What's going on with hotel towels?

[superocd]

Stayed at six mid-range hotels on a trip (Days Inn, Quality Inn, AmericInn, Comfort Inn, etc.) and noticed that the towels aren't as bright as mine at home. They also no longer have that signature starchy/bleachy smell that I've known for the longest time, rather, it smells like sweat has been barely washed out.

I only have an LG-made Kenmore front loader and alternate between Arm & Hammer or Persil liquid with bleach for towels, and my white towels could blind someone, lol. One would think that with their commercial washer-extractors, super-hot water (and not the dumbed-down "hot" water that residential washers force on you) and heavy-duty institutional chemicals, their towels would be at least as bright as mine. What's going on? Are they washing on warm or cold to save money? Are they using Extra liquid detergent? I've even gotten some white rags completely white with my machine and detergent after using them for detailing my vehicles, any oil and grease is gone after a Bulky cycle on "hot".

I posted over on the Vacuumland forum about the fact that five of six of these establishments were using Bissell PowerForce Helix vacuums, the other a Shark Navigator (which I suppose is a little better), instead of using a proper commercial vacuum cleaner like a Sanitaire. Now I understand that times are tough for the hospitality industry due to COVID, but just how cheap are they getting in cleaning and maintaining their property?

 

[tolivac]

Commercial places adn home type vacuums-CHEAP!!!!!And when that home vacuum breaks,wears out-it just goes into their dumpster and they get another one.I haven't campted out in a hotel/motel in a long time so I don't know about the motel linens.There is a site on YouTube-"Another Dirty Room" they comment on dirty or smelly hotel linens.

 

[launderess]

Everyone is cutting corners these days, especially in hotel/hospitality.

Most places no longer have in house laundries but send everything out. On that side of things there has been a consolidation of commercial/industrial laundries for various reasons. One thing is smaller places cannot compete with larger services that are using tunnel wash systems processing thousands of pounds of linen *per hour*.

People get what they pay for; if hospitals, hotels, motels, etc... didn't like quality of their laundry something would be said. And if afterwards current laundry didn't pick up their socks, business might go elsewhere. Though as stated in many areas "elsewhere" isn't always an option.

 

[cam2s]

I think there are a lot of factors at play here. Washing in cooler temps is a trend that is creeping into the commercial world. Also shorter cycles in general for faster turnover. Many laundry attendants incorrectly load machines, often putting way to much in for them to properly clean. Using cheaper 2nd rate chemicals can have an effect here too. We use Ecolab at my hotel, but Ecolab is expensive and not everyone wants to pay. Also right now difficulty with supply chains is making it difficult to purchase new linens, so hotels are using existing linens beyond what they normally would. As a hotel operator, it’s worth noting as well that people do weird and gross stuff to our linens. Even with ideal chemicals and formulas keeping linens clean is a chore.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Cam2s

Oh I am sure!
I can’t imagine all hotel/motel facilities using very hot water and appropriate chemicals when they have cheaper alternatives.

 

[iheartmaytag]

My cousins daughter worked for a smaller hotel/motel

It was a Motel 6, Right on the OK, AR line. Just across the street from the casino. Their laundry was done in house by the maids. I watched her stuff the towels as many that could be packed into a Commercial Maytag top loader, cold water and Dollar General detergent.

I would hate to see how the sheets were handled, but I can guess not much differently.

The owner was cheap, and a thief, and has since been closed down.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Cold?

That’s my worst nightmare.
The last hotel I stayed at guaranteed the sheets were washed in 140°F water in the website. Needless to say, I booked it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

When I travel, I take a WHITE 6 X 6 heavy vinyl shower curtain, a sheet, blanket and cased pillow. I put the sheet pillow and blanket inside the shower curtain which is folded in half and put that under the bedspread and I take my own bath sheets and face cloths. The bed is sprayed with cedar oil spray before I get into it. The bedding is sealed into a plastic bag in the morning.

