How Often Should Hotel Change Bed Sheets during Your Stay?

Dear All,

I am currently on a study related trip staying at a hotel/apartment for a total of 5 nights. I am bothered by the fact that the hotel receptionist refused my request to ask the cleaners to change my bed sheets when they next service the room. The receptionist flatly stated that the hotel servicing only includes the replacement of bins and towels, services such as sheet changing will incur a charge. She also noted guests staying for more than a week will have their sheets changed every 7 days. She insisted that sheets are changed before new guests checked in, and rejects my suspicion that the sheets are not cleaned properly. Since my stay, i have developed skin rashes against the bed sheets.

I am wondering if there is some kind of law that enforce hotels to change bed sheets when requested by guests?

Comments

  • +15

    Once a week seems fair. It's not like randoms take turns sleeping on it during your stay. .

    • I agree. If you have specific requirements then just pay the fee to have them changed.

    • randoms take turns

      Or even do it at the same time.

  • +6

    weekly sounds fine to me…..are you particularly dirty?

    • Nah. I shower before i go to bed.

      • +6

        Did you use the body wash or shampoo etc. supplied by the hotel? The rash may be related to that, or stress! Hope it clears up!

  • +7

    how often do you change your own sheets?

    • I guess around 2-3 weeks tops.

      • +4

        My advice to you would be… don't piss off the staff.
        They are the ones, after all, that make and serve you your food there.

        • Yeah. I always hide my toothbrushes away when finished. You never know if the cleaner is a troll.

          "hey, take that for skidding the toilet.. "

      • so why do u want a hotel to change them more often

  • Serviced apartments have different conditions to hotel rooms.

  • +4

    It may be a reaction to the washing powder as I have had before, unfortunately washing them in the same powder ends up with the same reaction.

  • +1

    How often they will change sheets is generally spelled out in the conditions, if not done daily.

  • You sound pretty unreasonable. Think about the environment!

    • No one who pays to stay at a hotel deserves bed-bugs or dirty sheets. Sorry. If you take this stance, in time, you'll be lucky to ever have clean sheets.

      Imho

      • +9

        It's a slippery slope: first you let the beds go and then BOOM, ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!

  • +8

    is there is some kind of law that enforce hotels to change bed sheets when requested by guests

    Hotel Keepers Act (QLD) 1967 -revised 1982, 1997.
    Section 5. Subpart C(ii) - Bed linen must be changed within 2 hours of a paying guests request. Failure to do so will result in either (a) imprisonment for 1 year; or (b) 5 lashings in public

    • Does an OzBargain lashing count?

    • This is sarcasm right?

    • +3

      Well I did a search and there is a regulation in Victoria but maybe not in other states…

      Cleanliness of prescribed accommodation
      (2) A proprietor of prescribed accommodation must ensure that all bed linen provided with the accommodation is changed with clean linen—
      (a) at least weekly; and
      (b) after the accommodation is vacated and before its re-use by another occupier.
      Penalty: 20 penalty units.

      http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/num_reg/phawr2009n178…

      Otherwise it looks like some local councils in Queensland do have laws about this. Here is the law for Gold Coast for example: http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/documents/ll/ll16-1-sb-renta…

    • Perhaps for the benefit of the tourist industry, the hotels in Queensland should make themselves much more familiar with the relevant laws.

      The place I stayed in changed the bed linen every two hours.

      • Do they charge in 2 hour blocks too?

      • At least the staff there are very clean people, they shower every couple of hours too.

  • Good lord!

    3 days, max. How you change at home has no weight- you're not worried about bugs making way from dirty sheets to bedding to sheets again.

    It's what they pay their staff to do, ffs.

    I suppose you'd have to ask ahead of time, however. Maybe that hotel chain likes bed-bugs?

    :P

  • +2

    It could be the detergent or the starch in the sheets giving you a rash.

    Or, bed bugs. If a hotel knows they have bed bugs they are going to be very shady about it because it is very difficult and very expensive to be rid of. Are they like spots or a more spread out rash? Bed bugs aren't in the sheets, they hide in the crevice of mattresses and within the cracks of furniture and the room. Sometimes impossible to find but you'll know they are there by the next morning.

    • Rashes are not likely to be from bed bugs, if you don't find other evidence — bed bug feces ("poop") leave dark stains that look like a felt tip marker stain, and blood spots commonly appear on the sheets or mattress.
      The rash is more likely to be a reaction to the sheet fabric, if you aren't used to that type of synthetic/cotton/etc. or from the detergents — in any event more sheet washing will not solve the issue, but is more likely going to worsen the problem.
      If the sheets are blood-stained or seriously jizz-stained, the hotel should be happy to change them, and usually do without asking.

  • Every hotel/apartment will have their own policies.

  • I'm sure all of the conditions of the stay were listed in the contract, you want a service not included in the price. Why should they change them? How often would you change the sheets at home? If it's such a concern, why not pay for the sheet change or stay in nicer hotels.

  • What the receptionist said is entirely correct everywhere you stay. Anyway doesn't matter what anyone says here. Its the hotel's policy that counts.

  • -1

    Most places state no daily room servicing these days, so it is weird that they empty bins and change towels but not sheets. It's so normal these days that I enjoy the few that do.

    It should be clear in their advertising about room servicing. Perhaps it says linen changes extra. If so, pay it.

    We have stayed in many where they do not come into your room until you leave. The timeshare unit group we are owners in will do a mid-stay clean if you stay 8 nights - and that is a full clean and top up of supplies. Since i have learned that, I like to say ar least 8 nights.

    Bed bugs and other things on mattresses in hotel rooms are almost everywhere. It has surprised me to see places not changing quilts either - just new covers.

  • This does not sound like a hotel. Most serviced apartments change bedsheets once a week. This is how they are able to offer more competitive prices than legitimate hotels, by reducing or eliminating some of the benefits of a hotel.

    Hotels will almost definitely change the bedsheets every day. Some hotels, such as SPG hotels (Sheraton, Westin, etc.) allow you to leave a card on the bed if you do NOT want your sheets to be changed.

    If you have developed a rash, this is more likely due to bed bugs or a reaction to the types of detergent they use on the sheets rather than them being dirty. A daily change of sheets probably would not fix your issues.

  • for the record when i lived in England i didn't change my sheets for 9 months… i had no spares…

    pretty gross, can anyone top this?

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