Investigation Reveals Hotel Sheets Are Even Grosser Than You Thought

dirty hotel sheets
Shutterstock
Shutterstock

It's not breaking news that hotel rooms can get grody. However, there's an unspoken agreement when you're staying at a hotel. Some things might not be all that clean, but the sheets get changed. The walls made be covered in crusty Chinese takeout, there might be a wet towel on the sink, and the windows might have a human smudge print, but the sheets should be clean. 

While that might be the case in most hotels, a new investigation from Inside Edition is showing that some hotels aren't abiding by this agreement. Some hotels are not changing sheets between guests at all.

Inside Edition checked into a Residence Inn in New York City, as seen in the video above, and sprayed the sheets with an invisible paint that shows up under black light. They checked out and then checked back into the hotel the next day under a new name. Spoiler alert: The paint was still there.

Many hotels are known to leave duvet covers on between guests, but leaving the sheets is another level of filth. The manager at the Residence Inn says it must have been an error, but the show went through nine hotels in their investigation and found unchanged sheets in three of those hotels.

It turns out you're not just sleeping with your hotel room sheets, you're sleeping with everyone those sheets have slept with.

Watch the full segment here.

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Dustin Nelson is a News Writer with Thrillist. He holds a Guinness World Record, but has never met the fingernail lady. He’s written for Sports Illustrated, Men’s Journal, The Rumpus, and other digital wonderlands. Follow him @dlukenelson.