 

[tolivac]

REAL 6X6 shower curtains are getting hard to find these days-now I find the "GYP YOU" sizes-71X71,71X70 and so on.Can PLEASE just be able to get a STANDARD 6X6 curtain???PLEASE???I was bringing my own sheets tooAt that time the motel sheets were starched-and like laying on a peice of sandpaper!

 

[qsd-dan]

I take a gamble with hotel sheets due to luggage restraints but always bring my own pillow and towel.

 

[ozzie908]

Premier Inn UK

According their website all household laundry is guaranteed to have been washed in 60c min temp to ensure disinfection so at least we get clean bedding etc, It would be nice to think all hospitality venues were the same but not many advertise the fact.

Austin

Click the link and scroll down.

https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/why/cleanliness.html

 

[mrboilwash]

Lately have been looking around at German hotel suppliers for high quality towels just to learn that most of them either won`t sell anything in small amounts or don`t do business with private customers at all.

Found it interesting that all white linen and towels are generally labeled at 95 °C, even the cheapest cotton-polyester blends.
Colors are at least at 60 °C washable the better ones are still boil proof for "proper hygiene" as it`s advertised just like any household linen used to be until around the 1970s in most of northern Europe.

I think my former sister in law who was a hairdresser mentioned that all their towels had to be washed at 95, but I don`t know if this was an obligation for public health reasons or if she just had a very scrupulous boss.

Anyway there seems to be no European minimum standard (anymore?) because the towels in some cheaper Spanish hotels are so disgusting, I wouldn`t even want to use these to wipe up my kitchen floor.
But paying a lot more for a hotel with clean towels or bringing my own is no option so I thought next time I might get a big roll of paper towels at a local supermarket so I can at least dry my face with somthing clean and sweet smelling.

I the US I have always been lucky so far even if the motel towels had some stains left they always at least smelled ok.
I find it kind of surprising that there seems to be no minimum hygiene requirements in parts of the "first world" for shared linen as it is the case for dishes.

 

[reactor]

Hotel Impossible

If anyone has watched Anthony Melchiorri's "Hotel Impossible" you have noticed that some hotels don't even use commercial washers, just residential machines. On top of that, unless the local health department monitors them, who is going to stop them from using cold water washes and rinses to save money?

I always take my own pillow cases in my suitcase. I did this long before the Virus. After two cases of pink eye, I don't trust my eyes, face or mouth to contact hotel laundry.

Also, if you have watched Anthony survey hotel rooms with a UV light you will realize you should never lay on top of a hotel comforter/bedspread, or go barefoot on the carpeting. More often than not his light indicates dried organic fluids (if you know what I mean) on these surfaces. (Sometimes on walls and chairs, as well.)

When I was in college, a girl I knew workd part time as a maid at a motel in Xenia, Ohio. She said they often took short cuts to save time. One that I particularly remember was that she that she sometimes would take the dirty pillow cases and wipe out the ice buckets with them.

...So if your hotel ice smells like dirty hair, I wouldn't use it.

 

[circlew]

My sister's ex mother-in-law owned a small motel (14 rooms) on US 68 in Midland, OH back in the 70's and early 80's. The laundry equipment consisted of a couple GE Filter-Flo washers, and a couple GE dryers, one of which was the large capacity style with the large round opening. I know she did a good part of the laundry herself, and that bleach and hot water were used for all linens.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Was just at the AmericInn in Duluth MN.

The sheets and towels were done perfectly. They had Continental machines and P&G chemicals. They do use hot water.

When I worked in the laundry at the Fairfield Inn we washed everything in 140F water with very strong Ecolab chemicals in our SQ washer-extractor.
WK78

 

[littlegreeny]

Nick,

How did you find out what machines and chemicals they used? Did you wander into their laundry facility?

