From the bed sheets to the TV remote, a microbiologist reveals the shocking truth about dirt and germs in hotel rooms

By Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of Leicester

For most of us, staying in a hotel room is either something of a necessity – think business travel – or something to look forward to as part of a holiday or wider excursion.

But what if I told you there’s a large chance your hotel room, despite how it might appear to the naked eye, isn’t that clean. And even if it’s an expensive room, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any less dirty.

Indeed, whoever has stayed in your room prior to you will have deposited bacteria, fungi and viruses all over…

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