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Your hotel remote may be covered in semen and urine
Who here doesn't love investigative reports on TV? Twin Cities ABC5 visited several local hotels armed with swabs and a blacklight. Their results? Semen and urine on the remote control, and a host of other nastiness that lit up when hit with the blacklight.
Seriously, this is pretty disgusting, but the results are hardly surprising. For starters, there are still too many people who don't wash their hands after a bathroom visit. And secondly; those porn movies provided in the room are big business, and it takes a remote to order one. You do the math.
If you are now too scared to handle the remote, carry some disinfectant wipes or spray and clean the remote before using it. While on the topic of disgusting hotels, why not check out our own investigation into the "dirtiest hotel in the United States".
Gallery: Hotel Carter
Filed under: North America, Hotels and Accommodations, Video, News
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
kuke May 15th 2009 9:07PM
Chris...it's NOT the airlines that have the rules about not carrying liquids! It's TSA! Do you even know what stands for?
George May 15th 2009 9:14PM
Our top soil that grows our food, our grass and we even walk barefoot on has every type of bacteria, virus including anthrax. Stop your worry over this. It is what your immune system is to take care of if it is working as designed to. the new viruses are some risk for all but we are not going to get out of this world alive.Worry weakens your immune system, SO.
icare May 15th 2009 9:15PM
so I guess its ok if they spit in your soup, slap the steak they droped on the floor back on your plate, spritz the salad bar lettuice with urine, ect ect . 16 yrs in hotell food prep I have seen it all. years later people are wondering where they got aids, herpes, std's. I take my lysol everywhere
M May 15th 2009 9:31PM
Well, just so ya wise folks are well informed like ya seem to think that you are...
hospitals carry germs big time! I should know, I work in one. It pays to be wise and wary.
Wendell May 15th 2009 9:31PM
We would all gag if we were to use one of those lights for an entire day and test every surface we touch in a twenty four hour period. That is why we have imune systems. However, I will never look at a hotel remote in quite the same way again.
Laura May 15th 2009 9:35PM
People, the germs aren't the problem here , it's the nasty stuff you would rather not get on your hands or on your kids hands. I'll put up with ick that comes from my kids butts and noses and some "other" stuff too, but I don't need some strangers crap spread around where I sleep. Geeze, can't ya just wash your hands?? You shouldn't have to call in HAZMAT just to get a good nights sleep!People can be such pigs. Disgusting............
Marie May 15th 2009 10:35PM
Okay, I am really starting to get sick! I am sure that a lot of people do not care but I do. What if the semen contains Aids, or the urine contains syphilis? I am taking my own disenfectant or staying at home. Why is it too much to ask that the room be clean?
AC May 15th 2009 10:33PM
Your remote is sticky and your wang is orange. Porn and Cheetos!
Traveling Guy Jul 22nd 2009 3:06AM
Oh Brother! Sounds like fear mongering from a bunch of bored germ-a-phobe's called journalists to me. There's far more important things for society to worry about than this crap. Where's my cigarette's? Oh yea, under the bed........lol.
Jason May 15th 2009 10:42PM
Anyone who has ever worked in a hotel knows that if it were not for these behind the scene exposer, hotels would not be forced to abide by basic health codes. The glasssware scare of last year forced all the major brands to make their hotels abide by local health codes. Many are still not doing this. The next time you are at a hotel just look down the hall to see if they have a dishwasher for the glass? Can you imagine eating somewhere for dinner whereas they didn't have a dishwasher? Oh wait, the go across the street and borrow one in the alley!
Nancy May 15th 2009 10:51PM
Amen!!! With the hotel's cutting hours and trying to save money NO ONE washes glasses in a dishwashing like the health code mandates. The health inspectors should also check the hotel's rooms and not just Food area. Last week in Pompano Beach I found lipstick on the glassware. No rationale person would be against more inspections. Only a nut would think you would get immediately sick. Some things get a couple of days to detect so you never know where you get it. The reason American's are so concerned about health is because hotels are run like business here. Not like a person's home or hospitality like in Europe.
Steven May 15th 2009 11:12PM
Yes, anyone who is against safer hotels or cleaner hotels is probably a Patel who owns a motel on the side of a highway!
Organist May 15th 2009 11:29PM
I just wonder if we went to that reporter's house and did the exact same tests what we would find..... BRILLIANT! L, O & L!!
Reynold Montes May 17th 2009 9:25PM
It's just good practice to take a little precaution and clean things that you know have been touched by strangers. It's a well known fact that some people DO NOT wash their hands, even when they do number 2. I have seen this at work places with salesmen! However, In the first place, why do we all assume the remote has come in contact with urine and semen? How, why, when, where!
Wolfster May 16th 2009 3:12AM
I always wipe the remote with a travel wipe, and I mean I give it a GOOD wipe-down. Doesn't everybody already know to do this? The remote is NEVER cleaned. I'm frankly less worried about urine, which is sterile, than about some freak picking his nose and scratching his ass then changing the channel. I do like the shower cap idea.
I also remove the bedspread first thing. Not even my suitcase touches that filthy thing. And I bring a mug with me so if they have real glassware or foam cups, I don't have to use them.
liz May 16th 2009 3:33AM
I can not stand when people r that Lazy that they can't wash their hands after using the bathroom, u stupid animals! wash ur hands, train u kids to wash their hands, and expecially men, wash those nasty hands, gross
Liz May 16th 2009 3:39AM
I am with u 100 percent, i do the same thing, i bring my own covers, dysenfected spray, n my own cups. I think most people should be clean and who knows what kind of disease is out their