They Wondered If Hotels Always Change the Sheets When Guests Check Out, so They Decided to Test Them All

My grandparents, who loved to take regular overnight trips to Atlantic City for a little gambling, used to earn free hotel stays all the time. I always wondered why they packed so much for such a short drive until one day my grandmother told me they packed their own towels and sheets. Being a little kid, at first I dismissed it as just being something that older people did. But then I asked why they didn’t just use what was in the hotel room. “Nooooooooo honey, I wouldn’t sleep on those sheets if you paid me,” was the answer she gave me. I completely understand why now, and after watching this video, you will too. Yuck!

Inside Edition conducted their own undercover investigation into the sanitary – or unsanitary – bed prepping habits of nine hotel chains. Are your sheets really clean? To kick off their strategy, they had one individual check into the room for the night. With washable blacklight reactive spray paint, the team used a stencil to invisibly mark the bed sheets. The next morning before checkout, the bed was staged to look like it had been slept in, an indication to the housekeeping staff to change the sheets. On the following day, a new individual was sent in to check in under a different name, but for the same exact room. At the front desk, the clerk happily stated the room was made brand new for this new guest. The UV light revealed the stenciling was still etched into the sheets. They hadn’t been changed! Gross!

When the manager was confronted, she stated that their policy and expectation is for them to be changed. Wondering if it was a mistake or an industry practice, the same test was performed at a different hotel chain, with the same result. The stencil had clearly marked the spot to show the sheets were also unchanged. A maid accompanied the manager to the room and told Inside Edition she did indeed clean the room, but offered no explanation for the dirty sheets. Instead, they both apologized for the incident. Another experiment at a AAA 1-Diamond rated hotel had the Inside Edition team spray the pillows, the flat sheet, and the fitted one. Guess what? Only the pillowcases had been changed! The manager at this hotel requested the cameras be shut off, and the only comment she had was that she would need to check with the general manager.

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