THE KEY TO HOTEL HYGIENE
Marc Ferguson, International Business Development Manager for Kaivac, shows us what hotel keys can tell us about hotel floors.
In September of 2017, North American publication the Journal of Environmental Health published an article that may have caught some of its readers – scholars, doctors, professors, and other professionals involved in advanced environmental health issues – by surprise. The article was about hotel key cards, a topic that is rarely discussed.
We’ve all seen and used these before: the electronically into a slot in the door. The researchers wanted to know if the key cards, new or old, were contaminated.
In most areas of the world, when guests check into a hotel they are given a new key card. However, this is not true everywhere and even if the card is new, the researchers still wondered if it might be contaminated.
Regarding the used key cards, ones that have already been used but are now being recycled and used again, there was already an assumption that they may be soiled and contaminated. What was unknown was the degree of contamination.
To conduct their tests, the researchers collected 149 hotel key cards, some brand new and others that had already been used, from 25 North American hotels. The hotels divided into two groups: economy hotels and those in the mid-range price category.
The researchers used Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) rapid monitoring systems, such as those marketed by Kaivac and available in Europe. Both sides of the 149 cards were swabbed in two directions. To ensure the readings were accurate, researchers put on new pairs of rubber gloves before handling each card.
The way these ATP rapid monitoring systems work is that a reading of 10 or less indicates a very clean surface; 11-30 suggests that the card's surface is not clean and could contain contaminants that may cause disease; 30 and above indicates the cards are soiled, contaminated, and could spread disease.
In the hotel and hospitality
industry, contaminants that can potentially harm human health may be just about anywhere.
42 | LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
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