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The endless battle to keep clean

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Special to The Times

A Bay Area market research company for the hospitality industry recently asked business and leisure travelers how their hotel stay was. Among their complaints: bloody towels, bird fecal matter on a lampshade, used condoms in the bathroom and a missing toilet tank top.

Such scenarios are uncommon, but going on the road for business can be stressful, even without worrying whether your airline seat, rental car and hotel room will measure up to your hygiene standards.

Did someone wipe that tray table between flights? Is the rental car really smoke-free? Is that a used peppermint on the back seat? Did someone clean the hotel sink? Is the room carpet clean enough to pad around on without socks? And do you dare stretch out on the bedspread, not knowing when it was last laundered?

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Cleanliness is high on the wish list of most business travelers, says Jonathan Barsky, a partner at Market Metrix in San Rafael, Calif., which provides market research to the hospitality industry. In his quarterly Hospitality Index survey, encompassing about 35,000 consumers, he includes cleanliness as one of several measures of customer satisfaction.

In his 2004 third-quarter survey, he found levels of cleanliness improving overall, except for extended-stay hotels. Scores for extended-stay hotels, one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry, have declined slightly, says Albert Lin, a consultant for Market Metrix.

Besides the aforementioned gripes, Barsky has heard hotel guests complain about pet hair on furnishings, leftover food, blood stains on bedding, water leaks in the bathroom and plumbing that’s awry.

But less-than-sterile conditions are more of an aesthetic problem than a true health hazard, say infectious disease experts, adding that business travelers who are generally healthy have little to fear from everyday dust and dirt.

The hair in a sink looks disgusting, but you’re probably not going to catch anything from it, says Dr. Aaron Glatt, an infectious disease specialist and chairman of the department of medicine at Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y.

Bloodstained materials or used condoms, he says, are another matter, and if you encounter either, ask to change rooms immediately or move to another hotel.

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Typically, taking the wheel of a rental car and sleeping at a hotel are no different from getting into a friend’s car or being a houseguest. You could catch a cold, but when it comes to serious illness such as sexually transmitted diseases or hepatitis, “you are not going to run into risk if you are anywhere near healthy,” Glatt says. Cold viruses can live hours or longer, he says, so you might infect yourself by touching dirty door handles or other surfaces.

Odor eliminator

Although the health risks of a dirty, smelly on-the-road environment may be slight, such problems trigger complaints, says Michael Caron, vice president of new products and program development at the Cendant Car Rental Group in Parsippany, N.J., the parent of Avis and Budget car rental companies.

“Vehicle odor has been a concern for a long time,” he says. “It’s not one of the biggest complaints, but it is one you constantly hear.”

And it can be difficult to control. “You can fix ... no oil in the car just by paying attention to upkeep and maintenance,” he says. “I can’t control what the customer does in the car.”

When vehicle odor cropped up as a common customer concern in a 2002 Cendant survey, Caron says the company “contracted with a chemist who works with companies to develop scents.”

After testing four scents for two weeks among 10,000 customers, the winner was Sunny Sky No. 1, “a chemically formulated odor eliminator,” Caron says. It’s sprayed in the car before each new renter. About 80% of Avis cars are expected to have the scent by March, Caron says.

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Besides having scent added, Cendant cars undergo a 55-point checklist, including maintenance, vacuuming and washing, Caron says. Officials at other car rental companies report a similar routine between rentals.

But it’s difficult even for the car rental companies to determine whether an auto has always been smoke-free, Caron says. “Every vehicle is designated nonsmoking when it comes to us,” he says. The key tags contain a no-smoking reminder. Still, “there is no guarantee that the car is a nonsmoking car.”

So what can you do? Tell them you want a nonsmoking car, Caron advises. If it smells like smoke when you get in, ask for another.

One of the best ways to ensure you’ll get a sweet-smelling and well-maintained car, Caron says, is to ask for a new car or the car with the lowest mileage when you reserve.

