Should you change the beds every time you have guests?

[homecomingposy]

I’ve always thought it is absolutely the case that a guest should have clean bed linen when they come to stay. I’ve been doing it for years. Even tho it means tonnes of washing. So when I stayed over recently at ( very good) friends I found a dirty sock in the bed. Someone had stayed in it before me.
Plus, a month or so ago I stayed at another friend and had to brush out hairs from inside the bed and off the pillow. Which I then turned over. Now to clarify, I said nothing. Got on with it. But for some ( justifiable ?) reason, I feel a bit queasy about this.
am i the only one who changes the sheets each time ???

Yes of course. I don’t have high housekeeping standards but even I think it is utterly vile not to!

God yes! I always change the sheets. The only time I didn't was when a friend stayed one night, went off for four days and then came back to stay at ours for a further two days. She actually said don't bother changing the sheets! Other than that guest bedding is always changed.

Surely that is only useful if your guest is the type of sleeper who lies calmly under the covers... I'm constantly moving at night, a sheet would never stay in place, and I also tend to wrap myself in the covers so the duvet would definitely be coming into contact with my pjs and skin.

Absolutely you should change bedclothes once a guest has left.

I don't change them if it's the same guest.

Or e.g. sometimes my mum will stay and a week or two later my dad will (they're married).

I would also say that the spare room is also my office and I have to kneel on the bed to open or close the window or I occasionally sit on it to take calls. So there might be the odd hair as I am a terrible shedder. I guess it's just a reason there could be a hair without it having actually had someone else stay in it!

Yes. We don’t have guests often but when we do we put them in our bedroom and we go in the other bedroom, so always fresh sheets.

We go in the other room as that has all our clothes, dressing table etc. Whereas the other room is more plain, and more quiet.

Adults always, but I do admit that once I had my 7 year old niece stay over in a clean bed (and bathed before getting in it) for one night, her cousin (6) stayed the next night and I never changed the bed (although did the pillow case, and top/tailed the fitted sheet and quilt cover.

Different guests? Absolutely change them.

If it were my parents staying and then they came and stayed a little while later, I may not bother changing it.

That said, more often then not I sleep in the spare bed after my parents, so they get fresh sheets each time they come, as I sleep in it after them, without changing them!

We're the only people that stay in my DP's spare room, and I know they're not changed every time. DM just puts a couple of tumble dryer sheets in the bed because she believes it keeps the bedding fresh in between uses! It doesn't bother me. As PP have said, if we've only spent a night or two in it and we'll be the next people in it, they really don't need washing.

I always change the sheets for my guests but DP doesn't always for his.

Yes I do, and having slept in a bed where the hosts did not do this, the smell of another person on the sheets was horrible.

Bleurghhh.

Yes. But we've had guests stay unexpectedly (DH's drunk brother) and if the sheets are still on from previous guests they wouldn't care.

My very very posh best friend from school - old money - would change the guest bed sheets once in a blue moon. Old heavy linens and they'd just air the bed. I didn't like staying there very much....

Ewww! That’s horrible! It doesn’t take a lot to change a bed (unless of course you have disabilities that may make it harder).

I wouldn't change it if it was same person staying in it fairly soon...but between different people - definitely yes.

We recently had my daughter and her friend to stay for two nights. Three days later we had two friends over for one night.
Changed both beds every time.
Waiting for a nice drying day to do the last bed.

Not changing the sheets between guests is completely minging. 😱

Yes in general, but when DM was ill and DB and I were coming down in shifts to help out we both said we were fine to use the sheets that the other had slept in for just one night - the carbon footprint of washing and tumble drying an entire set of bed linen after just one night's use made me cringe and neither DB nor I are sweaty sleepers.

Likewise if we have guests staying overnight I'll probably leave their sheets on the bed and not change them until the next visitors are on their way. If DH or I need to crash in the spare room at short notice then so be it. I wouldn't change the sheets as soon as they left because the cats sleep on the spare room bed if given half a chance.

@SistersNotCisters why would you strip a hotel bed? You have paid an substantial fee to stay there, they have paid staff who are paid to do this . I have just come back from a week in Italy and the hotel i stayed in striped and changed the sheets every single day we were there ( i saw them do it) Was also amazed at the speed they were able to make a bed up perfectly
Defo change sheets every time have guest- spare room is made up all the time but if sheets been on a while and i know someone is coming will wash and replace to freshen up

Always clean sheets here. It’s disgusting not to.

I'm incredibly lax about changing my own bed but I would ALWAYS change them for guests! I'm slightly horrified that anyone wouldn't do that.

@Wexone to be nice to a complete stranger who you will never ever meet. Of course I wouldn't feel the urge to do that random act in a hotel where you can be sure the beds are changed like what you have witnessed, but as someone who has worked in the hotel industry I know that there are lazy staff and cheap managers/owners who wouldn't think anything of just simply straightening up a bed for the next guest. I always think of my quick bed strip as an act of defiance against them.

Yes, but equally I usually offer to take my own sheets if staying with someone, it's more convenient for them.
I don't change sheets after guests staying for just one night if my DS is going in the same bed ... as a Uni student I doubt he changed his sheets once a term so he can sleep in guest sheets .

I consider myself fairly slovenly and the frequency at which I change my own bedsheets would probably have most mumsnetters recoil in horror but I would 100% always change the beds between guests.

@SistersNotCisters there is a separate thread on about this actually- AIR B+B asking guests to strip beds and clean etc. The majority felt it was taking the piss. The idea of staying in a hotel is to have a break from the mundane shite that is life. And you are paying enough to stay there, i change enough beds at home not doing it when am away. I leave room clean and tidy. All works of life have lazy staff etc, if you feel bed hasn't been changed complain.

OMG of course you change the bedding!

For those (few) saying that there is no need because people shower, wear pyjamas etc, it’s not about sweatiness, it’s about human biology. Humans have many parasites that have evolved to be active at night. For example, the one most parents will be familiar with is threadworms. No matter how well showered the person is before getting into bed you can still find yourself sharing parasites via bedding. The same goes for towels.

Should you change the beds every time you have guests?
Yes, anything else is nasty. Fresh guest, fresh sheets.
Apparently, hotels don't change sheets if guests have only stayed one night. Fucking robbers, charging what they do and not changing the bed.

Oh, and don't wait to have guests before you change your own beds. 😉