Have you ever noticed that when you step into a hotel bathroom and flick on the light, the entire room gleams brilliantly? The light passes through the shower glass doors effortlessly and every surface is illuminated, making it feel airy, bright, and spacious. On close inspection, you’ll find no traces of watermarks, soap scum, or residue, and instead only find polished perfection. With how impeccably clean and luxurious hotel bathrooms feel, it’s normal to ask, “how do hotels keep glass shower doors clean, and what can I do to emulate such a pristine space?” To find out, we went to the experts to ask, and here are their 7 pro-tips.
An Everyday Clean Keeps The Sheen: A Not-So-Secret Insight
Okay, okay, you got us; this isn’t really a pro-tip, but it’s definitely an important one. The hotels you visit have sparkling and pristine glass shower doors, because they are cleaned every single day. While this seems like a bit of an obvious answer, many of us only do deep cleans on our shower doors once the soap scum has built up, and we notice debris in the tracks. Instead, wipe them down after every use, and incorporate the following tips in to make it effortless:
1. Always Dry Your Wet Surfaces: Shower Doors, Walls, & Tracks.
The first tip is to always dry off your wet surfaces. This is an essential step that can prevent the buildup of mold and mildew along the shower walls, ceiling, and tracks. Every time a hotel housekeeper washes and rinses the shower area in a room, they use a squeegee to remove excess water from the doors and walls. Then, a clean towel or microfiber cloth is used to dry up any remaining moisture. This also applies to the tracks where the shower doors slide, as water that collects in this area can cause rust or corrosion if left. In incorporating this simple tip into the routine of cleaning the hotel shower glass doors, the surface stays looking clean and polished with minimal effort.
2. Hotels Use Water Softeners & Talc-Free Soap.
The number one enemy of sparkling shower glass doors is hard water. Hard water is simply water that contains high levels of dissolved minerals like magnesium, calcium, and sulfates. These minerals can cause damage to pipes and fixtures over time, and leave mineral deposits across everything the water hits (unsightly stains). Hotels can reduce the amount of mineral buildup on their shower doors, walls, and ceiling, by using water softeners. Additionally, hotels often offer talc-free soap to guests, which is great for those with sensitive skin, as talc is known to dry out and irritate skin.
3. Hotels Use Waterproofing On The Insides of Shower Doors.
How do hotels keep glass shower doors clean for so long? Waterproofing. Hotels often apply a hydrophobic coating to the glass surface. This coating repels water and prevents it from sticking to the glass, which reduces the buildup of mineral deposits and soap scum. Another technique that is used is to apply a sealant to the glass, which helps fill in any tiny cracks or imperfections in the glass surface and prevents water from seeping into the glass. By waterproofing their shower doors, hotels can keep them looking clean and clear for longer periods of time.
4. Hotel Housekeepers Separate Out Wet & Dry Work.
Another pro-tip from hotel housekeepers is to separate out the wet and dry work when cleaning a hotel room. This ensures that no bacteria, dirt, or grime moves from the bedroom and table area of a hotel room, over to the bathroom. In preventing cross-contamination like this, it saves you time as you won’t need to wipe down every surface twice due to streaks or residue. Ideally, if you’re using a cleaner that needs a bit of time to work, spray this on in the bathroom first, then go and do all of your dry tasks like dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, and then move on over to the wet tasks like wiping down surfaces, rinsing, and mopping. By separating your cleaning tasks in this way, you can ensure a more efficient and effective cleaning process. Not to mention, it can also help prolong the life of your cleaning tools and equipment.
5. Use a Degreasing Shower Cleaner For a Miracle Clean.
One of the secrets to their success on how hotels keep glass shower doors clean lies in what type of cleaner they use. Hotels typically use a degreasing cleaner like the ones you’d use on a microwave, or they use a heavy-duty commercial cleaner like R.O.G.3 to effortlessly tackle soap scum and residue build-up in the shower. These types of cleaners are designed to break down and dissolve the build-up of oils and grime that accumulate in the shower over time. By using a degreasing shower cleaner, you can achieve the same miracle clean that hotels are known for, without having to spend hours scrubbing and cleaning.
6. Tackle Grout With Specialized Cleaners.
Have you ever noticed the grout in a hotel shower, or on the bathroom floor? Likely not, because the grout lines are just as pristine as the gleaming glass shower doors. Rather than using regular cleaning techniques, hotel housekeepers use specialized grout cleaners to penetrate deep into the grout lines to dissolve the build-up of dirt, soap scum, and bacteria. A great option for this is to either use a commercial cleaner that also works on tile grout (ROG3 does!) or use a granite or stone-based powdered cleaner.
7. Always Clean & Then Disinfect.
Now, while we’ve focused a lot on those glass shower doors, the other pro-tip for keeping the entire hotel bathroom spotless is to follow a two-step process: clean and then disinfect. The first step in the process is to clean the bathroom, which involves removing any visible dirt and grime from the surfaces using cleaning solutions (as mentioned above).
After cleaning, the next step is to disinfect the bathroom, which involves using a solution that kills germs and bacteria that may be lurking on the surfaces. Disinfecting is especially important in high-traffic areas such as hotels, where many people are using the same bathroom. By cleaning first and then disinfecting, hotels can ensure that their bathrooms are not only visually clean but also free of harmful germs and bacteria.
While many travelers believe that hotel bathrooms are barren wastelands, the reality is that they are often the cleanest area in the entire room. In being aware of the impact of hard water, using specialized cleaners like R.O.G.3, and in separating out dry and wet work, hotels are able to keep their glass shower doors and bathrooms immaculate. So, the next time you step into a hotel bathroom and marvel at how clean it is, remember that it’s not magic – it’s the result of a lot of hard work and attention to detail.