My client's fear of the bedspread...eek!

Kelsybelle

Active Member
Original Poster
While talking about WDW with a client yesterday, she was sharing with me her list of things that had to be done to her room prior to checking in. I was really surprised about the way she handles the resort bed. This particular woman requests that mousekeeping double sheet the bedspreads in her room, requesting that all of them be changed and done over again everyday. Sometimes she even has 2 comforters and 4 pillow cases (of which she washes at least 2 x's during her stay) from home shipped to where she is staying and doesn't even use the bedspreads at all, just the mere thought of touching one was almost enough to send her into a tizzy! I have never heard of anyone doing that and it sure seems like a lot of work!
How often are the bedspreads changed in the resort rooms?
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Many people don't use the bedspreads at hotels. It's not unique to Disney.....
 

britdaw

Well-Known Member
I think she's being a little excessive, but maybe she's a germophobe or something. I have heard a lot of people who refuse to use hotel sheets when they travel. There are so many horror stories out there about hotels that don't change the sheets, so I understand the concern. However, as long as the sheets look clean, I'm not gonna worry about it too much. But after going to a hotel and finding a dirty diaper rolled up in my bedding once, I always check the bedding before sleeping in it. LOL
 

Kelsybelle

Active Member
Original Poster
Many people don't use the bedspreads at hotels. It's not unique to Disney.....
Of course it's not unique to Disney, I always fold the bedspreads down at any hotel I stay at. I just thought she was being a little extreme and since she goes to WDW atleast 2-3 times a year, yes her situation is unique to Disney!:)

I think she's being a little excessive, but maybe she's a germophobe or something. I have heard a lot of people who refuse to use hotel sheets when they travel. There are so many horror stories out there about hotels that don't change the sheets, so I understand the concern. However, as long as the sheets look clean, I'm not gonna worry about it too much. But after going to a hotel and finding a dirty diaper rolled up in my bedding once, I always check the bedding before sleeping in it. LOL

OMG that is horrible! I agree, there is reason for concern, and it's always a good idea to give everything a once over! I bring clorox wipes with me and as we get settled into our room, I wipe down the doorknobs, remote control, alarm clock, phone, ect. just for my own peace of mind.
 

wm49rs

A naughty bit o' crumpet
Premium Member
Of course it's not unique to Disney, I always fold the bedspreads down at any hotel I stay at. I just thought she was being a little extreme and since she goes to WDW atleast 2-3 times a year, yes her situation is unique to Disney!:)

And how do you know that she doesn't have the same concerns with other hotels? It would seem that if she's this concerned with bedspreads at Disney her wouldn't be limited to just those resorts.
 

Kelsybelle

Active Member
Original Poster
And how do you know that she doesn't have the same concerns with other hotels? It would seem that if she's this concerned with bedspreads at Disney her wouldn't be limited to just those resorts.

Really? I stand corrected, I'm sure she has issues with other places that she stays.
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
I do the bed bugs check but try not to think of all the other thongs that could gross me out. I'm 37 years old, slept in a loooot of hotel beds in my life, and I've never been harmed by one. :lol:
 

jlevis

Well-Known Member
I think about some of the places I slept in while in the Army and Disney is the last place I would worry about. :)
 
I always fold down the bedspreads in any hotel or resort room in which I sleep. I would not bring my own bedding and go to the extremes of your client, however.
 

R W B

Well-Known Member
Yea your client is crazy lol. I give everything a look over but that's it really it. I don't use the bedspread but that's because I get too hot, to be honest I hardly use the sheets because I don't get cold enough.
 

Clever Name

Well-Known Member
There are certain bodily fluids that are naturally fluorescent and can be detected with a battery operated UV black light. The bedspreads at Disney are seldom washed. :wave:
 

Clever Name

Well-Known Member
This article is from the AAA magazine Via.

