Rhiannon Ingle
You'd think that staying in a hotel takes the stress out of travelling, whether it's for a work trip or holiday.
However, you may want to think twice before you use one of the many amenities provided in your hotel room.
Obviously, such warnings don't go for every single hotel out there, but hotel staff have rounded up seven things you apparently should steer well away from - and some are more surprising than others.
Up first is the TV remote with Pubity warning that housekeepers consistently claim that this object is the 'dirtiest item in the room'.
The outlet also cites studies that have found it can carry bacteria like E. coli and staph, given the difficulty of getting a thorough, good clean in between buttons.
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Clearly, a quick wipe won't cut it.
The outlet also notes that hotel staff have warned that kettles are often used for things other than boiling water for your cup of tea or coffee.
Other reported uses allegedly include heating food and even washing clothes with Pubity adding: "Since they're rarely deep cleaned, whatever previous guests used them for can remain inside."
Grim.
"Never ever, ever, ever, ever use the coffee machine in a hotel room," echoed TikToker Angela Riihiluoma, who revealed she discovered such 'top-secret' information from a man who had worked in the hotel industry for 20 years.
She continued: "Because apparently, some people like to use it as a urinal. So I don't care how addicted you are to coffee. Don't touch the coffeemaker."
This is quite a well-known no-no, but it doesn't make it any less gross.
Pubity states that, unlike bedsheets, bedspreads aren't actually washed after every guest.
"Guests commonly use them as footrests or place them on the floor, making them far less hygienic than they appear," the outlet adds.
"Do not use the glasses that they put in the bathroom," Angela continued. "You know, like, the really nice glass glasses. Apparently, housekeepers only have so much time to turn the room, and so more often than not, they're just wiping them with Windex.
"They won't even wash them."
Pubity warns that those refillable dispensers in hotel room showers can 'accumulate bacteria over time' and are 'rarely cleaned between uses'.
Additionally, you may want to take extra caution given that they're particularly vulnerable to tampering.
While an ice bucket may appear like a homely touch, we should apparently think twice before using them as they are 'frequently used for purposes other than ice'.
And last but by no means least on the rundown are the hotel robes.
According to Pubity, some hotels don't actually wash the provided robes after every stay and 'rely on visual inspection instead'.
People have since shared their reactions to the lengthy list of no-go's, with one Instagram user writing: "So pretty much everything in a hotel room."
"So basically I should just levitate above the bed and not touch anything," sarcastically quipped a second.
A third chimed in: "Gotcha, I’ll just stay in the lobby."
"So literally the entire room," hit out a fourth.
Another piped up: "What's left to use now?"
And a final Instagram user joked: "Should I buy a new house whenever I go somewhere?"