The One Thing You Should Never Use in Your Hotel Room
After a long day of travel, it's tempting to flop onto your hotel bed, grab the remote, and unwind with your favorite show. But be warned—when you click the power button, you might be picking up more than just the plot. Hotel housekeepers work under tight schedules to quickly turn over rooms, which means some high-touch items—like TV remotes—don’t always get thoroughly sanitized.
“High-touch items like TV remotes, light switches, and bathroom surfaces often go under-cleaned between guests, potentially harboring germs,” says Dr. Rene F Najera , Director of Public Health at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. “When in doubt, I usually get an alcohol pad and wipe down the high-touch areas or items.”
A study from the University of Houston reinforces this concern. Researchers tested various surfaces in hotel rooms and found that TV remotes and bedside lamp switches had some of the highest levels of bacterial contamination.
If you don’t have alcohol wipes on hand, there’s a clever workaround: use the plastic shower cap or an ice bucket liner as a makeshift cover for the remote to avoid direct contact.
And speaking of ice buckets—that’s another item you’ll want to avoid using in your hotel room. Melissa Hanks, a former hotel manager, took to TikTok to advise against filling them up with ice for drinks. “People use these things for things you don’t even want to think about,” she warns, noting that they’re sometimes repurposed as ashtrays—or worse, for vomiting. Instead, Hanks recommends using a clean plastic bag or plastic cup from the room as a receptacle for ice.