And you base that statement on??? :shrug:
How Clean Is Your Hotel Room:

They bid her good night, told her to sleep tight, but neglected to mention the bedbugs that bite. Erin Sturges woke the next morning, after itching all night, in her rented room in a well-known motel chain. Red bumps developed on her neck and face a week later. Her skin was crawling— and so was something on the sheets. "Bugs," says Sturges, a sales representative who lives in Berkeley, Calif. "It was like something out of Stephen King. I wanted to scream."

Sturges complained to the manager, who reimbursed her for her room but not for her visit to the doctor. She had contracted scabies, not to mention a case of the heebie-jeebies that lingers to this day. "Now when I'm traveling I can't help wondering," Sturges says, "how clean, really, is this room?"

It's a question that occurs to many of us when we pull off the road and stop for the night. Sure, lots of places leave the light on. But how can we really tell if they've changed the sheets?

The short answer is we can't. There are no specific cleanliness standards issued by most counties or cities, though many states do have health requirements. In California, for example, if a hotel or motel lacks sufficient lighting, windows, or heating or is infested by vermin, it can in theory be shut down.

Enforcement is another matter. There's no one-stop shop that regulates hotels and motels by cleanliness alone. "A lot of it is guest driven," says Jim Abrams, president of the California Hotel & Lodging Association. "The marketplace often dictates what a hotel does."

So do common sense and common decency. It's standard practice, Abrams says, for hotels and motels to wash and change sheets between guest stays. (In some states, it's also the law.) Vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, providing fresh towels—all are a widespread part of daily routine, according to Abrams. They are, for example, at the Renaissance Parc 55 in San Francisco, where director of housekeeping Jeanne Gafar says her staff regularly cleans curtains and wipes down counters and telephones with disinfectant; bedspreads are washed at least 10 times a year. Other hotels contacted for this story said they do the same. "We also pay very close attention to what guests tell us," Gafar says. "We read those little cards for their suggestions and complaints."

Hotels that ask for feedback might not always like what they hear. Ten years ago Chuck Gerba, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona, conducted a study of hotel cleanliness. The results? Well, let's just say that bacteria you'd expect to find in the toilet often turned up on the TV remote control. "Generally, what we found is that the more you paid for your room," Gerba says, "the better the chance it was going to be clean. There's a direct relationship."

It's possible, Gerba says, to catch an unfriendly bug from a dirty hotel room—but you're unlikely to get anything much worse than a stomachache or a cold. Just to be safe, Gerba travels with disinfecting wipes so that he can clean surfaces on the spot. Travelers who don't feel like going to that trouble should consult guidebooks like those put out by AAA, whose hotel ratings are based in part on cleanliness.

To qualify for a single diamond in AAA's One Diamond to Five Diamond rating system, a hotel must meet "basic cleanliness standards," says Kelly Bell, the California State Automobile Association's manager of approved accommodations. That means vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, and changing sheets regularly, especially between guests.

"If it meets our standards," Bell says, "that doesn't mean you're never going to find a hair in the sink or crumbs under the bed. But it does mean we think the place is pretty clean."

Even so, Bell admits, the first thing he does when he checks into a room is pull the bedspread off the bed. "Are you kidding?" he says. "You never know what people have done on those things."


They obviously don't wash bedspreads between guests. Take your chances. :wave:
 

kashmir

Active Member
A woman I work with says she hates hotels for all the germs...yes, she has a phobia. So she brings a silk sleep sack and lays it over the bed...doesn't even get under the covers! And she won't walk barefoot in any area (pool)(carpeted room) of the hotel!
I'm sure if I thought hard enough about it, I could feel pretty sick to my stomach - I did watch a 60 minutes episode about the black light reveals in hotel rooms. But as a previous poster stated, I've never been harmed by bare feet in the room, or sleeping under the sheets, etc. I guess I'll take my chances. I do check for bedbugs, for cleanliness and scraps that might have been left behind each day, but I'm really happy to go on vacation!
 

kstella

Member
I agree with taking basic steps to keep yourself as safe as possible but people can tend to get carried away with germophobe behavior. The only way we keep our natural immune systems working is by exposing it to different stuff and having our body fight it off naturally. The hotel bedspread might be a little gross but you are unlikely to get seriously ill off of it.
 

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