The 1 Thing You Should Never Touch After You've Been In A Hotel Lobby

The last thing you want to do is get sick before your stay even begins.

When you enter a hotel lobby, you’re probably focused on checking into your hotel room, juggling all of your luggage and finding the elevators to your floor. But one thing you’re likely not thinking about: all the contaminated surfaces you’ve touched before you even get to your room.

“Think of hotel lobbies the same way as hospital waiting rooms,” said Jason Tetro, a microbiologist and author of “The Germ Code.” “They are filled with people who are passing time … [and are] the perfect place for germs to spread.”

In fact, a recent study looked at contaminated surfaces and the infection risk in common hotel lobby areas, including the check-in counter, elevator, lounge and bar, office spaces, gym and restroom.

“This study showed that just a couple of heavily used surfaces … can quickly spread germs around a hotel lobby,” said Dr. Kelly Reynolds, an environmental scientist at the University of Arizona’s College of Public Health and researcher for the study. “Because so many people touch the same spots, germs can jump from hand to hand, to face, and even to food.”

We talked to experts about which hotel lobby surfaces are the germiest, types of viruses and bacteria that may be lurking, and how likely you are to get sick — plus what precautions you can take to avoid picking up a bug.