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Video: You'll Never Guess How Many Times These NYC Hotels Changed Their Sheets
By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 13, 2016
Modified Apr 3, 2018
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Sep 13, 2016
Modified Apr 3, 2018
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It's been a few years since Hotel Carter, a perpetual top ten finisher among dirtiest hotel lists across the country, was sold for $190 million. But if you were worried that the sale heralded the end of an era in which NYC hotels would slowly cast off the pee-stained coverlets of the past and create a more welcoming, less bedbug-friendly environment for tourists, fear not! As Inside Edition learned, there are plenty of hotels with integrity around Manhattan that still maintain that a sheet only needs to be washed under extreme circumstances.
Inside Edition invoked the shame-spraying spirit of Arnold Diaz and visited some hotels around Midtown recently, and found that at least three prominent ones did not change the sheets. They used washable fluorescent paint, which can only be seen under UV light, to spray "I slept here" on various sheets and pillows, then returned a day later after they checked out to see if it was still there. You can see the awkward resulting confrontations below.
Out of the nine places they visited, three allegedly came up short: The Candlewood Inn & Suites in Times Square, the Residence Inn by Marriott in Times Square, and La Quinta Inn & Suites on W 71st Street near Central Park. The manager at the latter place at least apologized for the mistake: "I mean, there’re no words for me to say. We expect the housekeepers to change the sheets."
None of the three hotels accused of using dirty sheets responded to our inquiries about the investigation.
For what it's worth, plenty of NYC hotels—from swanky places to holes in the wall—have been doing their part to keep tourists away by making their facilities as bedbug-friendly as possible. And tourists still keep coming back, finding new gross places to stay!
Update: A spokesperson for the Candlewood Inn said in a statement, "We take great pride in achieving a set of stringent quality standards. We take these standards very seriously and have ongoing training for our associates. This incident serves as a reminder that we must follow these important standards, and we have reinforced this with all associates."
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dirtiest hotels
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inside edition
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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