Introduction: Don't Stay Another Night in a Hotel Without Watching This DIY!
If you don't see the video above, Click here to go to the YouTube page!
This instructible will teach you how to check your hotel bed sheets before you stay in a new hotel room to make sure they were changed.
Every room in a hotel is supposed to have fresh sheets after a guest leaves. How many times are the maids too busy to change them? Is it possible that some of them simply remake the bed so it looks like clean sheets? YES! Don't sleep in someone elses mess!
Step 1: Pick Up an Inexpensive UV/ Black Light
You can get these at spencers or any novilty type store that sells black lights. I bought this one for less than $10.00. It's battery operated.
Step 2: Keep It Packed in Your Travel Bag
If you keep it in your travel bag, you'll always have it handy when you need it!
Step 3: Pull Down the Bed Sheets
Observe the sheets for any visible stains with the lights on. Urine will have a slight yellow tint (obviously!) but you'll be able to see that under white light.
Step 4: Scan the Black Light Over the Sheets
Next, turn off all the lights in the hotel room and turn on your black light. Pay attention to any area that looks brighter or darker than the rest of the sheets.
Step 5: When You Find a Stain
It will stand out and you'll know it's an obvious stain. By the location of this stain, I would think it's semen. If it was urine, you would be able to see it in the regular light as a light yellow stain. This stain wasn't obvious under regular lights.
Step 6: This Stain Is
either vomit or semen again.
Step 7: If You Find Stains on Your Sheets
ask for another room. Better yet, leave and check into a different hotel! The rooms on that floor were all probably cleaned by the same maid and could have the same problem!
60 Comments
8 years ago on Introduction
so how do you know what it is?
14 years ago on Step 5
did u really find those stains? or did you, you know...
Reply 14 years ago on Step 5
They were really there when we filmed :o)
Reply 14 years ago on Step 5
LOL GREAT question! Ummm... well... you know...LOL
14 years ago on Introduction
you should also look for bed bugs there getting to be a real problem. I think you can find them buy looking along the seem of the matrices for blood stains. Never slept in a hotel/motel where i found them bu then again i don't travel much :( good instructible...
15 years ago on Introduction
While I too find the thought of sleeping in another's fluids disturbing, I think that the burden of guilt is being placed upon the shoulders of the innocent. Keep in mind that hotel/motel housekeepers are charged with an almost impossible task of turning (industry jargon which means cleaning) a room in the shortest time possible. These times vary based on room size but the industry average for a single occupancy room is 4 minutes for a standard clean and 6 minutes for a checkout turn and for a double occupancy room is 6 and 8 minutes for standard and checkout turns respectively. Many housekeepers are fired for exceeding these time limits and in many cases the housekeepers are paid on a per-room basis. With all of that in mind it is difficult for me to simply call the housekeeper lazy or say that she (or, rarely, he) is cutting corners. That housekeeper is simply trying to keep her (or his) job. The blame for these types of incidents should be laid at the feet of the management. Only then can the industry re-examine its priorities and prevent these incidents from occurring.
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
Also, guests will soil the linens with all kinds of gross material and leave them lie for housekeeping to pick up and laundry to try and remove. And while the washing machines will sterilize the fabric, stains all too often remain.
14 years ago on Introduction
This is all a bit paranoid. I am an extended stay guest at a motel and work in the laundry room to defray rent costs, and I can tell you that the housekeepers would never leave used sheets on a bed for a new guest. And this is not a five-star motel, the housekeepers are paid minimum wage, and the owners are penny-pinching airheads with no business sense to speak of.
14 years ago on Introduction
Awesome idea but hey wt are u gonna tell em? im sorry but i turned on my black light and my ultraviolet lamp wich i bring to each trip i go and guess what? the room is dirty... that doesnt sound good lol
15 years ago on Introduction
fantastic info find more just like it at bed bugs
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
hey i know. bring your sleeping bag and strip the sheets off the bed!
15 years ago on Introduction
thats pretty gross. what makes it worse is that I recognize that hotel I think. Carlisle Hotel and Convention Center?
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
LOL no it wasn't in Carlisle!
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
ha, ok. looked like it
15 years ago on Introduction
Stop staying at them hotels with the hourly rates!
15 years ago on Step 6
i have done this in my own home just for giggles. we did it with a new set of sheets, just washed twice. and they showed the oddest stains. turns out fabric softener can leave odd stains as well as if laundry detergent or a stain remover sits for a long time and isn't 100% washed out. just thought i'd share!
15 years ago on Introduction
Great Idea, tho you may want to be wary of the glasses in the room as well!
Beware About Drinking Out of Your Hotel Room Glasses!
15 years ago on Introduction
WOOO SPENCERS WOOOO Lol. Nice Tut!
15 years ago on Introduction
You'll never be able to settle on a room if you follow this instructable... you'd find that each and every room has some stain or infestation or other problem.
You'll also find many of the exact same things in your own home.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
But if it;s in your own home... you KNOW where it came from lol