and bathroom area decreased except for the nightstand handle and hair dryer. Lastly, the ATP meter results found that RLUs detected decreased after the room was cleaned for all high-touch surfaces, with the exception of the carpet, telephone dial pad, doorknob inside the bathroom, and hair dryer. The following sections discuss the results of the paired samples t -test for the microbial and ATP data collected. Guest Traffic Area The guest traffic area consisted of high-touch surfaces the guest was likely to interact with in the hotel room that were farther than an arm’s reach away from the bed area and not in the bathroom. The results of the paired samples t -test concluded that for total via- ble APCs, the log CFU/cm 2 before cleaning ( M = 1.14, SD = 0.57) did not significantly decrease after the room was cleaned ( M = 1.11, SD = 0.37, t (13) = 0.348, p = .367). A majority of the surfaces included in the guest traffic area increased in the number of logs detected after the room was cleaned, except for the tabletop, dresser handle, coffee maker, and entry carpet. The only surface that dem- onstrated a statistically significant decrease in the logs detected for APCs was the entry carpet ( M = 0.67, SD = 0.72, p = .008), which had an average of 2.68 log CFU/cm 2 before the room was cleaned and an average of 2.01 log CFU/cm 2 after the room was cleaned ( t (9) = 2.938, p = .008). Overall, the log concentrations of the sam- ples collected for coliforms before cleaning ( M = 0.36, SD = 0.09) increased significantly after the room was cleaned ( M = 0.55, SD = 0.11) in the guest traffic area ( t (13) = -4.656, p < .001). Although specific high-touch surfaces did not significantly increase, the doorknob inside the bedroom, tabletop, table drawer handle, dresser handle, climate control panel, iron, coffee maker, door safety latch, door peep- hole, trash can, entry carpet, and bedroom light switch all increased an average of 0.25 log CFU/cm 2 after the room was cleaned. Only the closet handle and drapery pull handle decreased an average of 0.14 log CFU/cm 2 and 0.10 log CFU/cm 2 , respectively. For S. aureus , the average log concentra- tions of the collected samples before cleaning ( M = 1.08, SD = 0.48) significantly decreased after the room was cleaned ( M = 0.63, SD = 0.38) for the guest traffic area ( t (13) = 7.900,
p < .001). While all high-touch surfaces in the guest traffic area decreased an average of 0.36 log CFU/cm 2 for this specific microorganism, the surfaces that demonstrated a significant decrease in the number of logs detected after the room was cleaned were the doorknob inside of the bedroom ( M = 0.43, SD = 0.61, p = .026); drapery pull handle ( M = 0.21, SD = 0.34, p = .041); tabletop ( M = 0.63, SD = 0.90, p = .027); climate control panel ( M = 0.51, SD = 0.82, p = .041); iron handle ( M = 0.60, SD = 0.82, p = .045); and coffee maker ( M = 0.78, SD = 1.00, p = .018). For the ATP meter data, the results from the paired samples t -test found that the detected RLUs on high-touch surfaces before cleaning ( M = 91.8, SD = 112.77) signifi- cantly decreased after the room was cleaned ( M = 49.76, SD = 51.22) in the guest traffic area ( t (13) = 2.471, p = .014). Specifically, the table drawer handle, climate control panel, door safety latch, and bedroom light switch significantly decreased in number of detected RLUs. All other surfaces in this area showed decreases in the organic matter detected, ranging from 3 to 231 RLUs, except for the entry carpet, which increased by 1 RLU on average. The results for the paired samples t -test in the guest traffic area are shown in Table 1. Bed Area Results from the statistical analysis for the bed area found that APCs before cleaning ( M = 1.67, SD = 0.46) significantly decreased after the room was cleaned ( M = 1.24, SD = 0.19, t (7) = 2.452, p = .022). Specifically, the bedside lamp switch ( p = .006); bedside clock/phone dock ( M = 0.88, SD = 0.88, p = .032); and pillowcases ( M = 0.74, SD = 1.05, p = .026) significantly decreased in the average number of log CFU/cm 2 for these high-touch surfaces. All other surfaces decreased an aver- age of 0.39 log CFU/cm 2 after the room was cleaned except for the nightstand handle, which increased an average of 0.51 log CFU/ cm 2 after cleaning. For coliforms, the log concentrations before cleaning ( M = 0.46, SD = 0.11) also significantly increased after the room was cleaned ( M = 0.81, SD = 0.13, t (7) = -8.925, p < .001). For this microorganism, microbial counts significantly increased on the phone dial pad ( M = -0.44, SD = 0.74, p = .046) and TV remote control ( M = -0.54, SD = 0.65, p
= .013). All other surfaces that were tested for the presence of coliforms in the bed area increased an average of 0.33 log CFU/cm 2 . Contrary to the results for coliforms, microbial counts for S. aureus before cleaning ( M = 1.44, SD = 0.37) significantly decreased after the bed area was cleaned ( M = 0.89, SD = 0.13, t (7) = 5.688, p < .001). Specifically, the high-touch surfaces that had significant log reductions for S. aureus in this area were the bedside clock/phone dock ( M = 0.90, SD = 1.15, p = .017); pillowcases ( M = 0.72, SD = 0.70, p = .005); and nightstand top ( M = 0.87, SD = 1.20, p = .023). All other surfaces in this area had a mean log reduction of 0.31 log CFU/cm 2 after the room was cleaned. For the ATP meter data, our results indi- cate that the average RLUs detected on high- touch surfaces in the bed area before clean- ing ( M = 159.03, SD = 129.68) significantly decreased after the room was cleaned ( M = 66.26, SD = 42.70, t (7) = 1.948, p = .046). Overall, high-touch surfaces were deemed cleaner according to the ATP meter read- ings; however, the surface of the phone dial pad increased an average of 7 RLU/cm 2 . The only surface that had a significant decrease in the average RLU detected was the bedside clock/phone dock ( M = 57.3, SD = 60.50, p = .008), whereas all other surfaces decreased an average of 116 RLU/cm 2 . Results for the paired samples t -test for the bed area are shown in Table 2. Bathroom Area For the data collected from the bathroom area, results indicated that the APCs detected before cleaning ( M = 1.88, SD = 0.70) sig- nificantly decreased after the bathroom was cleaned ( M = 1.37, SD = 0.37, t (14) = 3.878, p < .001). Specifically, the sink faucet handles ( M = 0.87, SD = 1.22, p = .033); bathroom floor ( M = 1.06, SD = 1.59, p = .032); shower floor ( M = 1.48, SD = 0.87, p < .001); and van- ity surface in front of the sink ( M = 1.26, SD = 0.75, p = .002) all had significantly lower log CFU/cm 2 following the room cleaning. The hair dryer was the only high-touch surface in the bathroom that increased in APCs; it increased by an average of 0.42 log CFU/cm 2 after cleaning. Every other high-touch sur- face sampled in the bathroom decreased an average of 0.35 log CFU/cm 2 after cleaning. Consistent with our findings from the guest traffic area and bed area, coliform
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March 2025 • Journal of Environmental Health
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