But when I called three national car rental agencies -- Hertz, Alamo and Enterprise -- reservations agents said a nonsmoking car could be requested but not guaranteed. The best advice, the agents agreed: Ask again at your destination and refuse a car that smells of smoke.

It’s not just an odor issue but a health risk, says Bronson Frick, associate director of Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, based in Berkeley. If smoke odor is noticeable in a car, Frick says, “it’s a health risk,” because toxins are being released.

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If you want a smoke-free hotel, the outlook is more optimistic, Frick says. “From coast to coast, more hotels are now completely smoke-free,” he says, not only in rooms, but also in lobbies and other public areas.

“It used to be it was practically impossible to find a completely smoke-free hotel. Now there are probably dozens of them.”

How clean the bed cover?

If the hotel is not completely smoke-free, you can at least ask for a smoke-free room. Several cities now have laws that restrict the number of rooms that can be used as smoking rooms, Frick says. Another trend he’s noticed: Hotels are keeping nonsmoking rooms nonsmoking and not switching smoke-free rooms into smoking rooms if needed.

To find a smoke-free hotel room, visit the organization’s website,

www.no-smoke.org and click “Smokefree Travel” (under Learn More). Or try a link maintained by a Texas nonsmoker, www.smokinghurts.com. Frick recommends double-checking smoke-free policies with the properties listed.

Besides fretting about cigarette odor, many travelers wonder about the cleanliness of hotel bedspreads.

These days, chances are better that the bed covering has been cleaned recently, says Joseph A. McInerney, president and chief executive of the American Hotel and Lodging Assn., a trade group.

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That’s partly because more hotels have switched from traditional bedspreads to duvet covers in an effort to raise standards of cleanliness, he says.

“Duvet covers are easier to change and are typically cleaned every day,” McInerney says. Bedspreads may be cleaned much less often.

Although the association sets no requirements, it does suggest standards of cleanliness, McInerney says. Among them: The room should be vacuumed and dusted and the bathroom facilities cleaned daily, floors should be washed between guests’ stays, and the phone and remote control wiped down.

If the room isn’t clean, ask for a new one immediately, McInerney says. “Don’t wait until they send someone to clean the room you’re in. Just say, ‘This room is unacceptable. I would like to change rooms.’ ”

To improve your chance of getting a clean room, rental car or airline, check out results of surveys such as those by Market Metrix, which ranks chains in all three industries for cleanliness. (See accompanying chart.)

Take clean-up supplies

Hotel and car rental company officials say they are listening to travelers’ requests for clean environments -- and consumer advocates say there is much a business traveler can do to upgrade the cleanliness of the environment on the road if the hospitality industry falls short.

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Stowing a few clean-up supplies in your luggage can’t hurt, says Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist and chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tenn. “Take along some wipes,” he says. “Any kind is fine.”

If the rental car steering wheel looks grimy, you can clean it. If there’s a little crud in the sink, you’re ready to banish it.

Take some foot powder to sprinkle on your feet after showering, to help dry them quickly and decrease the chances of getting athlete’s foot, which is more likely to occur when the area between the toes remains moist, he says.

Schaffner also recommends frequent hand-washing to stay healthy on the road.

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Passing the test

A survey of travelers found these cleanliness rankings. Respondents scored hotels, airlines and rental car firms on a range from 25 (failed to meet expectations) to 100 (exceeded expectations).

Top hotel chains

Mandarin Oriental...98.6

Hard Rock Hotels*...94.8

Venetian...94.8

Staybridge...93.9

Navy Lodge...93.6

*non-casinos

Top airlines

JetBlue...94.7

Midwest...89.7

British Airways...84.0

National Airlines*...82.3

Frontier...81.7

*stopped operating in 2002

Top car rental companies

Enterprise...81.0

Avis...80.9

Hertz...80.5

Advantage...80.0

Alamo...79.9

*

Source: Market Metrix Hospitality Index, cumulative since third quarter 2002. Based on quarterly surveys of 35,000 Americans.

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