ORLANDO, Fla. – When you check into a hotel, you're not expecting to see a dirty, dingy, or even downright gross room.
[WEB EXTRA: Full video of hotel confrontation | LATEST REPORT: How clean is your hotel room?]
But even if you can't see the dirt with your naked eye, you really don't know what you're sleeping on.
Local 6 consumer reporter Eryka Washington went undercover at two local hotels affiliated with national chains to see just how clean hotel rooms really are.
We started by using the travel website Travelocity. We randomly selected two hotels under their three-star category, and made reservations under our producer's name.
First stop-- the Best Western Orlando Gateway Hotel. That's located right near Universal Studios.
Then, we checked out how clean the room is. The mattress itself and pillows appeared clean. However, we found something that looked like blood or a syrup on the backside of the curtains, and it didn't appear they had vacuumed at the bottom of the bed. The ice bucket had dirt in the bottom of it, but the hotel had provided a plastic liner. The air conditioner vents looked filthy. We also found the tub didn't look clean, and had some hair in it.
The most surprising thing we found was a pair of dirty panties still in between the sheets of one of the beds. Hair was also found on that sheet, as well.
We set up some hidden cameras-- our own and some we used courtesy of Spy Geeks in Altamonte Springs-- to see if the room would be properly cleaned when someone was staying there and left for the day.
When we got back, we brought a black light with us to check out the room. The panties were still in the bed, and using the black light, we found an unidentifiable stain in close proximity to the underwear.
A producer then called the hotel for comment, but the general manager refused to discuss our findings with her over the phone.
So Eryka Washington went to the Best Western to see if she could get some answers.
"Our producer reached out to you and you said no comment, but we really wanted to show you because you never saw what we found," said Washington. "The sheets clearly weren't changed, are they changed every time someone new checks in?"
"Absolutely, that is absolutely procedure," said Bill Jones, the general manager.
"So then what happened with us?" said Washington.
"Again, I don't know what room you stayed in. I don't know anything other than what you're hitting me with now," said Jones.
"Well, we tried to reach you and you said no comment," said Washington.
"We change the sheets when someone checks out," said Jones.
"But you didn't," said Washington.
Jones then declined to comment further.
Something else we had tried in the room-- leaving a $20 bill on the floor.
We found almost immediately upon entering the room, the housekeeper picked up the money and tucked it into her purse before doing any cleaning at all.
It is possible a housekeeper could believe the money was a tip, but that's not what she told her supervisor when a producer called to ask about it. The producer asked if any money had been turned in, and the supervisor said she would check with the maid that had cleaned the room.
The supervisor called back several hours later, saying the maid told her she never saw any money.
We reached out to Best Western corporate and received the following statement:
"Best Western International launched a groundbreaking program, I Care Clean, in 2012 to empower our 2,200 independently owned and operated North American hotels to set a new industry standard for cleanliness and maintenance. This program includes advanced cleaning technologies such as UV wands and black lights. When used properly the I Care Clean program allows Best Western branded hotels to exceed guest expectations for clean facilities.
We are disappointed the results at the hotel shown did not meet our standards for excellence. Know that Best Western International is committed to providing clean rooms at each of our hotels, and we will continue to reinforce the tools and training needed to exceed guest expectations, to include at this hotel."
We asked if they had any specific plans for action at this particular hotel location, and never got an answer.
Next, we headed across town to the Hilton Garden Inn East, near the University of Central Florida.
Again, we checked out the whole room once we checked in to see how good the initial cleaning job was.
Everything appeared cleaner. The air conditioner vent was much cleaner, though not spotless. The curtains appeared clean, as did the tub and sinks. The ice bucket also appeared to be cleaner, and there was also a plastic liner provided. We didn't find anything under the bed, or any hair or other items in the bed.
But again, we left a $20 bill on the floor, and again, it was gone when we came back.
Hospitality experts told Local 6 although the Best Western case was an extreme example, there are several items that tend to be dirtier than others in hotel rooms no matter where you stay.
Eryka Washington will detail that information Tuesday evening on Local 6.
