Hotel carpets can trap some nasty stuff. That includes dirt, food particles, dead skin, mold, allergens, and bacteria tracked in on shoes.
Vacuumed doesn’t necessarily mean clean. Germs and debris can remain deep in carpet fibers, and vacuuming may even stir particles into the air.
Keep your bare feet off the floor. Pack slippers or flip-flops, especially if you have cuts or blisters, and keep luggage off the carpet.
You check into your hotel, kick off your shoes, and start walking around barefoot.
After reading this article, you may want to keep your socks on.
Hotel guests tend to worry about dirty TV remotes, bathroom surfaces, and whether those decorative pillows ever actually get washed. But one of the grimiest surfaces in the room may be directly under your feet.
A longtime AAA hotel inspector tells the whole story: Hotel carpeting can essentially become reservoirs for whatever guests and their shoes drag into a room.
And some of it is pretty gross.
Your shoes bring the outside world inside
Think about everywhere the bottom of your shoes goes during a typical travel day. Places like airport bathrooms, sidewalks, restaurants, gas stations and maybe a dog-friendly park.
Then you walk across the hotel carpet.
University of Arizona microbiologist Charles Gerba has studied bacteria found on shoes and says they can carry potentially harmful pathogens, including E. coli and other bacteria associated with fecal matter.
Carpets can also accumulate food particles, dust, dead skin cells, mold, and allergens. Walking across the carpet, or even vacuuming it, can disturb some of those particles and send them back up into the air.
Does that mean you're going to get sick because you walked barefoot from the bed to the bathroom? Probably not.
For most healthy adults, experts say the risk of becoming ill specifically from hotel carpeting is relatively low. But there's still a pretty compelling ick factor.
Definitely cover up cuts and blisters
There are situations where you should be more careful.
If you have a blister, cut, or other open wound on your foot, wearing socks or slippers makes even more sense because broken skin can provide an entry point for bacteria.
Also, according to S. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist Hospital, young children are another consideration.
Kids have a habit of sitting and crawling on floors and then putting their fingers in their mouths. If you're traveling with a toddler, the hotel carpet probably isn't the best place to spread out the toys and snacks.
People with asthma or respiratory sensitivities may also want to consider hotel rooms with hardwood or laminate flooring, since carpeting can hold dust, pollen, mold spores, and other allergens.
Pro tip: Pack a cheap pair of lightweight slippers or flip-flops specifically for your hotel room. They take up almost no suitcase space and eliminate the temptation to walk barefoot.
Vacuumed doesn't necessarily mean clean
Here's the part that might change how you look at housekeeping: A carpet can be freshly vacuumed and still contain plenty of unwanted material.
Vacuuming primarily removes loose debris near the surface. Deep cleaning or steam cleaning is much better at removing material embedded in carpet fibers, but hotels obviously aren't steam-cleaning every room between every guest.
There's another potential issue: the vacuum itself.
Research has found that microorganisms can collect on vacuum brushes and inside bags. Vacuuming can also kick tiny particles back into the air.
So if housekeeping is actively vacuuming your room or hallway, giving the dust a few minutes to settle isn't a bad idea.
Pro tip: Don't put your suitcase, clothes, or travel pillow directly on the carpet. Use the luggage rack, desk, chair, or another elevated surface instead.
Want a cleaner option? Look down before you book
More hotels are now using hard flooring such as luxury vinyl planks, porcelain tile, and engineered wood. Those surfaces aren't germ-free, of course, but they're generally easier to thoroughly clean and don't trap debris the way carpet fibers can.
You may even be able to spot the difference before booking. Be sure to scroll through the hotel's room photos and look at the floors.
It's one of those tiny details you probably never thought to check — until now.