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Every time you see a hotel room with a Jacuzzi tub the reaction tends to be – wow! But should it be? I mean, have you ever taken a dip in one? They seem relaxing and nice, right?
Before you ever jump into one (again) you may want to take a peek at this post from Texas A&M. Not just this, but just how diligent do you think housekeeping is at cleaning one of these tubs.
If I ever were to get into one I would have to do this. First, get some bleach and run a cleaning cycle for a while to try to remove as much of the visitors that may be lurking around. Then, after that, run a clear rinse or two. Who has time for that?
Clearly I would not do all of this and my feeling is these things are just not a “treat” to enjoy no matter how nice the hotel room is. What do you think I am just being overly cautious or do you feel the same way? – René
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Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I wonder how “clean” the bathtub is in the Lufthansa First Class lounge in FRA. Too many skincells from fellow Frequent Flyers.
Not likely to. Don’t want a weird skin reaction for 20 min of fun.
My wife and I have a strict rule that we only use them at Super 8’s where they also offer truck parking and free HBO 🙂 Nothing says romance like a $39 Jacuzzi Suite at the Howard Johnson. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Seriously they are so, so, so gross. We used to enjoy using the big hot tubs at hotels and resorts however until we owned a hot tub at home. Now it’s rare to want to use one of those either. Home hot tubs are the only good option and that is if you maintain them properly. They continually cycle water through the pipes and you don’t typically have a bunch of strangers sitting, peeing, [or worse], etc. in them.
I would also use extreme caution with fitness equipment. Make sure you wipe it down good to prevent exposure to MRSA infections.
I wont take a bath at my own house, in my own tub.
The Texas AM is quite disturbing though. Almost enough to make me skip the whirlpools at the resorts. I guess it would be the same for any public pool too. I guess at some point you just cant think about it and enjoy life.
The pool at the encore beach club in vegas by the end of the day is so murky that you feel dirty. I will take a bath sometimes in a non whirlpool bathtub at some four seasons and st regis after a quick rinse down of my own tho.
Not on a dare. Disgusting.
I’ve actually done the bleach thing. Wouldn’t use the tub without it. It is a lot of work though and at this point the thrill of having the jetted tub in my room has worn off. I don’t bother anymore.
What I would never use is a public Hot tub by the pool. The bacteria in them is unbeleiveable even with all the chemicals. Viruses usually die in a matter of minutes or at the most 1-2 hours. In a private room I don’t have a problem because most bacteria dies within 24 hrs or less and is also flushed down the drain with the water.
@Jim – but in a hotel room spa tub water can stay in the lines! Yuck!
Yes fungus can live along time but is only a inhalitation hazard. That said you also need a compromised immune system for it to grow. Almost everyone has it in their mouth right now but your immune system keeps it in check. That’s why many Chemo patients don’t die of CA but comprimised immune systems. All the other items talked about are on your skin already. Everybody has the strep virus/bacteria on you waiting for a opening to get in. Skin is your bodies first line of defense and a very effective one. The one truely bad one is MRSA or the flesheating bacteria which if it finds a opening is horrible and very hard and expensive to treat ($20,000+). Sorry for the long post just my medical background taking over.
@Jim – txs for the feedback! 🙂 (flesheating bacteria – a word you never want to hear – EVER)!
ps you can always live in a bubble lol.
We have used them in the rooms at some of the time share resorts that we have stayed at. Always ran bleach through them for about twenty minutes before draining and refilling for our use.
No way would I use a jetted tub in any public place … hotel, cruise ship, jacuzzi by a pool. The older I get, the more germaphobic I get. I won’t even use the water bowls in pedicure chairs…
Some years ago, my family rented an expensive beautiful home via VRBO on Nantucket that had an outdoor tub. We naively assumed that the hot tub was clean–everyone who used it came down with skin rashes that were itchy and covered much of the torso. Two family members had to go the local hospital for medication. Lesson learned. Use bleach or don’t use the hot tub.
I think they can be pretty dirty. On the other hand the water at your typical beach is 100 times worse and many people who shy away from hot tubs don’t give the beach a second thought.
Sure, run bleach through it — that will make a huge difference. But even running plain water through it for a few minutes will make a significant difference.
Only if i bought along my own gallon of Clorox and gloves and i would have to be hurting really bad( after a 20 mile run??)
We bring along some dishwasher detergent and run it for 20 minutes and do a refill. Newer Jacuzzis do tend to have an air dry cycle to clear out the tubes after it is drained. Relax and enjoy your life. If fear of germs is your top priority, don’t fly on an airplane, use a grocery cart, visit a doctor’s office or enter a hospital. If you are healthy, your immune system will serve you well.
I am not a germophobe at all. So, bring it on.
I used to love the Jacuzzi tubs at the Westin LAX. They were located on balconies of the corner suites. Sitting on the balcony at night in a hot tub overlooking the runways was a real treat that I would risk an encounter with a few million microbes for. Unfortunately the hotel removed the Jacuzzis a few years ago. If you want a horror story about hotel germs, there was a god expose on the germs found on hotel drinking glasses. Often maids are not too careful with how they clean them and may use the same cloth as for the bathroom. Wrapped glasses or plastic for me.
Disgusting, Never!
Stayed at a Hotel recently with a tub- I have a sixth sense about certain things- I asked my husband not to run the jets while I was in there- still gave me the creeps though. ( took a shower when I got out- real romance right!) Anyway after he was done I asked him not to drain the water and dumped a boat load of shampoo in there and ran the thing for about 20 minutes it bubbeled up and had to turn it off- it too a very long time for it to drain- we were asleep before this occurred. The next morning we looked in the tub- it was disgusting what we saw- it was almost black. I called down to the front desk to tell them of the ‘news” she didn’t bat an eye- she was not surprised t all and stated she would get maintenance up there as soon as he came in if that would work for us- certainly- he cleaned the jet ports out and ran it, you could tell as I could smell the cleaner when I walked in the room. Never again will I stay at a hotel with a jetted tub without asking when it had its last regular maintenance and seeing the report- PLUS running my own bleach or dry shock for pools through the system a couple of times. Simply disgusting. We of course got a discount for our room but I would have rather had a clean tub in the first place.