The bed is the centre of any hotel. Luxuries in the premises are built around it because after all, the customer pays good money for the bed and a good night’s sleep. However, it has been observed that mattresses are the least kempt of all items in a hotel room. Gaston Dexter Pitchen, CEO, Allerx Cleaning Services, explores the importance of mattress deep cleaning.

A basic mattress is made of foam/cotton and coils and clad in a cloth that is woven together tightly. Over time, these mattresses have evolved and now customers are offered a plethora of choices and customisations such that the variety in the market is almost endless. The most basic mattress will have a standard, three-year warranty. This warranty is purely based on the durability of the mattress – the tensile strength of the coils and the quality of foam. Foam, too, differs in quality on the basis of the chemicals used to treat them.

Now, mattresses come with different treatments as well. Any hotel would choose a mattress with an FR rating – fire retarding. Contrary to what a common, non-technically qualified person may think, this does not imply that the mattress can’t catch fire; it means that if a mattress does come in contact with fire, the fire will smoulder there and extinguish before spreading. FR treatment is of two types –pre-weave where the fire retard treatment is applied at the weaving stage of the material and post weave when the treatment is applied once the fabric is ready. Another commonly preferred type of mattress is the dust-mite treated mattress. Firstly, no brand new mattress has dust. Dust is technically composed of dust particles and dead skin. The treatment may not necessarily prevent dust from entering the mattress; it just ensures that hitting the mattress doesn’t result in a cloud of dust.

The need for mattress cleaning

Did you know, as humans, we shed at least half a kilo of skin every year? And, if we take an average of 8 hours sleep a day, it is one-third of our lives that goes into sleeping on our mattresses and beds, and, in turn, one-third of our shed skin that goes into the mattress. This in turn attracts dust mites and releases an enzyme called Guinine, which exacerbates diseases like asthma and eczema. The dust settles in the lining of the lung and since the immune system can’t take it, it triggers coughing. Besides this, with a build-up of a combination of sweat and dead skin, the foam within the mattress starts clumping up and starts catching fungus and mould. While this is normal for any residential mattress, it is worse in hotels, where people of different backgrounds, nationalities and cultures use the same mattress for 5-10 years!

In the Middle East, the mattress cleaning culture is yet to catch up. As a mattress deep cleaning company, established here since 2012, we have been spreading the word about the need for annual mattress cleaning. According to our research, we have found that most mattresses purchased by hotels, procure mattresses with at least a 10 year warranty. Of course, these are top-grade, fire retardant mattresses. However, we have observed that most hotels, to ‘maintain hygiene’ dispose of these mattresses within 5-6 years. Not only does this not give them a return on their investment, but it also increases the company’s costs in the long run. For instance any luxury hotel with about 600 mattresses easily spends over AED 1 million every five years. However, the standard life of a mattress can be well over 10-15 years if maintained and used well.

The UAE story

Mattress cleaning per se has not caught the UAE by storm yet. We have had a few mattress-cleaning companies that charge residences exorbitant prices. Some companies sell high-powered vacuum units; but just the product is expensive again. When we were conceived in 2012, we introduced a 5-step deep cleaning process – a 360 degree cleaning approach. Our method takes just 15 minutes, just enough time between a guest checking out and another checking in. If there is a bed bug infestation, it takes not more than an hour.

Our innovative, patented technology for bed bugs is the freeze treatment, which involves high-pressures spraying of dry-ice into corners and crevices in the bed and also into the mattress. Not only is this an eco-friendly approach, but it also completely kills any insect and its larvae since it comes out at a temperature of -77 degrees Celsius! This allows for a 100 per cent guarantee against bed bugs. It can also be sprayed into electric sockets since dry ice is a non-conductor of electricity.

Apart from this, dust mite removal is rather simple, we use the standard high powered vacuum cleaners that shake up the mattresses and suck out all the dust from them. We also have a special UVC germicidal treatment that uses gentle UVC rays similar to that emitted from the sun that cannot enter the atmosphere. This allows for all kinds of disinfection in through controlled exposure. And finally comes stain treatment. One of the biggest issues of using industrial stain removers is that these normally remove the FR and dust treatment that is applied to mattresses. However, the use of a gentle, biodegradable solution helps treat stains and reduce visibility if not remove them altogether. We also plan to introduce a nano-technology driven method of making mattresses stain resistant. Finally, in all the hotels where we operate, we install a bedbug monitor/trap that allows for detection of these bugs.

Challenges ahead

Despite the eco-friendly method of cleaning, the relatively simple, short and effective services offered, we find that hotels in the UAE still lack the awareness required to ensure that mattresses are cleaned every year. Mattress deep cleaning is no novelty in other countries internationally. These places already have standards and alternate solutions in place. They curb expenses and ensure that hygiene levels are maintained. One requirement to ensure that UAE hotels follow suit is for the assessing authority to make it mandatory for hotels to keep and show records of their mattress cleaning practices. After all, they have records of their carpet, curtain and washroom cleaning practices.

While the DTCM doesn’t currently include mattress cleaning as a mandate, ATDC does. In its manual Mandatory Minimum Standards for hotels, section 10.3.7.10 states that all the beds and mattresses are cleaned and well maintained. Furthermore, section 10.3.7.4 states that establishments are required to show hard evidence that an annual deep cleaning schedule exists and the establishment adheres to the schedule. This should also include regular cleaning of mattresses. This is a clear-cut standard. However, due to there being no third-party audits, mandatory mattress cleaning has not been implemented. And it is not expensive; a hotel need only spend AED 99 per mattress per year with a 1 year warranty against bed bugs!

The key to all this is awareness. When it comes to cutting costs, hygiene of guests should not be a compromise!

About the Author: Gaston Dexter Pitchen is the Chief Executive Officer of Allerx Cleaning Services. He has been in the mattress business since 2007 and is now an evangelist of the importance of mattress cleaning and mattress hygiene.