Allergy Free Hotel Rooms?
My family will be attending a conference in Jacksonville over this Labor Day weekend and staying at the Hyatt Regency there. While looking at the Hyatt website, I came across their offering of hypoallergenic rooms.
Keeping allergen exposure to a minimum while travelling is a problem many allergy sufferers face. Bringing items like portable air purifiers and even your own allergy bedding can help control allergies while staying in a hotel, but these options are not always convenient. An allergy-free room, maintained by the hotel you're staying in, seems like an excellent alternative.
So just what makes these rooms hypoallergenic? According to Hyatt, Respire by Hyatt rooms undergo "an additional six-step process to reduce airborne particles and minimize the presence of potential irritants." These six steps include a one-time shock treatment to minimize irritants, complete disinfection of the air handling unit with application of tea tree oil, hypoallergenic mattress and pillow covers, a medical grade air purifier, vacuuming with units that have "special filters that trap pollen and dust mites," deep cleaning and disinfection of room surfaces to remove allergy triggers, and every surface treated with an application to eliminate bacteria growth.
This all may sound great – and it might be – but we did have a few question marks. Mainly, we wondered about the use of tea tree oil as well as what is being used to disinfect and treat the room surfaces. Of course, minimizing allergens is a plus for allergy and asthma sufferers, but sometimes the "cure" can cause additional problems. For instance, using bleach to deal with mold could trigger respiratory reactions due to noxious fumes.
An article in News4Jax.com, Jax Hotel Offers Allergy-Free Rooms: Hyatt Regency Uses Special Pillowcases, Air Filters, Vacuum Cleaners helps clarify this matter, however, by specifying that the cleaning products used are chemical- and fragrance-free.
But a statement by sales and marketing representative Casper van Eldik Thieme made us wonder about how consistent the effects of these allergy relief efforts are. He describes: "We do this every six months. We go through the whole process and make sure it's clean for the guests. When they are staying here, they know that this room is as fresh and as clean as it was six months ago." Knowing how important it is to maintain a clean environment weekly, even daily, we cringed at the mention of "six months."
The best way to know whether these rooms work is experience. Has anyone stayed in a hypoallergenic or allergy friendly hotel room?
Keeping allergen exposure to a minimum while travelling is a problem many allergy sufferers face. Bringing items like portable air purifiers and even your own allergy bedding can help control allergies while staying in a hotel, but these options are not always convenient. An allergy-free room, maintained by the hotel you're staying in, seems like an excellent alternative.
So just what makes these rooms hypoallergenic? According to Hyatt, Respire by Hyatt rooms undergo "an additional six-step process to reduce airborne particles and minimize the presence of potential irritants." These six steps include a one-time shock treatment to minimize irritants, complete disinfection of the air handling unit with application of tea tree oil, hypoallergenic mattress and pillow covers, a medical grade air purifier, vacuuming with units that have "special filters that trap pollen and dust mites," deep cleaning and disinfection of room surfaces to remove allergy triggers, and every surface treated with an application to eliminate bacteria growth.
This all may sound great – and it might be – but we did have a few question marks. Mainly, we wondered about the use of tea tree oil as well as what is being used to disinfect and treat the room surfaces. Of course, minimizing allergens is a plus for allergy and asthma sufferers, but sometimes the "cure" can cause additional problems. For instance, using bleach to deal with mold could trigger respiratory reactions due to noxious fumes.
An article in News4Jax.com, Jax Hotel Offers Allergy-Free Rooms: Hyatt Regency Uses Special Pillowcases, Air Filters, Vacuum Cleaners helps clarify this matter, however, by specifying that the cleaning products used are chemical- and fragrance-free.
But a statement by sales and marketing representative Casper van Eldik Thieme made us wonder about how consistent the effects of these allergy relief efforts are. He describes: "We do this every six months. We go through the whole process and make sure it's clean for the guests. When they are staying here, they know that this room is as fresh and as clean as it was six months ago." Knowing how important it is to maintain a clean environment weekly, even daily, we cringed at the mention of "six months."
The best way to know whether these rooms work is experience. Has anyone stayed in a hypoallergenic or allergy friendly hotel room?
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1 Comment
On 9/6/2011 Jen wrote:
Dear Achoo!,
I work for PURE Global, the company in charge of all international and domestic installations of PURE Rooms.
I can ensure you that there is no bleach used in our process.
Also, the comment about the rooms only having the process done every six months is partially true.... You see the rooms are cleaned daily by housekeeping, and are maintained every 6 months by trained PURE technicians. Should the hotel be in a location with a higher particle count, extra maintenance visits or steps in the PURE Room process may be taken.
The maintenance schedule has been researched, and improved upon over years and is based on:
1. when the air purifiers filters need to be changed
2. when the PURE products used to ensure that there is no bacterial growth tend to weaken in high traffic areas This is done to ensure that no bacteria growth is occurring and that the rooms are as fresh as can be
3. when the Tea Tree Oil tends to dissipate
4. How often the Air Handling Units need to be cleaned
If you have any more questions regarding PURE Rooms please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Jen Howe, PR Specialist for PURE Global
Pulaski, NY
Leave a Comment
On 9/6/2011 Jen wrote:
Dear Achoo!,
I work for PURE Global, the company in charge of all international and domestic installations of PURE Rooms.
I can ensure you that there is no bleach used in our process.
Also, the comment about the rooms only having the process done every six months is partially true.... You see the rooms are cleaned daily by housekeeping, and are maintained every 6 months by trained PURE technicians. Should the hotel be in a location with a higher particle count, extra maintenance visits or steps in the PURE Room process may be taken.
The maintenance schedule has been researched, and improved upon over years and is based on:
1. when the air purifiers filters need to be changed
2. when the PURE products used to ensure that there is no bacterial growth tend to weaken in high traffic areas This is done to ensure that no bacteria growth is occurring and that the rooms are as fresh as can be
3. when the Tea Tree Oil tends to dissipate
4. How often the Air Handling Units need to be cleaned
If you have any more questions regarding PURE Rooms please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Jen Howe, PR Specialist for PURE Global
Pulaski, NY
Leave a Comment
