Janessa Richard, from California, uploaded a series of videos to TikTok which she’s dubbed “confessions of an ex-hotel worker.”
The 26-year-old didn’t reveal which hotel she worked out, but stressed: “I also want to say this is based on my personal experience and the hotel that I worked at, and that does not mean this is the case for all hotels out there.”
In the first part of her series, the mom-to-be said: “So I used to work in a hotel until a few years ago, and I thought it would be fun to tell you guys secrets and confessions about hotels you may not know.
“So the first thing is that most hotels do not wash duvets / comforters between guests. They wash them maybe once a year which is really f****** gross. So first thing you wanna do when you walk in your room, don’t go lay on top of your bed on the duvet, take that off. Because there’s so many germs and I don’t even want to know what else is on there.
“Number two, if you’re nice and we have rooms available we can upgrade you to a suite or to a better room at no extra cost. And legally we’re not allowed to say your room number out loud, which is why we usually write it on the envelope and just pass it along to you. And tell you, this is your room number.”
The clip, shared in April, was watched more than a million times as Richard shared more confessionals as followers demanded more secrets.
In another video, she revealed one practice which she found “gross.”
She pointed out: “There are a lot of shady things that happen in hotels. Like shady things you see in movies and you think don’t happen in real life. We once had this ’escort company’ rent out a room and bring men and we had to call the cops, and it was just crazy.
“Number two which isn’t a big deal but is kind of gross to me, they do not change toilet paper rolls in-between guests. If there’s toilet paper left on the roll, they will leave it there and fold the end to make it look pretty.”
Explaining why it angers her, Richard said in the comments: “Except when I pay $150-$200 for a room, I’d expect a clean toilet paper roll.”
And if you’ve had a long trip and want nothing more than a glass of water to quench your thirst after getting to your room, think again.
Richard explained why, saying: “Almost every standard room you book comes with a water bottle and drinking glasses in the room. I would not recommend you drink from those glasses because most of the time they aren’t changed in between guests, as long as they look clean. Obviously if they’ve been used they will replace them with clean ones. But if they like they haven’t been touched or drank out of, they will leave it there for the next guest.”
But she shared a tip to potentially save you money on your next trip, saying: “Some hotels have a 100% satisfaction guarantee policy, which means if you have one little thing that you’re not satisfied with and bring it up to the manager, they might be able to comp your room.”
Richard said she worked in the industry six years ago, and confirmed one of the reasons why she left was the hours.
“The main reason I quit is because I wasn’t happy any more I was tired of working the 3-11pm shift and weekends,” she added.
Her videos have struck a chord with vacationers, as one person, called Joss, joked: “And on that note I’ll be buying a camper.”
Keaton Wilson asked: “Are the sheets at least changed? How can you tell if they haven’t? This has always been my fear, well one of them.”
While Ashly Lambert wrote: “I worked at a hotel as well and can 100% confirm all of these.”
Newsweek reached out to Richard for comment.
