How clean is your hotel room? WSMV4 learns tricks from anonymous inspector

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Whenever you book a hotel, you can check its price, location and ratings.

Once you get there, how can you look to see how clean the room really is? WSMV4 followed along with an AAA inspector to see how to check like a professional.

The inspector told us there have been staffing issues in the industry since COVID. That means rooms may be less clean, and you may have to do some inspecting yourself.

WSMV4 recently followed along with an anonymous AAA inspector. He shows up at hotels unannounced to see how clean they really are.

“I first start with the light switch because this is the first thing guests will touch when they come into the room,” the inspector said.

He uses ATP testing.

“What it checks for is living organisms like bacteria on high touch areas,” he said.

He swabs thermostats, phones and remotes to test if they are clean. He showed us his tricks while inspecting a room at the Holiday Inn in downtown Nashville.

We asked him what the number one most overlooked thing is when it comes to cleaning hotel rooms.

“One misconception is that a lot of hotels do not realize you need to dust every time you clean the room because dust appears very quickly,” he said.

After inspecting close to 10,000 hotels in his career, we asked if there was anything he would stay away from in a room.

“The couches and cloth chairs,” he said. “They aren’t cleaned as much as you would think.”

As for the bathroom, he said the dirtiest part is the door handles.

“One huge surprise is the toilet flush handle is the cleanest,” he said. “They are nonporous and get a lot of attention from the housekeepers.”

The room passed all tests during its actual inspection, and the hotel is recommended to AAA members.

Hotels can request an inspection. AAA also picks hotels out to inspect if they think it is somewhere their members would be interested in staying.

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