Going away on holiday is always a welcome break from everyday life but, usually when you go away time is spent in a hotel or a rental home. However, these places may not be as clean as your home.  While some of the cleanliness of any place you stay is noticeable, such as a clean carpet, lack of dust, clean bathroom, etc., some of the cleanliness (or lack thereof) is not as noticeable – such as the mattress.  Which can make you wonder; how clean is your holiday mattress?

Is this your holiday mattress?

In January 2009, the London Telegraph did a story on five low-budget hotel chains.  They were the Comfort Inn, Travelodge, Premier Inn, Jurys Inn, and Ibis.  The story revealed that while most hotels meet a minimum standard for cleanliness, there are a good many that do not.  The Telegraph found mould on mattresses and blood on bed sheets in a substantial number of these hotels.  While this is definitely disgusting, it should be remembered that while the Telegraph found mould and blood only in low-budget hotels it should not imply that mid to upper priced hotels are immune to disgusting mattress conditions.

Looks clean on the outside, doesn’t it?

In fact, ABC Primetime did a study of hotels in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Houston.  The rates for the hotels that were tested ranged from $55 to $400 per night.  In every single room that was tested, researchers found semen and urine.  It makes sense though when you think about it.  What is the one thing that people do on a mattress that doesn’t involve sleeping?  Therefore, it is highly likely that every mattress you’ve slept on in a hotel has semen on it.  This of course is not visible to the human eye, but must be detected with the use of a black light.  So unless you carry a black light in your bag, you won’t be able to detect these stains.  If you think that’s bad, it actually gets worse.

Don’t carry a black light with you - it will disturb you!

Who likes to sleep with bugs?  Chances are you’ve never even thought about it.  However, when it comes to hotels there have been reported cases of bedbugs in the mattresses.  Bedbugs are wiggly insects that feed upon warm-blooded animals.  In this instance, humans qualify.  Typically, bedbug hatchlings could be compared in size to a poppy seed while adult bedbugs are about ¼ inch in length.  The colour of bedbugs can be white, tan, brown, and orange.  While bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases, they can leave a bite similar to a misquote bite.  Bites can be itchy and, as with all insect bites, it is advised not to scratch.  The problem with bedbugs is that this isn’t just a problem found in low-budget hotels, but rather is an increasing problem across the board.  Regardless of whether the bedbug can transmit diseases, no one wants to sleep with insects or be bitten while they sleep.

These things aren’t cute at all!!!

Mattresses can also hide another insect called the itch mite.  The itch mite can cause scabies, a condition in which the skin becomes inflamed and itchy.  The resulting rash is uncomfortable with relentless itching, and becomes worse at night.  While it is common to hear about bedbugs biting people in hotels, it is less common to hear about the itch mite.  However, there have been reported cases of people catching scabies from their hotel mattresses.

But what are hotels doing about the stains and insects?  The answer is nothing really.  Hotels typically only wash their bedspreads about 10 times a year which equates to less than once a month.  So every time you sleep at a hotel the bedspread may have been used by a four year-old that still wets the bed or a businessman that decided to entertain a new “friend.”  But you may be thinking; “Well what does the bedspread have to do with the mattress?”  It is simple; if they only wash the bedspread ten times a year, think about how often they clean the mattress.

If they only wash their bedspreads 10 times a year…how about the matress?

While the “ewwww” factor is enough to make most people demand a cleaner mattress, those with respiratory allergies have even more reason to be concerned.  Respiratory allergies are allergies that are triggered when an allergen is breathed in.   Reactions to an allergen include congested nose, watery eyes, swollen eyes, and asthma attacks.  Respiratory allergens can include pollen, grass, and hay but in a hotel room these allergens include dust mites which live in the mattress.  In an allergy-sufferer’s home all of the bedding would be washed in hot water while their mattress was covered in an allergy-proof cover.  However, in most hotels, this practice is not performed, but this is not to say that it can’t be done.

Knowledge of airborne allergies has increased over the years and as more people come to realise the cause of their allergies, more people will begin to ask hotels to make accommodations.  In fact, several hotels have already begun making these accommodations.  Some chains have begun providing allergy-free rooms or providing items such as mattress covers – but what if you arrive at the hotel late or if all of the allergy rooms/items are taken by other guests?  The best thing to do, even if you plan on sleeping in an allergy free room, is to bring your own sheets and pillows as well as a disposable mattress cover.  The mattress cover will help restrict the bedbugs to the mattress and won’t allow them to manoeuvre into the sheets and, mostly importantly, onto you.

Yes, I would sneeze too!

Mattresses that are found rental homes may or may not have a higher degree of cleanliness.  The degree of cleanliness in a rental home will depend on the owner and/or the rental agency as they will have their own criteria concerning the cleanliness of the home and mattress.  However, chances are that the mattress will have about the same amount of cleanliness as hotels.

So how can you protect yourself from whatever may be lurking in your holiday mattress?  Well for starters you can know how to clean a mattress by scrubbing it with hot soapy water, drying it outside, cleaning it with a carpet cleaner, etc.  However, hotel workers are underpaid and they have a lot of rooms to clean so there is no way that they are going to take the time to do this to a mattress, and if you are on vacation chances are you don’t want to do this either.

Besides doing this, you just have to forget it…

If you have a vacuum with an upholstery handle then you can vacuum the mattress prior to making up the bed.  Granted this may be more convenient in a rental home than a hotel room but vacuuming the mattress helps to remove the dust, dander, and dust mites that may be hiding within.  This should only take a few minutes and isn’t hard at all.  If you don’t have a vacuum or don’t want to vacuum the mattress, you can always lift the corner of the sheet up to see if there are bedbugs living in the corner.  Bedbugs enjoy dark places and the corner of the mattress is perfect.  If the bed has a headboard, look behind that as well as bedbugs may nest behind the headboard.

As previously mentioned, you can also bring your own bedding.  Items should include plastic or allergen pillows, pillow cases, sheets, bedspread, and a mattress cover.  If this is too much for you to handle while travelling, then just keep a good eye out for undesirable conditions.  If you find them, don’t be afraid to speak up and complain because the condition of the hotel won’t get any better if you don’t.

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