Hotels Not Changing Sheets Between Guests | One Mile at a Time

Coronavirus or not, you'd hope that any hotel room you're paying to stay in is cleaned properly. That's more important now than ever before, given the current pandemic. We've even seen hotels roll out enhanced cleaning protocols, intended to put guests at ease, and make them comfortable traveling again.

So, are hotels living up to their promises? Inside Edition conducted an interesting experiment in recent days that will likely horrify you:

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• They checked into three different New York City hotel rooms
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• They sprayed washable fluorescent paint (which could only be seen with UV lights) with the Inside Edition logo onto pillows, bed sheets, and bath towels, and applied a washable gel to TV remotes, thermostats, and counters
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• They checked out, and then managed to book the same room for the following night, to see how good of a job hotels did with cleaning rooms

So, how did hotels do? They first checked into the Hyatt Place Times Square:

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• The bed linens hadn't been replaced, as both the sheet and pillow had the Inside Edition logo visible
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• The counter was wiped down and towels were replaced, but the remote control hadn't been cleaned
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• In a statement, a Hyatt spokesperson said they were "deeply concerned" about these findings

Next they checked into the Hampton Inn Times Square:

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• The bed linens hadn't been replaced, as both the sheet and pillow had the Inside Edition logo visible
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• The thermostat and remote control both hadn't been wiped down
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• In a statement, a Hilton spokesperson said the "housekeeping team relied on a visual inspection of the room's cleanliness to determine which areas received attention, deviating from protocols"

Lastly they checked into the Trump International Hotel:

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• The bed linens had only partly been replaced, as the sheets no longer had the Inside Edition logo, while one of the pillows did have the logo
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• The desk and remote control both hadn't been wiped down
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• In a statement, a Trump International Hotel spokesperson flat out denied the report: "Following an internal review, we have concluded that the claims made by Inside Edition are categorically false. Trump International Hotel & Tower New York is one of the premier luxury hotels anywhere in the world and has received countless accolades, including the Forbes Five-Star award for the past 13 years, for its consistently impeccable service."

I love that the Trump hotel is just categorically denying the report... heh.

Here's the full report, should you want to see it:

Bottom line

We've seen these undercover reports several times over the years, and unfortunately the results are always this horrifying. You'd hope sheets would be changed between guests under all circumstances, let alone in the age of coronavirus.

To see such major violations at three different hotels is incredibly disappointing.