Hotel hair dryers found to have large number of germs by microbiologist

Germ tests were conducted on nine LA hotel rooms

Hotel hair dryers could be a hotbed of germs (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Hair dryers are home to more germs than you might imagine, according to an investigation by ABC News into the hygiene of hotel rooms.

Microbiologist Chuck Gerba conducted germ tests in nine Los Angeles hotel rooms, three lower-priced, three medium-priced and three high-end.

Gerba said: “There must be some things you can do with a hair dryer that I am not aware of because some of them were pretty germy.”

The news is sure to alarm hypochondriac holidaymakers around the world.

"The biggest concern in a hotel room is picking up cold, flu virus or viruses that cause diarrhoea,” said Gerba. “It doesn't take very many to make you ill."

Among the items tested were toilets, sinks, drinking glasses and irons.

Six of the nine bathroom sinks tested had germ levels considered excessive.

The room-service menu was another area found to host hidden germs.

At one of the five-star hotels, the experiment uncovered high levels of bacteria on the menu, while the others tested clean.

Gerba said: "They flip through the pages. They put their fingers here. So, you are more likely to find something here.”

Ice buckets were another cause for concern.

One bucket at a Beverly Hills three-star hotel had five times the amount of germs Gerba considered acceptable. Across the board, the germ count for toilets was at higher levels than you’d find in the average toilet in someone’s home.

Gerba said that the way hotel housekeepers do their job could have a big impact on room cleanliness.

Joe McInerney of the American Hotel and Lodging Association believes that it is nothing to lose sleep over.

He said: "Roughly four million people sleep in hotels every day and there are very, very few cases of anybody catching any type of a disease from staying in a hotel.