| You don't have to be Tony Shalhoub from the TV | | | | paying for a hotel room, you are paying for a clean |
| series Monk to worry about the germs lurking inside | | | | one. |
| your hotel room. Any time you live out of a room that | | | | Stay Away from Smoking Rooms or Rooms that |
| is not your own, one that may not be as clean as you | | | | Allow Pets: Both smoking and pets - and not to |
| like, you might find thoughts of bed bugs and dust balls | | | | mention pets that smoke - can dirty up an otherwise |
| dancing in your head. You may wonder when the last | | | | clean hotel room. Smoke lingers in the air and rests on |
| time the bathroom was scoured or wonder how many | | | | the tangible items of the room, leaving them discolored |
| people have wiped their dirty hands on the hotel room | | | | and filled with an ash-tray like smell. Pets walk on beds |
| curtains. And, of course, you may fervently hope that | | | | and carpets with muddy or wet paws. They roll |
| no previous patrons lived by the mantra "what | | | | around on the floor with possibly flea infested fur and |
| happens in a hotel room, stays in a hotel room." | | | | mark their territory in foreign places, forever leaving |
| For those who travel frequently for business or | | | | your hotel room knowing that "Spot was here." |
| pleasure, there are a number of things you can do to | | | | Get Rid of the Spread: Ah, the hotel room bed spread. |
| reassure yourself that you are staying in the cleanest | | | | If there is one thing in the hotel room that hasn't been |
| hotel possible: | | | | cleaned in a while it's probably the comforter, a fact |
| Be Picky: When cleanliness is a factor in choosing a | | | | that ironically brings you very little comfort. If you think |
| hotel room, you can't let your decision be dictated by | | | | about it, you probably don't wash your home |
| price: expensive does not necessarily mean clean. | | | | bedspread all that often, perhaps saving it for the |
| Instead, keep in mind the hotel's reputation. Many | | | | "Spring cleaning" times of year. This is often true in |
| booklets and travel guides will rate hotels based on | | | | hotel rooms: bedspreads aren't washed with great |
| several factors, one of these being cleanliness. If a | | | | frequency. The sheets, however, are washed regularly. |
| hotel received five stars for food, but only one for | | | | Simply removing the bedspread, and cranking up the |
| cleanliness, you'll know that that hotel has great food, | | | | heat if it gets cold, can save you from sleeping under |
| pieces of it just might be stuck inside the carpet | | | | a blanket of germs. |
| strands of your hotel room floor. | | | | Hotel rooms may seem impossible to keep |
| Look Around: It's usually pretty easy to tell if a hotel | | | | immaculate: so many people circulate in and out that |
| room is clean or if it's dirty. This doesn't require tracing | | | | it's hard to keep track of all the germs. But, the hotels |
| over every ounce of furniture with a prestine white | | | | reputed for cleanliness are often reputed for a reason: |
| glove, it simply requires looking around. If you notice | | | | they are, in fact, clean. Limiting your traveling to these |
| that the towels are dirty or the bathtub is filled with | | | | types of hotels can also limit your exposure of things |
| slime and grime, then mention this to the hotel room | | | | to which you don't want to be exposed. If you can't |
| staff. If you notice that your sheets are stained or your | | | | limit yourself to hotels known for being clean, then |
| TV stand contains the world's largest collection of dust, | | | | simply travel with your own cleaning supplies, a hazmat |
| don't be afraid to ask to be moved. You aren't only | | | | suit, or, naturally, a giant bubble. |