch surface that many fingers before you have handled. Travelmath found that five-star hotels in particular had some seriously dirty remotes, with an average of 2,002,300 colony-forming units. Modern COVID-era protocols should take care of this: You might even find your remote encased in plastic to indicate it’s been sanitized before your arrival. But if you’re not sure, simply give it a good wipe down with a sanitizing wipe before use for peace of mind.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb RELATED: Never Leave a Hotel Before Doing This, Experts Warn.
