When you wheel your suitcase into the room and set down your bag, the first thing you usually do is pull back the duvet for a quick look — checking whether the sheets are clean and free of hairs. This little habit, which almost everyone performs, is really a personal hygiene assessment. Some people also think: the room looks bright and tidy, so it should be fine, right? In fact, the "cleanliness" you can see with the naked eye is not entirely the same as "safety" in the hygienic sense. Whether there are residual bacterial colonies on the sheets, or whether the cups are truly clean, is mostly invisible. So to judge whether a hotel is hygienic, you need to look at both the "visible details" and whether there is "a system backing it up."

How regulations provide the safety net for hotel hygiene

Hotels and guesthouses fall under the category of public places explicitly regulated by the Regulations on the Administration of Public Place Hygiene (revised in 2024). They must obtain a hygiene license before operating, and hygiene supervision follows strict legal standards. Article 14 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Public Place Hygiene requires that the supplies and utensils provided to customers must be guaranteed to be hygienic and safe, and must be cleaned, disinfected, and replaced in accordance with relevant provisions — this is what we commonly call "one change and one disinfection per guest (cleaning, disinfection, and sanitizing)." Article 10 clearly states that practitioners must undergo a health examination every year and obtain a valid health certificate before taking up their posts. Health authorities at every level conduct hygiene testing on a portion of hotels and guesthouses across the province each year. Based on standards such as the Hygienic Indicators and Limits for Public Places (GB 37488—2019), they focus on sampling the total bacterial count and coliform bacteria on bed sheets and duvet covers, towels and bath towels, water cups and tea sets, and bathroom fixtures, while also checking whether the dirty/clean zones in the laundry room are properly separated and whether disinfection facilities are operating normally. For premises that fail, they work with health supervision departments to urge rectification and publicize the results, safeguarding the hygiene baseline from the regulatory side.

As a consumer, remember the three steps: look, check, and protect

Step one: Look at the public notice. A legitimate hotel should publicly display its hygiene credit rating in a prominent location in the lobby or at the front desk. According to Article 30 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Public Place Hygiene, local health administrative departments at or above the county level shall determine hygiene credit ratings based on the results of quantitative hygiene supervision evaluations of public places, and shall publicly display them in prominent locations. Before booking, you might as well take a look. Step two: Check the details. Clean linen that has been properly replaced will have clear folding creases — that crisp feel that only comes after washing, disinfection, and ironing before being refolded, with no hairs, stains, or odors. Disinfected water cups and mouthwash cups should be dry, with no water marks or fingerprint residue; if the bottom of the cup is wet, it means drying was not done properly, and a damp micro-environment actually favors the survival of microorganisms. Conversely, if the room smells musty or the towels are damp and sticky, it most likely means hygiene control is inadequate, and you can directly ask to change rooms. Step three: Protect yourself. For items that come into direct contact with skin and mucous membranes, such as towels, bath towels, and mouthwash cups, it is advisable to bring your own. The toilet seat is a high-frequency contact area and may carry intestinal pathogens, so you can wipe it with disinfecting wipes before use to reduce the risk of contact transmission. One final reminder: if you find obvious hygiene problems when checking in, be sure to keep good evidence and complain to the relevant departments. Only with joint supervision will hotels truly implement "one change and one disinfection per guest."

Source: Henan CDC