Dirty Hotels

So the dust has settled on this little furore and what are we to learn? Well, some of the cheaper hotels in Manchester are dirty. OK, so maybe not just dirty – filthy. Which?, that self-appointed bastion of consumer advice, found a selection of the following in some of the hotels around the city: mould on sheets, urine on toilets, mould in bathrooms, blood on duvets, a hamster in a Gideon Bible. That last one’s not true.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not that surprised. I mean, urine on the toilet pedestal? No way! How on earth did that get there? And who even looks at that bit of the can anyway, let alone touches it? Blood on the sheets – well, hard to get out I would imagine. Mould in the bathroom – is there a well used bathroom in the world that doesn’t have a bit of mould in it somewhere? I must admit, I am slightly perplexed by the ‘mould on the sheets’ one. I’d be hard pushed to do that if I tried, unless I kept them in the shed. Maybe that’s the thing – shed storage. Note to Travelodge: ditch the sheds. Here's a picture of an infamous dirty bed:

It’s possible I’m being a bit flippant as my idea of a properly dirty hotel room would involve a variety of unwanted creatures and some firm fluid evidence of the previous occupants. They do have a point though, I suppose, especially when you consider that these supposed ‘budget’ hotels are still charging around the £70 a night mark for a room.

I liked the responses from the various hotel chains the best though. Faced with such a public and seemingly damning report, you would expect the hotels’ PR to make something of the right noises. Ibis had the right idea. Their spokesperson said:

"We have clear procedures in place to ensure that housekeeping standards are to the highest levels. Clearly the Which? investigation indicates that those procedures are not being implemented in some cases and we have taken immediate remedial actions to ensure we deliver the standards of cleanliness that all our guests have the right to expect."

Well done Ibis. Travelodge had a slightly different approach. This is what their spokesperson had to say:

“We reject any suggestion that Which? or our customers should be concerned at the level of bacteria found in Which's report. According to a leading independent micro biologist that reviewed Which?'s findings, the levels of bacteria found were so low that they could not cause any health risk whatsoever.”

Problem? What problem?

All that aside, the most important piece of information to come out of this report is that if you want to stay in a 'cheap' hotel in Manchester, go to one of the three Premier Inns or the Jury's Inn. They were spotless.