Is your hotel’s COVID-19 cleaning protocol up to snuff? How to know if your room is really clean

When it comes to hotel cleaning failures, the one Bill Mapp saw on a recent trip to Richmond, Virginia, is a standout.

After checking in and getting settled at an all-suites property, Mapp, a corporate headhunter who lives in Bristol, Virginia, discovered a problem with the thermostat. He requested a different room.

"I pack heavy, so I made several trips lugging stuff to the new room," he says.

Rather than sanitizing the room thoroughly, as the hotel promised it would on its website, he witnessed housekeepers taking numerous shortcuts.

"They wore neither masks nor gloves," he recalls. "I mentioned that I'd used the bathroom, but housekeeping ignored me. I'd turned down the bed, but they simply made the bed without changing the linens. I'd used the refrigerator, sink, and my hands had been all over the large kitchen table, but none of these surfaces were sanitized when we departed."

The experience convinced Mapp that the COVID-19 cleaning standards announced by the major hotels were worthless. You can't tell if your hotel room has been properly cleaned. You just have to take the company's word for it.

How do you avoid a hotel cleaning failure?

Experts say there are two ways to ensure your travel experience is squeaky-clean: You can vet the hotel – and you can do your own cleaning.

Brent Bowen always brings disinfectant wipes and cleans the room himself. The experience is often instructive.

At some hotels, the counters and shelves are sparkling clean, and the disinfectant wipes stay white. But at one chain hotel with a heavily promoted cleaning initiative, the wipes picked up dirt and dust from the countertops and other high-touch surfaces.

"Based on my own cleaning, I now have a pretty good idea of which hotels are clean," says Bowen, a college professor from Prescott, Arizona. "I also know which hotels to avoid."

Do-it-yourself cleaning used to be reserved for germaphobes and guests with compromised immune systems. Not anymore. Many travelers now pack gloves, wipes, and disinfectant spray. Some even carry a UV light to show them where housekeeping missed a spot.

Experiences like Bowen's do little to reinforce their confidence in the travel industry's new, heavily promoted cleaning protocols. Travel companies say they are doing their best to ensure employees meet their new cleaning standards, but that it takes a while to fully adopt new cleaning procedures.

► How to sanitize your hotel room: Here are the areas you need to focus on

How to screen a company for cleanliness standards

There's no way to know if your room will be cleaned to your standards. But there are ways of increasing the likelihood that it will be sanitized. It comes down to properly vetting the company. And by vetting, experts are not talking about taking a quick glance at a hotel's cleaning promises. Those promises may be worthless.

But the initiatives are useful in at least one regard. If a hotel doesn't have an easy-to-find web page with a detailed list of cleaning procedures, that's a red-alert situation. It probably means the company isn't paying attention to health and safety. You might want to book a different property.

Even if a hotel has a cleaning initiative, you should dig deeper, experts say.

"Make sure to do your research on a property’s best practices or cleaning protocols," says David Butler, president of Post Script Hospitality, a hospitality consulting firm. "Don’t be afraid to ask the uncommon questions that may not be included in a frequently asked questions section or marketed by the hotel. Every detail is important."

► Which cities have the cleanest hotels? Check AAA's rankings

Check the ratings and do your due diligence

Is there a rating system for cleanliness? Kind of.

The Safe Travel Barometer, which reviews travel companies based on COVID-19 safety protocols such as thermal screening, face mask requirements and the availability of hand sanitizers, can offer a big-picture view of a company's safety. The Safe Travel Barometer's CEO, Virendra Jain, says the hope is to create a site where "travelers can make informed decisions around their journey.”

But researchers are still compiling that information as the barometer rises and falls, and it will likely be a while before travelers have a full picture.

Hotel cleaning failures will happen, even with travel companies' lofty promises to clean more diligently. The only way to ensure your room is cleaned to your standards is to carefully screen your hotel and to do your own cleaning when you're in doubt.

Oh, and don't forget to pack a strong sense of skepticism on your next trip. You'll need it.

How to make sure your hotel room is clean

Read those online reviews! User-generated online reviews are a great source for cleanliness ratings. I recommend a zero-tolerance policy at a time like this. If I see just one review that suggests the hotel isn't taking sanitation seriously, I usually book elsewhere.

Pay attention to high-touch surfaces. At a hotel, that would be the doorknobs and TV remotes. Often, they aren't cleaned between guests, says Roman Peysakhovich, CEO of Onedesk, a commercial cleaning company. "This carries serious risks in terms of passing germs." His advice: Clean them yourself as a precaution.

Look for real evidence of cleaning. Some hotels place seals on the door (which doesn't prove anything). Others shrinkwrap your TV remote in plastic (also questionable). The two most proven methods are looking for dirt and dust and giving the room a sniff test. If you smell a faint odor of cleaner and don't see any dirt, that's usually a good sign.

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hotel housekeeping: Here's how to know if your room is really clean