Woman's Habit Of Cleaning Hotel Rooms After Checking In Leaves People Baffled — 'I'd Rather Just Stay Home Then'
She carries cleaning products and scrub brushes in her luggage, and it has some wondering what the point is in traveling.
@operation_niki / TikTok A woman on TikTok has sparked a debate that many people didn't even know existed.
When traveling, she likes to make sure that her hotel room is clean — I'm sure no one would disagree that a clean hotel room is a bare minimum. However, most people would probably find comfort in telling themselves that the hotel staff already cleaned their room while she likes to take matters into her own hands.
A TikTok cleaning guru shared the hotel deep-cleaning routine she follows every time she travels.
We've all seen those videos and news reports where an intrepid group of investigators — or in the case of the video below, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay — flip on a black light and discover their hotel room is basically a biohazard scene.
Most of us respond by always, always removing the bedspread from the bed as soon as we arrive, but "CleanTok" TikToker Rochelle Nicole, who goes by the handle @operation_niki, takes things several steps further than that — by cleaning the whole room top to bottom.
Niki brings cleaning products and scrub brushes in her baggage and scrubs the shower, toilet, countertops, and even disinfects the furniture.
Regardless of what you think about the notion of cleaning a hotel room top to bottom upon entry, you gotta hand it to Niki — she puts even your favorite neat freak to shame when it comes to thoroughness. "I know the good people of housekeeping have great work to do," she begins in her video, "so let's take 20 minutes to clean my room and gain peace of mind on my stay."
"If you like sleeping under a comforter or showering in a bathroom that may or may not have been cleaned thoroughly, that's definitely your prerogative," she continues. "But your girl doesn't know know how to pack lightly." She then proceeds to show off the downright Mary Poppins-esque level of accouterments she's packed into her luggage, from scrub brushes to bottles of spray cleansers.
"Even if I wear flip flops, I got to at least clean the shower floor," she says as she scrubs the tile shower with Clorox solution and a brush before washing down the floor around the toilet with a portable mop and a Clorox wipe. "Call me crazy if you want."
She then does a thorough check of the mattress and sheets for bedbugs — an essential step during any hotel stay — and then takes her bed check a step further. Niki pulls out a portable black light to scan for, you know, stains (brb throwing up real quick) and then just to be extra sure, she begins "busting out my disposable sheets" and replaces the bedding. She finishes by wiping absolutely everything down with bleach wipes so she "can enjoy my trip to the fullest."
Photo: TikTok / @operation_niki
Many people feel Niki is going way overboard by immediately cleaning hotel rooms after checking in.
"I'd rather just stay home then," one woman wrote, while another quipped "The only thing I clean on vacation is my a-s." Others felt like Niki has to have some kind of phobia or obsession with cleanliness. "This feels like a diagnosable condition," one TikTok commenter cracked.
But the hotel industry's post-pandemic changes to housekeeping indicate that Niki's approach might be the more reasonable one by far.
An investigative report by Inside Edition found that many hotels were skipping basic steps like washing sheets during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other reports have found that accessories like bedspreads and throw pillows are routinely ignored when it comes to cleaning, as are items like light switches and remote controls.
This is likely related to the fact that nearly all hotel chains have drastically cut cleaning staff since the pandemic as well — hence those notices posted in your hotel bathroom saying your room won't be cleaned every day unless requested — or in some cases, not at all until you check out.
This has all happened despite consumers' cleanliness expectations having unsurprisingly become more exacting since the pandemic. A 2021 survey by Hospitality Net, a hotel-industry trade publication, found that consumers expect a high level of cleanliness and transparency about hotels' housekeeping procedures — and that only roughly half of consumers are happy with how hotels have managed cleanliness since the pandemic.
Given how hotels were regularly supplying black-light nightmare fuel on the evening news long before the pandemic ever started, it's hard to fault Niki for going the extra mile. People probably aren't going to start carrying Clorox wipes and scrub brushes in their backpacks now as she does, but if they did? Well, it'd be kind of hard to blame them.
Photo: TikTok / @operation_niki
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.