YouTuber Urges Removing Hotel Bed Runners
Travel creators are warning guests about hotel bed runners, soap dispensers, hairdryers, and kettles that may harbor germs.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Home Cleaning
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A YouTuber with 61,000 subscribers urged travellers to remove hotel bed runners immediately upon arrival. A TikToker, inventor Lori Greiner, separately advised avoiding hotel soap and shampoo, hairdryers, and kettles.
Why it matters
Bed runners are usually not laundered as often as hotel sheets, and guests sit at the foot of the bed where the runner sits. Refilled soap dispensers and hand-touched hairdryers are rarely deep cleaned between stays.
The claims rest on creator advice and a housekeeping manager's view rather than measured lab results. The source gives no bacterial counts or laundering schedules, so the actual health risk remains unquantified.
The players
Lori Greiner
Lori Greiner is a 56-year-old inventor and entrepreneur who recommended avoiding three hotel room items in a TikTok video.
The details
A bed runner is a strip of thick, coloured fabric stretched across the foot of the bed, and it is usually not laundered as often as the sheets. Some people have used hotel kettles to wash socks and small undergarments, and hairdryers are touched with unwashed hands and rarely deep cleaned.
Hygiene Gap
Hotel sheets are changed for every guest while the bed runner usually is not, creating a laundering gap that travellers rarely consider. The warnings extend that gap to soap dispensers and hairdryers that are typically refilled or reused rather than cleaned out.
Travellers can remove the bed runner and place bags on a luggage rack instead of the bed. Refilled soap dispensers and hairdryers can be wiped down before use.
The takeaway
Simple habits like moving the bed runner aside and wiping amenities before use can reduce contact with items that are rarely cleaned between guests.
Further reading
For more on keeping shared spaces clean, see Home Cleaning.
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