These are the dirtiest places in your hotel room, and it's not what you might expect

While you might assume that the germiest place in a hotel room might be the toilet or the mattress, you will be surprised to learn the truth.

dirtiest places in hotel room
© Sasha Kaunas
dirtiest places in hotel room

Whether you are visiting extended family or planning a trip for the vacations, traveling is stressful. Along with dealing with airplane ears or food that can have negative consequences for your health, there's also the matter of hotel rooms.

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No matter how good a hotel room looks, there's no way of perfectly ascertaining how deeply it has actually been cleaned. For all you know, it could just be looking clean.

Here are the dirtiest and the most germiest spots in your hotel room, according to experts.

Beware of hotel doors

In a report by Express, Dr Primrose Freestone, senior lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Leicester, revealed the dirtiest places in your hotel rooms.

As per the expert, door handles and lift buttons are the primary spots for germ collection. So while there is no way to avoid touching these, it is advisable to wash your hands soon after.

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Do not touch your face after touching hotel elevator buttons and stairwell door handles  Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd.

Again, the toilet is less likely to be dirtier than an average toilet at a home, because bathroom and toilets tend to be cleaned regularly.

Also, while bedsheets and pillow cases are changed regularly, soft furnishings like curtains, blinds and cushions aren't, and so tend to harbour germs.

Bacteria count difference between hotel and home

The amount of germs in hotelelevator buttons and stairwell door handle, was looked into by a study by Upgraded Points.

As per their report,

The average hotel elevator button has 1,477 times more germs than a household bathroom door handle and 737 times more germs than a household toilet seat.

This is definitely a strong reason to wash your hands more often. Again as per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), just by not touching your face after coming in contact with these surfaces, you can lessen the chance of acquiring the infections and germs lingering there.

Again, as per the study, while you might assume that cleanliness will be at a higher level in upscale hotels, it's not that simple. Just the higher number of people involved in cleaning might lead to more germs being transmitted.

Sources used:

Express: ' Tourist warning as expert exposes the dirtiest areas in a hotel room'

Upgraded Points: ' Average Hotel Elevator Button Has 737x More Germs Than Toilet Seat [Study]'

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