The cleanliness of drinking glasses in hotel guest rooms has been seriously questioned as evidenced in the video recorded in an investigation conducted by the hidden cameras of a TV station in Atlanta Georgia. Here are a few suggestions for hotels to ensure that drinking glasses are clean and sanitized.

  • Ensure room attendants have a separate container to collect used glasses from guest rooms
  • Used glasses to be transferred to stewarding department to be run through dishwasher
  • Room attendants should have clean glasses (on racks) to be placed in guest rooms
  • Here’s where extreme care must be taken. Only water glasses that have been run through the dishwasher by stewarding are to be placed in guest rooms. Glasses should be returned from stewarding with covers/stan caps or lids in place; the idea is to never have gloves used to clean the room, chemicals, rags or any other linen for that matter come into contact with the drinking glasses at any time. Always handle the glasses from the bottom and never from the rim. Under no condition are glasses to be washed in the guestroom sink and left to be used by guests. These procedures must be clearly communicated during room attendant training process
  • Another alternative, drinking glasses could be individually wrapped after being sanitized through the dishwasher
  • The mini bar department could be made responsible for replenishing used glasses
  • Yet another idea may be to use recyclable disposable cups
  • Drinking glasses are a staple commodity of the hospitality product and we must ensure that they are clean and well sanitized for our guests use.