Some travelers who highly value discount hotel rooms and cheap vacation packages suffer from allergies to many items commonly found in hotels including down, foam, and cleaning chemicals. To make hotel stays tolerable, some guests have to bring their own bed sheets, shampoo and soap.
Spring tends to be the toughest season for allergy sufferers. People with allergies, asthma or a general intolerance to unknown substances often suffer when traveling from offensive air, food and odors.
Hotels are starting to set aside and charge more for rooms that are hypoallergenic: thoroughly cleaned to reduce mites, bacteria and other irritants. Hotels are starting to use greener cleaning products and offer menus that cater to shellfish, gluten and lactose intolerant guests.
38 percent of U.S. hotels now offer allergy friendly options. Use of air purifiers have more than doubled to 25 percent, up from 12 percent in 2008.
Some of the steps taken by select hotels trying to cater to allergy suffering guests include:
Having housekeepers use vacuum cleaners with filters that trap pollen and dust mites as well as using fragrance and chemical free cleaning products.
Offering synthetic comforters and pillows that do not use down.
Making fragrance free soaps, lotions and shampoos available on request.
Few hotels can claim to be totally hypoallergenic. Instead they tend to offer only select rooms that are allergy friendly on request at a premium price. www.cheapfares.com