 

[launderess]

To be clear about something one has stated often... Linen or other laundry is not disinfected by washing, drying and or maybe ironing. Things are sanitized to produce levels of "germs" so low that unlikely to cause harm.

When sterile linens or whatever else is required clean things are put into an autoclave and "sterilized", this ensures 100% disinfection.

In North America, Europe and elsewhere in industrialized world there are recommendations regarding at least healthcare linens. Hospitality and other situations may or may not be covered. Usually laundries that handle primarily or in part healthcare linens will voluntarily request to be certified as meeting some local standard.

Just as with everywhere else commercial laundries have been caught in crosshairs of "green" movement to reduce their energy use. That and fact laundering process is by nature an energy intensive process. Heating all that water, dryers, and ironers requires vast amounts of energy which is costly and perhaps now always efficiently used.

On other side of things materials used for healthcare or hospitality linens and other things aren't what they once were. Repeated laundering at 70C or above takes a toll on whatever is being laundered, often leading to shortened lifespan. Remember in addition to all that hot to boiling water commercial/industrial laundries often use rather aggressive chemicals. Very hot water coupled with moderate to high pH levels and strong wash action will wear things out rather quickly.

When it comes to hospitality linens (hotel or motel), there is nothing inherently incorrect about using "homestyle" washing machines or dryers. Ecolab among other chemical suppliers offer entire range of products for just such equipment.

Unlike healthcare linens that often are fouled with a wide range of bodily soils (goo, spew, poo, blood, secretions, medications, ointments...), not to mention being in contact with ill persons, and will be so again.... restaurant or hotel/motel linens usually are rather less soiled.

Towels, bed sheets, pillow coverings, etc.. usually only have to cope with normal body soils, and even then lightly if things are only used the once before being sent to the wash. Yes, there may always be the odd accident, soils from those eating and drinking in bed, and whatever else goes on, but again nothing compared to what comes out of a hospital.

https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/environmental/background/laundry.html

https://www.hlacnet.org/standards-documents

https://unimac.com/news/guidelines-for-laundry-in-health-care-facilities/

NHS England » Health technical memoranda

Technical standards and guidance (health building notes/health technical memoranda documents) The documents have moved and can be accessed from this section of our website. Standard Department of Health and Social Care website protocol is to mark documents as ‘withdrawn’ as part of the redirect...

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk

 

[launderess]

Furthermore laundry chemical suppliers, especially in Europe have noticed push for lower temperatures in washing, and or declining use of chlorine bleach, and have responded with new ranges of chemicals that will sanitize laundry effectively even at 60C or down to 40C

https://en-de.ecolab.com/solutions/...bapplications=[On Premise Healthcare Laundry]

https://www.ecolab.com/offerings/advacare-disinfectant-healthcare

https://kreusslerinc.com/get-textiles-hygienically-clean-with-trebon-plus/

Leading way in this new chemistry is growing use of strong peracetic acid with hydrogen peroxide systems. These detergents or liquid additives can often be used both to "santitize" laundry and or also bleach.

https://www.laundryandcleaningnews.com/news/newsclarifying-the-use-of-peracetic-acid-4308754

http://www.europeancleaningjournal....ures/peracetic-acid-the-new-hero-in-hospitals

Milder forms of these activated bleaching/sanitizing formulas are found in domestic detergents or those labeled "professional" such as Ariel, Persil and other "antibacterial" detergents.

Unlike their commercial/industrial cousins domestic washing machines are usually made from soft metals. Peracetic acid is rather strong and will surely attack such parts with frequent use. Commercial/industrial machines are made from metals designed to withstand repeated or continuous used of such strong chemicals.

Healthcare laundries are moving away from chlorine bleach (at least in Europe) due to rising use of chlorhexidine. That substance if not washed out totally from fabrics before coming into contact with chlorine bleach creates a nasty (and often permanent) mark.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

@littlegreeny:

I questioned the General Manager on how they did the laundry so well. He was happy to enlighten me.
WK78