Traveling Anytime Soon? Expensive Hotels 'Dirtier' Than Budget, Cheap Hotels, a new Study Confirms

A new study has found that not all that looks and feels good is actually good.

TravelMath conducted a study entitled "Hotel Hygiene Exposed" which revealed that affordable 3-star hotels are cleaner than more expensive and more luxurious 4-star and 5-star hotels, in terms of the amount of germs present in the rooms.

“We’re definitely not trying to scare anyone,” Emily Pierce, project manager for Travelmath, told Yahoo! Travel. “We wanted to know just how many bacteria we could find on common surfaces in the hotel rooms.”

TravelMath had a team sent to nine different hotel chains with 3-star, 4-star and 5-star ratings to get swab samples from four of the most commonly used areas in any hotel room: the bathroom counter, the remote control, the desk and the phone. The 36 samples were then checked and analyzed via laboratory testing.

The study assessed the number of bacteria present, quantified as colony-forming units (CFU) per square inch. Here are the results:

3-Star Hotels

Bathroom counters have 320,007 CFUs; desks have 4,687 CFUs; remotes have 232,733 CFUs; and phones have 11,403 CFUs.

4-Star Hotels

Bathroom counters have a whopping 2,534,773 CFUs; desks have a huge 1,800,003 CFUs; remotes have 1,400,027 CFUs; and phones have 137 CFUs.

5-Star Hotels

Bathroom counters have a whopping 1,011,670 CFUs; desks have 40,030 CFUs; remotes have a whopping 2,002,300 CFUs; and phones have 1,217 CFUs.

The findings clearly suggested that 3-star hotels have the least amount of bacteria in bathroom counters, desks and remotes. On the other hand, they have the dirtiest phones.

Both 4-star and 5-star hotels are dirtier in terms of bathroom counters, desks and remotes. These surprising findings shocked TravelMath officials themselves.

“That was definitely kind of a surprise for us, because the five-star hotels are known for those extra amenities, the extra service, the extra luxury,” Cristina Lachowyn, outreach manager, said. “So one would assume that the extra money you’re spending for those extra stars would also go into housekeeping!”

"You'd think that a higher price tag would indicate a higher quality of housekeeping!" Chelsea Freeburn, a spokesperson for Travelmath, told Today.

TravelMath recommended travelers and those who will stay at hotel accommodations to use disinfectant sprays or alcohol wipes to clean the said surface before using.

TravelMath advised to just pack remotes inside a plastic sandwich bag instead of spraying or wiping. It's much easier as remotes are harder to clean with their buttons and crevices.