Why you should book a carpet-free hotel room

October 31, 2014

Book a carpet-free hotel room on your next vacation and avoid an unhealthy environment replete with nasty allergens, set-in stains, and synthetic materials.

Carpeting has many advantages including insulation, noise absorption, and versatility of styles and colours. But it has just as many disadvantages, many of which can affect your health. Unless properly cleaned and maintained, carpeting can be hazardous to your indoor air quality. When it comes to carpeted hotel rooms, you’re staying in a room that has seen years’ worth of visitors tracking in dirt, dust, stains, and other types of contaminants. Choosing a carpet-free hotel room is often the greener, healthier option to protect you and your family from air quality problems

Why you should book a carpet-free hotel room

Top reasons to avoid carpeted hotels

  1. Allergies: Carpets hold onto dust, dust mites, and other allergens. Regular vacuuming can help, but it doesn’t catch everything. When you stay in a hotel room with carpet, you’re walking on a floor where other guests have brought in pollen, dust, dirt, and more. Each time you walk on the carpet, you’re stirring up a number of allergens that affect your indoor air quality.
  2. Stains: Stains are common when it comes to carpet. Even with regular carpet shampooing, carpets still get stains. Thanks to carpeting, your hotel room features a visual history of what other guests have done in that room before you. Spilled wine, coffee, and greasy foods leave ugly stains that are hard to get out. Previous guests may have also tracked in mud, oil, and other elements from the outdoors. And if the hotel accommodates animals, you have a whole other set of stains to worry about.
  3. Toxic chemicals: Most carpets used in hotels are manufactured from synthetic materials which contain toxic chemicals. These chemicals can release gas for many years. Carpet stores are often filled with the gas or chemical smell of synthetic fibres, fire-resistant coatings, stain proofing, and colours and dyes. And those smells and chemicals are brought into the hotel room when carpeted.
  4. Maintenance and wear: Vacuuming is an easy chore that can pick up a lot of dirt and dust, but carpets are still hard to maintain. Regular vacuuming and shampooing tend to miss smaller dirt particles that penetrate the carpet weave and settle there. Additionally, carpets in hotel rooms wear out quickly with daily foot traffic over many years. Worn out carpets lose their vibrant colour, shine, and plushness.
  5. Hard to keep clean: Unfortunately, carpets are dirty almost all the time even with daily vacuuming. This kind of dirt isn’t on the surface, but found beneath the weave and padding. Dirt and other allergens settle in these areas making it impossible to thoroughly clean. It’s this layer of dust and debris that cause hotel rooms’ indoor air quality to suffer.

Better hotel room flooring options

Some types of flooring to consider for your hotel room other than carpeting include:

  • Laminate
  • Vinyl
  • Rubber flooring
  • Ceramic tile
  • Concrete
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