Should You Clean the Hotel Hot Tub Before Use? What You Need to Know

An influencer has divided opinion on the internet after revealing why holidaymakers should wash and bleach their hotel hot tub before using it—so Newsweek asked an expert whether this is really necessary.

In a viral TikTok post shared in October under the username @mcdouble_deez, the poster, Mitch from Detroit, Michigan, can be seen bleaching his hotel hot tub clean as he tells his followers: "Don't just get in the hot tub in your hotel room."

Instead, Mitch suggests filling the hot tub with hot water and bleach, and turning it on to kill any germs and bacteria that may be hidden inside the drains and jets.

"You know what people be doing in these hot tubs," he says as he glances at the jacuzzi with a look of disgust. While hot tubs can be a great way to relax on your vacation, they could also be a breeding ground for bacteria if not cleaned and maintained properly.

An article by Dr. Rohini Radhakrishnan for Medicine Net, reviewed by Dr. Shaziya Allarakha, says that you can get a disease from using a hot tub that wasn't appropriately sanitized.

The most common types include hot tub lung, and inflammation in the lungs with symptoms like fever, cough, difficulty breathing and fatigue; hot tub rush, which is itchy, with bumpy and red or pus-filled blisters; legionella infection, which is a type of pneumonia; UTIs, and allergic reactions.

Despite the risks, Mary D'Argenis-Fernandez, founder and CEO of MDA Hospitality Solutions, told Newsweek that guests shouldn't really need to clean their hot tubs before use because they are cleaned and tested for chemical balance daily by the housekeeping staff.

"Teams are trained to clean hot tubs with a sanitizer solution. They are cleaned daily and I recommend hotels document the cleaning.

"Guests are familiar with an inspection chart on the back of a public restroom door where an employee signs off that the bathroom has been inspected each hour. For the hot tubs, it's not typically on public display, but should be available for property leadership to view and confirm the cleaning occurred."

But hotel cleaning may not always be carried out so thoroughly. Another Medicine Net article by Dr. Melissa Conrad Stöppler and Dr. William C. Shiel Jr., quotes a scandal from a few years ago when housekeepers at various hotel were found taking shortcuts while cleaning the rooms.

The article mentions instances of staff cleaning glasses with dirty towels from the previous guest, and washing cups using the same gloves they had on while cleaning the toilet.

Some users in the comments, who claim to have previously worked in hospitality, also shared similar experiences.

One user, Final Boss Garage, commented: "As a hotel maintenance man, I don't blame you for this at all."

Kyle said: "As former hotel ops mgr [operations manager] don't blame you in the slightest, if only everyone did this and understood lol."

However, not all of them agreed. Some users had totally different views.

Knight0fthemoon wrote: "I worked in a hotel. we had two of these rooms. the manager didn't trust housekeeping to clean it so she personally cleaned those rooms and bleached the jacuzzi every time it was rented."

Previsible added: "I used to work at a hotel where all of our corner rooms had jacuzzi tubs like this and we cleaned them after every guest with strong af chemicals made specifically for people grease."

When in doubt you can also ask hotel management for a copy of the jacuzzi maintenance record.

The latest AAA ranking on cities with the cleanest hotel rooms, released in 2019, places New York City in the top spot with the cleanest rooms in the country, with Houston in second place, and Washington in third.

Mitch also shared a few more hotel hygiene tips with Newsweek, such as getting the duvet changed to make sure it's new and clean; checking for bedbugs by rubbing the room's iron on the corners of the bed; washing coffee pots before use; and pulling out the screen filters in the AC/heat unit, which he claims are often forgotten and/or overlooked.

"Check for cameras," he added. "If you happen to see a 'conveniently left behind' USB charging block, it's better to just toss it. Usually you can see a little circle on it which is a hidden camera, but better safe than on some weirdo's phone.

"Look around the rest of the room also, they DO sell tools specifically for this very cheap. Even if it seems paranoid, it's better to be aware and safe than for you or your kids to be spied on."

The video went viral on social media and it has so far received over 5.5 million views and 222,400 likes on the platform.

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